MORE ABOUT Arduino

First launched in 2005, the Arduino platform is responsible for making embedded microcontroller development accessible to all. With its simple to use yet comprehensive approach, Arduino has eased the often difficult task of interfacing an embedded application to the real world of hardware devices. 

The Elektor Uno R4 is like an Arduino Uno but featuring two UARTs, two I²C (IIC or TWI) ports, two SPI ports, 24 GPIOs, eight analogue inputs, nine timers, and more. Based on the B-type of the ATmega328 microcontroller popularised by the Arduino Uno, the Elektor Uno R4 is the 100%-compatible successor to the Uno that the Arduino team failed to design. So we did it for you. Sign up for one (or more) Uno R4's at GroupGets.

A PWM signal requires just a single digital output on an IC and so it is hardly surprising that these days the digital I/O pins of microcontrollers often come with extensive PWM capabilities. However, there are also downsides: for example, DACs are faster and more accurate. But now an IC is available that offers a simple upgrade to a PWM-based design.

Edition 3/2018 of Elektor Magazine has this project which scrolls text on a pretty row of eight 8 × 8 LED matrix displays. Its ESP-12F Wi-Fi module (based on the ESP8266) is easily programmed with the Arduino IDE. So, from your mobile phone or any other Wi-Fi device, it suffices to send the text to display and the speed and brightness controls to an ESP8266 webserver.

When I was asked to review the STEMTera I had absolutely no idea what it was. The website, of the type that does not clearly mention what it is about, left me a bit puzzled, but when I opened the box, the product’s purpose became immediately clear and I loved the idea.

The Arduino and Raspberry Pi have revolutionized the field of embedded systems design. One area of widespread applicability for both devices has been motor control. But if you would like to learn more about Arduino- and Raspberry Pi-based motor control applications, a quick search on the Internet will only complicate things. You’ll find thousands of motor control projects based on these popular platforms. The problem, of course, is locating high-quality, well-tested motor control projects from reliable sources, which is hard to do because do-it-yourselfers and students are uploading new Arduino and Raspberry Pi-based projects to the Internet each day. Fortunately, Dogan Ibrahim had the foresight to write a comprehensive book on DC motor control designs featuring the Arduino platform and Raspberry Pi Zero W single-board computer (SBC).

UDOO's new ‘BOLT’ maker board reached its $ 100,000 funding target just four hours after the campaign was launched on Kickstarter. Check out its mouth-watering spec, you’ll want one too.

A Wide Area Network connects far remoted devices to the Internet through gateways. LoRa is such a subscription-free communication standard, supported by many companies. There is no overlap between LoRa and WiFi or Bluetooth. The latter have a very short range, LoRa a very narrow bandwidth. Since it is used mostly with sensors, the traffic can be slow and mainly unidirectional. LoRa also supports peer-to-peer communication.

The first-ever Arduino board featuring an FPGA chip is called MKR Vidor 4000 where MKR is pronounced maker. Sized 25 x 75mm and with a wide variety of wireless interfaces to choose from, “MKR” is actually a family of boards aimed at developing IoT products.

The days that Arduino was equivalent to Arduino Uno are long gone. Today Arduino is a continuously expanding family of boards that follow the trends in electronics. The MKR branch of the Arduino board family is dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT) and as such tries to provide solutions for emerging standards and technologies. Two new boards in the MKR family, the MKR WiFi 1010 and MKR NB 1500, give the application designer once again more possibilities to consider.