MORE ABOUT Raspberry Pi

The word LiDAR, the ‘Li’ meaning ‘light’ indicates a device for optoelectronic echolocation. Instead of radio frequencies, the Lidar transmits a pulsed laser beam, the echo of which allows the determination of the distance of a reflecting obstacle. There is much talk these days of self-driving cars. Cheap Lidars with interesting characteristics are now available to anyone; they permit rapid development beyond the experimental stage.

Elektor software developer and lab worker Mathias Claußen was tasked to develop a control for the FM radio on the Raspberry Pi [1] using a touch screen. The platform-independent (GUI) framework Qt has almost become the go-to industry standard to build such interfaces, so the choice was clear. For any developers out there facing similar challenges, Mathias has put together a manual that shows how set up a cross-compiler environment on a PC to allow you to compile Qt applications for the Raspberry Pi from a PC — he also includes a simple demo of course.

A PiCAN 2 HAT provides your Raspberry Pi with full CAN-Bus capability: CAN v2.0B at 1 Mb/s and high-speed (10 MHz) SPI Interface. It uses the Microchip MCP2515 CAN controller with MCP2551 CAN transceiver. The connection is made via DB9 or through a 3-way screw terminal. The SocketCAN driver is easy to install. To the application, it appears as can0. Programming can be done in Python or C.

The RPi doesn't actually need a push to boost its popularity. Nevertheless, this new way of providing a plug-and-play setup for this platform will substantially widen the circle of friends. Even the timidest beginner will find in it a comfortable environment for programming his own Pi-driven hard- and software. Many programming languages are available. For a start, tinker around with existing ready-to-go projects, and soon you will follow your own ideas.

Language assistants like Alexa, Google Home or Siri are now commonplace. However, the actual recognition of the spoken words is not done locally, but in the cloud of the provider – which raises questions about data privacy. There are other solutions such as Snips – a speech recognition system that runs entirely on local hardware like the RPi. We took a look at a speech recognition kit and show how you can use it to develop your own applications...

Google has, with Coral, launched a new platform of hardware and software tools that lets you develop neural networks locally and without using the cloud.

Mr. Beekhuyzen talks here of his experience, as an expert, with the production of quality digital audio with the S/PDIF DigiOne audio card, a Raspberry Pi HAT offered by the manufacturer Allo. His critique is very well written, very informative and delivered in an intelligible fashion. Another good reason to listen until the end, and appreciate it: he does not forget to put his appreciation in context.

Working with a Raspberry Pi is all fun and games, until electrostatic discharge or a high voltage blows up the GPIO port. Fortunately, Elektor offers a simple, affordable solution — the Raspberry Pi Buffer Board, which you can purchase on GroupGets for only $22 (~ €19.32) if you join the group buy by Saturday, February 9, 2019.

Some people need a thousand words to say something simple and still you have no clue what they’re on about. Others manage to explain a complicated thing in only a few words. This project is probably the project with the shortest description at Elektor Labs, but then again, why use many words when it is all about images? True, there are some illustrations too.

Among the many HAT accessories available for the Raspberry Pi, the Uninterruptable Power Supply aptly called PiJuice is a remarkable one. By lifting fundamental limitations, the PiJuice is a very user friendly way to increase the performance of your Pi applications. It allows the use of your Raspberry Pi far from any power adapter, making it more portable than ever.