Program, build, and master over 50 projects with MicroPython and the RP2040 microprocessor The Raspberry Pi Pico is a high-performance microcontroller module designed especially for physical computing. Microcontrollers differ from single-board computers, like the Raspberry Pi 4, in not having an operating system. The Raspberry Pi Pico can be programmed to run a single task very efficiently within real-time control and monitoring applications requiring speed. The ‘Pico’ as we call it, is based on the fast, efficient, and low-cost dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ RP2040 microcontroller chip running at up to 133 MHz and sporting 264 KB of SRAM, and 2 MB of Flash memory. Besides its large memory, the Pico has even more attractive features including a vast number of GPIO pins, and popular interface modules like ADC, SPI, I²C, UART, and PWM. To cap it all, the chip offers fast and accurate timing modules, a hardware debug interface, and an internal temperature sensor. The Raspberry Pi Pico is easily programmed using popular high-level languages such as MicroPython and or C/C++. This book is an introduction to using the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller in conjunction with the MicroPython programming language. The Thonny development environment (IDE) is used in all the projects described. There are over 50 working and tested projects in the book, covering the following topics: Installing the MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico using a Raspberry Pi or a PC Timer interrupts and external interrupts Analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) projects Using the internal temperature sensor and external temperature sensor chips Datalogging projects PWM, UART, I²C, and SPI projects Using Wi-Fi and apps to communicate with smartphones Using Bluetooth and apps to communicate with smartphones Digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) projects All projects given in the book have been fully tested and are working. Only basic programming and electronics experience is required to follow the projects. Brief descriptions, block diagrams, detailed circuit diagrams, and full MicroPython program listings are given for all projects described. Readers can find the program listings on the Elektor web page created to support the book.
Multitasking and multiprocessing have become a very important topic in microcontroller-based systems, namely in complex commercial, domestic, and industrial automation applications. As the complexity of projects grows, more functionalities are demanded from the projects. Such projects require the use of multiple inter-related tasks running on the same system and sharing the available resources, such as the CPU, memory, and input-output ports. As a result of this, the importance of multitasking operations in microcontroller-based applications has grown steadily over the last few years. Many complex automation projects now make use of some form of a multitasking kernel.
This book is project-based and its main aim is to teach the basic features of multitasking using the Python 3 programming language on Raspberry Pi. Many fully tested projects are provided in the book using the multitasking modules of Python. Each project is described fully and in detail. Complete program listings are given for each project. Readers should be able to use the projects as they are, or modify them to suit their own needs.
The following Python multitasking modules have been described and used in the projects:
Fork
Thread
Threading
Subprocess
Multiprocessing
The book includes simple multitasking projects such as independently controlling multiple LEDs, to more complex multitasking projects such as on/off temperature control, traffic lights control, 2-digit, and 4-digit 7-segment LED event counter, reaction timer, stepper motor control, keypad based projects, car park controller, and many more. The fundamental multitasking concepts such as process synchronization, process communication, and memory sharing techniques have been described in projects concerning event flags, queues, semaphores, values, and so on.
Sound Secrets and Technology
What would today’s rock and pop music be without electric lead and bass guitars? These instruments have been setting the tone for more than sixty years. Their underlying sound is determined largely by their electrical components. But, how do they actually work? Almost no one is able to explain this to the true musician with no technical background. This book answers many questions simply, in an easily-understandable manner.
For the interested musician (and others), this book unveils, in a simple and well-grounded way, what have, until now, been regarded as manufacturer secrets. The examination explores deep within the guitar, including pickups and electrical environment, so that guitar electronics are no longer considered highly secret. With a few deft interventions, many instruments can be rendered more versatile and made to sound a lot better – in the most cost-effective manner.
The author is an experienced electronics professional and active musician. He has thoroughly tested everything described here, in practice.
Analogue Electronics and Microcontrollers ProjectsHobbyist electronics can be a fun way to learn new skills that can be helpful to your career. Those who understand the basics of electronics can design their own circuits and projects. However, before you run, you need to learn to walk.It all starts with analogue electronics. You should be familiar with the simple components and circuits and understand their basic behaviors and the issues you may encounter. The best way to do this is through real experiments. Theory alone is not enough. This book offers a large number of practical entry-level circuits, with which everyone can gain the basic experience.Through the widespread introduction of microcontrollers, a new chapter in electronics has begun. Microcontrollers are now performing more and more tasks that were originally solved using discrete components and conventional ICs. Starting out has become easier and easier thanks to platforms including Bascom, Arduino, micro:bit. The book introduces numerous manageable microcontroller applications. It’s now a case of less soldering and more programming.
3rd Edition – Fully updated for Raspberry Pi 4
The Raspberry Pi is a very cheap but complete computer system that allows all sorts of electronics parts and extensions to be connected. This book addresses one of the strongest aspects of the Raspberry Pi: the ability to combine hands-on electronics and programming.
Combine hands-on electronics and programming
After a short introduction to the Raspberry Pi you proceed with installing the required software. The SD card that can be purchased in conjunction with this book contains everything to get started with the Raspberry Pi. At the side of the (optional) Windows PC, software is used which is free for downloading. The book continues with a concise introduction to the Linux operating system, after which you start programming in Bash, Python 3 and Javascript. Although the emphasis is on Python, the coverage is brief and to the point in all cases – just enabling you to grasp the essence of all projects and start adapting them to your requirements. All set, you can carry on with fun projects.
The book is ideal for self-study
No fewer than 45 exciting and compelling projects are discussed and elaborated in detail. From a flashing lights to driving an electromotor; from processing and generating analog signals to a lux meter and a temperature control. We also move to more complex projects like a motor speed controller, a web server with CGI, client-server applications and Xwindows programs.
Each project has details of the way it got designed that way
The process of reading, building, and programming not only provides insight into the Raspberry Pi, Python, and the electronic parts used, but also enables you to modify or extend the projects any way you like. Also, feel free to combine several projects into a larger design.
In this book the author presents all essential aspects of microcontroller programming, without overloading the reader with unnecessary or quasi-relevant bits of information. Having read the book, you should be able to understand as well as program, 8-bit microcontrollers.The introduction to microcontroller programming is worked out using microcontrollers from the PIC series. Not exactly state-of-the-art with just 8 bits, the PIC micro has the advantage of being easy to comprehend. It is offered in a DIP enclosure, widely available and not overly complex. The entire datasheet of the PIC micro is shorter by decades than the description of the architecture outlining the processor section of an advanced microcontroller. Simplicity has its advantages here. Having mastered the fundamental operation of a microcontroller, you can easily enter into the realms of advanced softcores later.Having placed assembly code as the executive programming language in the foreground in the first part of the book, the author reaches a deeper level with ‘C’ in the second part. Cheerfully alongside the official subject matter, the book presents tips & tricks, interesting measurement technology, practical aspects of microcontroller programming, as well as hands-on options for easier working, debugging and faultfinding.
40+ Projects using Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ESP32
This book is about developing projects using the sensor-modules with Arduino Uno, Raspberry Pi and ESP32 microcontroller development systems. More than 40 different sensors types are used in various projects in the book. The book explains in simple terms and with tested and fully working example projects, how to use the sensors in your project. The projects provided in the book include the following:
Changing LED brightness
RGB LEDs
Creating rainbow colours
Magic wand
Silent door alarm
Dark sensor with relay
Secret key
Magic light cup
Decoding commercial IR handsets
Controlling TV channels with IT sensors
Target shooting detector
Shock time duration measurement
Ultrasonic reverse parking
Toggle lights by clapping hands
Playing melody
Measuring magnetic field strength
Joystick musical instrument
Line tracking
Displaying temperature
Temperature ON/OFF control
Mobile phone-based Wi-Fi projects
Mobile phone-based Bluetooth projects
Sending data to the Cloud
The projects have been organized with increasing levels of difficulty. Readers are encouraged to tackle the projects in the order given. A specially prepared sensor kit is available from Elektor. With the help of this hardware, it should be easy and fun to build the projects in this book.
A Beginner's Guide to AI and Edge Computing
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now part of our daily lives. With companies developing low-cost AI-powered hardware into their products, it is now becoming a reality to purchase AI accelerator hardware at comparatively very low costs. One such hardware accelerator is the Hailo module which is fully compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5. The Raspberry Pi AI Kit is a cleverly designed hardware as it bundles an M.2-based Hailo-8L accelerator with the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ to offer high speed inferencing on the Raspberry Pi 5. Using the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, you can build complex AI-based vision applications, running in real-time, such as object detection, pose estimation, instance segmentation, home automation, security, robotics, and many more neural network-based applications.
This book is an introduction to the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, and it is aimed to provide some help to readers who are new to the kit and wanting to run some simple AI-based visual models on their Raspberry Pi 5 computers. The book is not meant to cover the detailed process of model creation and compilation, which is done on an Ubuntu computer with massive disk space and 32 GB memory. Examples of pre-trained and custom object detection are given in the book.
Two fully tested and working projects are given in the book. The first project explains how a person can be detected and how an LED can be activated after the detection, and how the detection can be acknowledged by pressing an external button. The second project illustrates how a person can be detected, and how this information can be passed to a smart phone over a Wi-Fi link, as well as how the detection can be acknowledged by sending a message from the smartphone to your Raspberry Pi 5.
Over 45 Builds for the Legendary 555 Chip (and the 556, 558)
The 555 timer IC, originally introduced by the Signetics Corporation around 1971, is sure to rank high among the most popular analog integrated circuits ever produced. Originally called the IC Time Machine, this chip has been used in many timer-related projects by countless people over decades.
This book is all about designing projects based on the 555 timer IC. Over 45 fully tested and documented projects are presented. All projects have been fully tested by the author by constructing them individually on a breadboard. You are not expected to have any programming experiences for constructing or using the projects given in the book. However, it’s definitely useful to have some knowledge of basic electronics and the use of a breadboard for constructing and testing electronic circuits.
Some of the projects in the book are:
Alternately Flashing Two LEDs
Changing LED Flashing Rate
Touch Sensor On/Off Switch
Switch On/Off Delay
Light-Dependent Sound
Dark/Light Switch
Tone Burst Generator
Long Duration Timer
Chasing LEDs
LED Roulette Game
Traffic Lights
Continuity Tester
Electronic Lock
Switch Contact Debouncing
Toy Electronic Organ
Multiple Sensor Alarm System
Metronome
Voltage Multipliers
Electronic Dice
7-Segment Display Counter
Motor Control
7-Segment Display Dice
Electronic Siren
Various Other Projects
The projects given in the book can be modified or expanded by you for your very own applications. Electronic engineering students, people engaged in designing small electronic circuits, and electronic hobbyists should find the projects in the book instructive, fun, interesting, and useful.
An 8-in-1 test & measurement instrument for the electronics workbench
A well-equipped electronics lab is crammed with power supplies, measuring devices, test equipment and signal generators. Wouldn‘t it be better to have one compact device for almost all tasks? Based on the Arduino, a PC interface is to be developed that’s as versatile as possible for measurement and control. It simply hangs on a USB cable and – depending on the software – forms the measuring head of a digital voltmeter or PC oscilloscope, a signal generator, an adjustable voltage source, a frequency counter, an ohmmeter, a capacitance meter, a characteristic curve recorder, and much more.
The circuits and methods collected here are not only relevant for exactly these tasks in the "MSR" electronics lab, but many details can also be used within completely different contexts.
Errata/Updates
In the programs printed, all instances of “be()” should read: sei().
PC USB Logic Analyzers with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Co.
Step-by-step instructions guide you through the analysis of modern protocols such as I²C, SPI, UART, RS-232, NeoPixel, WS28xx, HD44780 and 1-Wire protocols. With the help of numerous experimental circuits based on the Raspberry Pi Pico, Arduino Uno and the Bus Pirate, you will learn the practical application of popular USB logic analyzers.
All the experimental circuits presented in this book have been fully tested and are fully functional. The necessary program listings are included – no special programming or electronics knowledge is required for these circuits. The programming languages used are MicroPython and C along with the development environments Thonny and Arduino IDE.
This book uses several models of flexible and widely available USB logic analyzers and shows the strengths and weaknesses of each price range.
You will learn about the criteria that matter for your work and be able to find the right device for you.
Whether Arduino, Raspberry Pi or Raspberry Pi Pico, the example circuits shown allow you to get started quickly with protocol analysis and can also serve as a basis for your own experiments.
After reading this book, you will be familiar with all the important terms and contexts, conduct your own experiments, analyze protocols independently, culminating in a comprehensive knowledge set of digital signals and protocols.
This book details the use of the Arduino Uno and the Raspberry Pi 4 in practical CAN bus based projects. Using either the Arduino Uno or the Raspberry Pi with off-the-shelf CAN bus interface modules considerably ease developing, debugging, and testing CAN bus based projects.
This book is written for students, practicing engineers, enthusiasts, and for everyone else wanting to learn more about the CAN bus and its applications. The book assumes that the reader has some knowledge of basic electronics. Knowledge of the C and Python programming languages and programming the Arduino Uno using its IDE and Raspberry Pi will be useful, especially if the reader intends to develop microcontroller-based projects using the CAN bus.
The book should be a useful source of reference material for anyone interested in finding answers to questions such as:
What bus systems are available for the automotive industry?
What are the principles of the CAN bus?
How can I create a physical CAN bus?
What types of frames (or data packets) are available in a CAN bus system?
How can errors be detected in a CAN bus system and how dependable is a CAN bus system?
What types of CAN bus controllers exist?
How do I use the MCP2515 CAN bus controller?
How do I create 2-node Arduino Uno-based CAN bus projects?
How do I create 3-node Arduino Uno-based CAN bus projects?
How do I set the acceptance masks and acceptance filters?
How do I analyze data on the CAN bus?
How do I create 2-node Raspberry Pi-based CAN bus projects?
How do I create 3-node Raspberry Pi-based CAN bus projects?
Get Cracking with the Arduino Nano V3, Nano Every, and Nano 33 IoT
The seven chapters in this book serve as the first step for novices and microcontroller enthusiasts wishing to make a head start in Arduino programming. The first chapter introduces the Arduino platform, ecosystem, and existing varieties of Arduino Nano boards. It also teaches how to install various tools needed to get started with Arduino Programming. The second chapter kicks off with electronic circuit building and programming around your Arduino. The third chapter explores various buses and analog inputs. In the fourth chapter, you get acquainted with the concept of pulse width modulation (PWM) and working with unipolar stepper motors.
In the fifth chapter, you are sure to learn about creating beautiful graphics and basic but useful animation with the aid of an external display. The sixth chapter introduces the readers to the concept of I/O devices such as sensors and the piezo buzzer, exploring their methods of interfacing and programming with the Arduino Nano. The last chapter explores another member of Arduino Nano family, Arduino Nano 33 IoT with its highly interesting capabilities. This chapter employs and deepens many concepts learned from previous chapters to create interesting applications for the vast world of the Internet of Things.
The entire book follows a step-by-step approach to explain concepts and the operation of things. Each concept is invariably followed by a to-the-point circuit diagram and code examples. Next come detailed explanations of the syntax and the logic used. By closely following the concepts, you will become comfortable with circuit building, Arduino programming, the workings of the code examples, and the circuit diagrams presented. The book also has plenty of references to external resources wherever needed.
An archive file (.zip) comprising the software examples and Fritzing-style circuit diagrams discussed in the book may be downloaded free of charge below.
Develop your own custom home automation devices
Espressif's ESP8266 and ESP32 microcontrollers have brought DIY home automation to the masses. However, not everyone is fluent in programming these microcontrollers with Espressif's C/C++ SDK, the Arduino core, or MicroPython. This is where ESPHome comes into its own: with this project, you don’t program your microcontroller but configure it.
This book demonstrates how to create your own home automation devices with ESPHome on an ESP32 microcontroller board. You’ll learn how to combine all kinds of electronic components and automate complex behaviours. Your devices can work completely autonomously, and connect over Wi-Fi to your home automation gateways such as Home Assistant or MQTT broker.
By the end of this book, you will be able to create your own custom home automation devices the way you want. Thanks to ESPHome and the ESP32, this is within everyone’s grasp.
Set up an ESPHome development environment and create maintainable configurations
Use buttons and LEDs
Sound a buzzer and play melodies
Read measurements from various types of sensors
Communicate over a short distance with NFC, infrared light, and Bluetooth Low Energy
Show information on various types of displays
Downloads
Software
A Reference and User Guide for the Arduino Uno Hardware and Firmware
A manual providing up-to-date hardware information for the popular Arduino Uno, the easy to use open-source electronics platform used by hobbyists, makers, hackers, experimenters, educators and professionals.
Get all the information you need on the hardware and firmware found on Arduino Uno boards in this handy reference and user guide.
Ideal for the workbench or desktop
Contains all of the Arduino Uno hardware information in one place
Covers Arduino / Genuino Uno revision 3 and earlier boards
Easily find hardware technical specifications with explanations
Pin reference chapter with interfacing examples
Diagrams and illustrations for easy reference to alternate pin functions and hardware connections
Learn to back up and restore the firmware on the board or load new firmware
Basic fault finding and repair procedures for Arduino Uno boards
Power supply circuits simplified and explained
Mechanical dimensions split into five easy to reference diagrams
Contains circuit diagrams, parts list and board layout reference to locate components easily
Learn to use Python productively in real-life scenarios at work and in everyday life
If you have mastered the basics of Python and are wanting to explore the language in more depth, this book is for you. By means of concrete examples used in different applications, the book illustrates many aspects of programming (e.g. algorithms, recursion, data structures) and helps problem-solving strategies. Including general ideas and solutions, the specifics of Python and how these can be practically applied are discussed.
Python 3 for Science and Engineering Applications includes:
practical and goal-oriented learning
basic Python techniques
modern Python 3.6+ including comprehensions, decorators and generators
complete code available online
more than 40 exercises, solutions documented online
no additional packages or installation required, 100% pure
Python Topics cover:
identifying large prime numbers and computing Pi
writing and understanding recursive functions with memorisation
computing in parallel and utilising all system cores
processing text data and encrypting messages
comprehending backtracking and solving Sudokus
analysing and simulating games of chance to develop optimal winning strategies
handling genetic code and generating extremely long palindromes
Downloads
Software
Create Models for 3D Printing, CNC Milling, Process Communication and DocumentationEngineers dread designing 3D models using traditional modeling software. OpenSCAD takes a refreshing and completely different approach. Create your models by arranging geometric solids in a JavaScript-like language, and use them with your 3D printer, CNC mill, or process communication.OpenSCAD differs from other design systems in that it uses programmatical modeling. Your model is made up of primitives that are invoked using a C-, Java- or Python-like language. This approach to model design is close to the “mechanical work” done in the real world and appeals to engineers and others who are not a member of the traditional creative class.OpenSCAD also provides a wide variety of comfort functions that break the 1:1 relationship between code and geometry. This book demonstrates the various features of the programming language using practical examples such as a replacement knob for a LeCroy oscilloscope, a wardrobe hanger, a container for soap dispensers, and various other real-life examples.Written by an engineer with over 15 years of experience, this book is intended for Linux and Windows users alike. If you have programming experience in any language, this book will have you producing practical three-dimensional objects in short order!
STmicroelectronics’ wireless IoT & wearable sensor development kit
‘SensorTile.box’ is a portable multi-sensor circuit board housed in a plastic box and developed by STMicroelectronics. It is equipped with a high-performance 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 processor with DSP and FPU, and various sensor modules, such as accelerometer, gyroscope, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, atmospheric pressure sensor, microphone, and so on. SensorTile.box is ready to use with wireless IoT and Bluetooth connectivity that can easily be used with an iOS or Android compatible smartphone, regardless of the level of expertise of the users. SensorTile.box is shipped with a long-life battery and all the user has to do is connect the battery to the circuit to start using the box.
The SensorTile.box can be operated in three modes: Basic mode, Expert mode, and Pro mode. Basic mode is the easiest way of using the box since it is pre-loaded with demo apps and all the user has to do is choose the required apps and display or plot the measured data on a smartphone using an app called STE BLE Sensor. In Expert mode users can develop simple apps using a graphical wizard provided with the STE BLE Sensor. Pro mode is the most complex mode allowing users to develop programs and upload them to the SensorTile.box.
This book is an introduction to the SensorTile.box and includes the following:
Brief specifications of the SensorTile.box; description of how to install the STE BLE Sensor app on an iOS or Android compatible smartphone required to communicate with the box.
Operation of the SensorTile.box in Basic mode is described in detail by going through all of the pre-loaded demo apps, explaining how to run these apps through a smartphone.
An introduction to the Expert mode with many example apps developed and explained in detail enabling users to develop their own apps in this mode. Again, the STE BLE Sensor app is used on the smartphone to communicate with the SensorTile.box and to run the developed apps.
The book then describes in detail how to upload the sensor data to the cloud. This is an important topic since it allows the sensor measurements to be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection, at any time.
Finally, Pro mode is described in detail where more experienced people can use the SensorTile.box to develop, debug, and test their own apps using the STM32 open development environment (STM32 ODE). The Chapter explains how to upload the developed firmware to the SensorTile.box using several methods. Additionally, the installation and use of the Unicleo-GUI package is described with reference to the SensorTile.box. This PC software package enables all of the SensorTile.box sensor measurements to be displayed or plotted in real time on the PC.
Ready to explore the world around you? By attaching the Sense HAT to your Raspberry Pi, you can quickly and easily develop a variety of creative applications, useful experiments, and exciting games.
The Sense HAT contains several helpful environmental sensors: temperature, humidity, pressure, accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope. Additionally, an 8x8 LED matrix is provided with RGB LEDs, which can be used to display multi-color scrolling or fixed information, such as the sensor data. Use the small onboard joystick for games or applications that require user input. In Innovate with Sense HAT for Raspberry Pi, Dr. Dogan Ibrahim explains how to use the Sense HAT in Raspberry Pi Zero W-based projects. Using simple terms, he details how to incorporate the Sense HAT board in interesting visual and sensor-based projects. You can complete all the projects with other Raspberry Pi models without any modifications.
Exploring with Sense HAT for Raspberry Pi includes projects featuring external hardware components in addition to the Sense HAT board. You will learn to connect the Sense HAT board to the Raspberry Pi using jumper wires so that some of the GPIO ports are free to be interfaced to external components, such as to buzzers, relays, LEDs, LCDs, motors, and other sensors.
The book includes full program listings and detailed project descriptions. Complete circuit diagrams of the projects using external components are given where necessary. All the projects were developed using the latest version of the Python 3 programming language. You can easily download projects from the book’s web page. Let’s start exploring with Sense HAT.
History and Future in the Internet of Things
This book thoroughly reviews the history of the development of embedded Operating Systems, covers the technical characteristics, historic facts, as well as background business stories of mainstream embedded Operating Systems, and analyzes the technical evolution, market development, and new opportunities of embedded Operating Systems in the age of the Internet of Things.
From the perspective of time, the book examines the evolution of critical technical aspects, including real-time and Power Management of embedded Operating Systems and Linux, Internet of Things security, communication, and cloud computing.
The book looks into applications of embedded Operating Systems with important markets of mobile phones, communication equipment, automobile, and wearable devices, and also discusses business model and the issue of intellectual property of embedded Operating Systems.
In addition, the book walks through the status quo, technical features, product evaluation and background of the Internet of Things Operating Systems in the second half of the book.
The short-wave technique has a very particular appeal: It can easily bridge long distances. By reflecting short-wave signals off the conductive layers of the ionosphere, they can be received in places beyond the horizon and therefore can reach anywhere on earth. Although technology is striving for ever higher frequencies, and radio is usually listened to on FM, DAB+, satellite or the Internet, modern means of transmission require extensive infrastructure and are extremely vulnerable. In the event of a global power outage, there is nothing more important than the short-wave. Amateur radio is not only a hobby, it’s also an emergency radio system!
Elektor’s SDR-Shield is a versatile shortwave receiver up to 30 MHz. Using an Arduino and the appropriate software, radio stations, morse signals, SSB stations, and digital signals can be received.
In this book, successful author and enthusiastic radio amateur, Burkhard Kainka describes the modern practice of software defined radio using the Elektor SDR Shield. He not only imparts a theoretical background but also explains numerous open source software tools.
Recently, the development of a tiny chip called the ESP8266 has made it possible to interface any type of microcontroller to a Wi-Fi AP. The ESP8266 is a low-cost tiny Wi-Fi chip having fully built-in TCP/IP stack and a 32-bit microcontroller unit. This chip, produced by Shanghai based Chinese manufacturer Espressif System, is IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi compatible with on-chip program and data memory, and general purpose input-output ports. Several manufacturers have incorporated the ESP8266 chip in their hardware products (e.g. ESP-xx, NodeMCU etc) and offer these products as a means of connecting a microcontroller system such as the Android, PIC microcontroller or others to a Wi-Fi. The ESP8266 is a low-power chip and costs only a few Dollars.
ESP8266 and MicroPython – Coding Cool Stuff is an introduction to the ESP8266 chip and describes the features of this chip and shows how various firmware and programming languages such as the MicroPython can be uploaded to the chip. The main aim of the book is to teach the readers how to use the MicroPython programming language on ESP8266 based hardware, especially on the NodeMCU.
Several interesting and useful projects are given in the book to show how to use the MicroPython in NodeMCU type ESP8266 hardware:
Project “What shall I wear today?”: You will be developing a weather information system using a NodeMCU development board together with a Text-to-Speech processor module.
Project “The Temperature and Humidity on the Cloud”: You will be developing a system that will get the ambient temperature and humidity using a sensor and then store this data on the cloud so that it can be accessed from anywhere.
Project “Remote Web Based Control”: You will be developing a system that will remotely control two LEDs connected to a NodeMCU development board using an HTTP Web Server application.
A Hands-on Guide to Crafting Your Own Power Plant
The book you are about to read provides a step-by-step guide for building a renewable energy power plant at home. Our goal was to make the book as practical as possible. The material is intended for immediate application with a small amount of theory. Yet, the theory is important as a foundation that saves time and effort by disabusing the readers of potential misconceptions. Specifically, upon having a firm understanding of photovoltaic physics, you will not be inclined to fruitlessly search for 90% efficient solar panels!
We want our readers to be the “doers”. If the book gets covered in grime and some pages become torn while you are building your power plant – this is the best compliment to us. The book covers solar and wind energy. Also, a curious power source based on manure is discussed as well, giving the doers an opportunity to further develop the manure fuel cell.
It is important to note that there are many companies offering installation of complete solar solutions. Upon installing the panels, the system is not owned by the customer. Therefore, there is no freedom for experimentation and optimization. Also, none can beat the cost of a DIY solution as well as the ultimate satisfaction.
All that is written here is a result of us building a renewable energy solution in Southern California. As the book was completed, the energy began flowing!
This book discusses the basic components of any alarm system.
All alarm systems have two basic functions. First, they monitor their environment looking for a change such as a door or window opening or someone moving about in the room. Second, they alert the legal owner or user to this change. The system described in this book uses a scanning type software to detect intruders. It behaves like a guard dog, pacing up and down the fence line on the lookout for either an intruder or a familiar person. If you have an alarm key, you can disarm the system and enter.
With the scanning method, the software is easy to write and explain. It can scan eight alarm zones plus two special fire zones in about one second.
You don’t have to be an electrical engineer to install an alarm system, just a decent carpenter, painter, and plasterer! Because this alarm system runs on 12 volts, you don’t have to be a licensed electrician either to install it. The alarm system presented here uses Python software on the Raspberry Pi combined with some elementary electronic circuits. The code described in the book, as well as CAD files and a bill of materials for the alarm panel, are available for free downloading. The book provides the reader with examples of typical configurations coming straight from the author‘s experience. After reviewing the hardware components typically used in common alarm systems, the author shows how to plan one yourself.
To implement a modular alarm, no matter if it is for a single house or for a business or restaurant, the book shows how to skillfully combine a Raspberry Pi with small auxiliary electronic circuits. These are not installation instructions but food for thought that will enable readers to find a solution to their needs.
