This USB Stick contains more than 300 Arduino-related articles published in Elektor Magazine. The content includes both background articles and projects on the following topics:
Software & hardware development: Tutorials on Arduino software development using Arduino IDE, Atmel Studio, Shields, and essential programming concepts.
Learning: The Microcontroller Bootcamp offers a structured approach to programming embedded systems.
Data acquisition & measurement: Projects such as a 16-bit data logger, lathe tachometer, and an AC grid analyzer for capturing and analyzing real-time signals.
Wireless communication: Learn how to implement wireless networks, create an Android interface, and communicate effectively with microcontrollers.
Robotics and automation: This covers the Arduino Nano Robot Controller, supporting boards for automation, and explores various Arduino shields to enhance functionality.
Self-build projects: Unique projects such as laser projection, Numitron clock and thermometer, ELF receiver, Theremino, and touch LED interfaces highlight creative applications.
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced maker, this collection is a valuable resource for learning, experimenting, and pushing the boundaries of Arduino technology.
SmartScope is a compact 2-channel USB oscilloscope with a bandwidth of 30 MHz and a sampling rate of 2x 100 MSa/s. It is compatible with all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. The operation and display of measurement signals are done via smartphone, tablet, or PC. Additionally, a logic analyzer and a signal generator are integrated.
Even more, you can get mobile with it: take the SmartScope on the road, thanks to the single-cable connectivity. Everything is going to be intuitive: pointing, pinching and swiping finally replaces the clunky interfaces of old scopes.
With the SmartScope you develop your digital interfaces using the 100 MS/s logic analyzer. With this tool you can design any signal you want using Excel, then upload it to the built-in Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG). At the end capture the voltage at any point of your design at 100 million times each second.
The Software for the support of Windows / macOS / Linux / Android and Export formats (Excel .csv / Matlab .mat) are given.
Features
Channel sampled at 100 MHz/s each
AC/DC coupling on analog inputs
100% silent
64 Mbit RAM: x10000 zoom
Arbitrary Waveform Generator
8 digital inputs at 100 MS/s each
4 digital outputs at 100 MS/s each
Externally power your scope in case your mobile can't supply the juice.
Specifications
Oscilloscope
Bandwidth
30 MHz (-3 dB point)
Sample rate
2x 100 MS/s
Channels
2
Max pre-trigger position
16x full scale
Max post-trigger position
Full scale
Max full voltage scale
10 V/div (±35 V input range)
Min full voltage scale
20 mV/div
Analog input range
-35 V, +35 V
Max input peak-to-peak
40 V
Signal coupling
AC / DC
Precision
8 bit
Input impedance
1 MΩ // 10 pF
Waverforms
200 waveforms/s
Data delay to host
< 10 ms
Sample depth
Up to 4 million samples per channel
External trigger
Yes
Logic Analyzer
Input channels
8
Input impedance
100 kOhm // 2 pF to GND
Sample rate
100 MS/s
Logic level
1.8 V to 5.0 V
Diode protection
Bidirectional
Input data buffer
4 million samples
Waverforms
200 waveforms/s
Data delay to host
< 10 ms
Protocol decoders
I²C, SPI, UART, I²S integrated User extensible
Wave Generator (Analog Output)
Output channels
1
Data rate
Up to 50 MS/s
Output level
0-3.3 V (Opamp driven)
Output buffer
Up to 2048 samples
Max slew rate
30 ns/V
Step
13 mV
Wave Generator (Digital Output)
Channels
4
Data rate
Up to 100 MS/s
Output level
3.3 V or 5 V (selectable)
Output buffer
Up to 2048 samples
Diode protected
Yes
Programmable Logic
USB controller
MicroChip PIC18F14K50
USB interface
PicKit3 or USB flashable
FPGA
Xilinx Spartan 6
FPGA interface
JTAG and USB flashable
Size & Weight
Dimensions (L x W x D)
110 x 64 x 24.2 mm (4.33 x 2.52 x 0.95")
Weight
158 g
Case
Aluminium
Connectivity
Device/Host
mini USB included
Record waveforms
Store Matlab (.mat) or Excel (.csv) files through Dropbox
Analog
BNC 2 probes included
Digital
8x 0.1" pitch, probes (included)
Sync
USB micro B-B
Power
USB micro B (optional)
Included
1x SmartScope USB Oscilloscope
2x Analog probes
1x Digital probe cable
1x USB cable
Downloads
Software
GitHub
Wiki
The Smart USB Soldering Iron Kit is a compact, cordless solution designed for precision and portability. Featuring intelligent three-speed temperature control (300-450°C) with an easy-to-read LED display, it heats up in just 10 seconds and melts solder in as little as 6 seconds.
The 1000 mAh rechargeable battery delivers up to 30 minutes of continuous use, making it ideal for quick repairs, electronics projects, and DIY tasks. With a plug-and-play, replaceable tip and a high-temperature-resistant insulated shell, it’s safe, user-friendly, and perfect for both beginners and professionals on the go.
Features
Three-Speed Intelligent Temperature Adjustment: Features an LED display screen with adjustable temperatures between 300-450°C (572-842°F). Easily switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit.
Integrated Plug-In Soldering Iron Tip: Plug-and-play design. The tip can be replaced by simply unscrewing it, ensuring quick and convenient operation.
Safe and Durable Design: High-temperature-resistant, insulated shell for enhanced safety during use.
Battery Capacity: Equipped with a rechargeable 1000 mAh battery that supports up to 30 minutes of continuous operation on a full charge – ideal for everyday tasks.
Efficient Performance: 8 W power with an integrated heating core for rapid heat-up. Melts tin in just 6 seconds, providing excellent thermal conductivity.
Easy to Use: After powering on via USB, set your desired temperature. The soldering iron heats up in 10 seconds. Once finished, place the tip on the stand—it cools down within 1 minute. Perfect for beginners, hobbyists, basic home repairs, and training engineers.
Cordless Innovation: This cordless soldering kit includes a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery, eliminating the need for cables. Versatile use for circuit board soldering, electrical repairs, jewelry making, metal crafts, computer maintenance, and DIY projects.
Specifications
Adjustable Temperature: 300-450°C (572-842°F)
Tin Melting Time: <15 seconds
Working Voltage: 5 V
Power Output: 8 W
Battery Capacity: 1000 mAh
Auto Sleep Function: Activates after 10 minutes of inactivity
Charging Time: Approx. 90 minutes
Battery Life: Up to 30 minutes continuous use
Charging Interface: USB-C
Main Material: Aluminum alloy
Dimensions: 190 x 16 mm (7.4 x 0.6")
Included
1x USB Soldering Iron
1x Soldering Tip
1x Soldering Rosin
1x Soldering Iron Holder (with Sponge)
1x USB-C Charging Cable
1x Solder Wire
1x Storage Box
This USB stick holds a selection of more than 350 articles on RF, Radio and Communication published in Elektor Magazine. The content consists of both background articles and projects with the following topics:
Basic radio-related circuits as well as more complex circuits like filters, oscillators, and amplifiers.
Design, construction, and theory of antennas for transmitting and receiving radio signals efficiently.
Design and analysis of RF circuits including filters, mixers, PLLs, and frequency synthesizers. Tools and techniques for predicting radio wave propagation paths and measuring RF signal strength.
Techniques for processing digital signals in RF systems, including modulation and demodulation methods.
Projects on radio receivers, AM, FM, SSB, CW, DRM, DAB, DAB+, Software Defined Radio, and more.
Projects on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LoRaWAN, and more.
You can use the article search function to locate specific content in the full text. The results are always shown as preformatted PDF documents. You can use Adobe Reader to browse articles, and you can use Adobe Reader’s integrated search functions to find instances of individual words and expressions.
The FNIRSI FNB58 USB tester (with Bluetooth) is a comprehensive and very accurate USB voltage and current meter. It features a 2.0-inch full-color HD TFT display, built-in USB-A, micro USB and USB-C interface. With this device you can measure the power supply or power consumption of products or the charging power of cell phones and power supplies. You can also determine the fast charging protocol of chargers.
Features
USB-A and USB-C interface
2.0" HD display
Data at a glance
Wide compatibility
Ultra-precise data detection
Play with fast charging technology
Automatic protocol detection (PD2.0, 3.0, 3.1, PPS, QC2.0, 3.0, FCP, SCP, AFC, PE, DASH VOOC, SuperVOOC and more)
Simple user interface, easy to operate
4 function curve displays (real-time voltage and current curve, offline curve recording, D+/D- voltage curve, high-speed power supply ripple measurement)
Cable detection
10 groups of energy recording battery capacity calculation
PC connectivity for data logging and firmware updates
Bluetooth app for Android devices
Specifications
Voltage range
4-28 V
Current range
0-7 A
Power range
0-120 W
Load equivalent internal resistance
0-9999.9 Ω
D+/D- voltage
0-3.3 V
Capacity
0-9999.99 Ah
Power consumption
0-9999.99 Wh
Cable resistance
0-9999.9 Ω
Interfaces
micro USB, USB-A, USB-C
Dimensions
42 x 13 x 82 mm
Downloads
Manual
Firmware V0.68
More than 275 Power Supply Designs for Home Construction
This USB Stick contains over 275 different power supply circuits from the volumes 2001-2025 of Elektor. The article search feature allows you to search full-text content. The results are always displayed as pre-formatted PDF documents.
Highlights
Cuk Converter
Automatic Battery Switchover
Battery Voltage LED
Digital Benchtop Power Supply
Lithium-Ion Charger
Solar Cell Charger
Electronic Fuse
High Voltage Regulator
Power Supply for USB Devices
Step-up Converter for LEDs
Battery Management
and much more...
On the Stick you will also find a folder with additional material such as PCB layouts, Gerber files and software.
Specifications
Storage
16 GB
Interfaces
1x USB-A1x USB-C
System requirements
PC with Adobe Reader 7.0 or higher
Web browser
Now you can connect your Arduino boards with the official Arduino USB cable. Through a USB-C to USB-C with a USB-A adapter connection, this data USB cable can easily connect your Arduino boards with your chosen programming device. The Arduino USB cable has a nylon braided jacket in the typical Arduino colors white and teal. The connectors have an aluminum shell that protects your cable from harm at the same time as looking cool. Length: 100 cm Aluminium shell with logo Nylon braided jacket white and teal
RTL-SDR is an affordable dongle that can be used as a computer based radio scanner for receiving live radio signals in your area. This particular dongle includes a R820T2 tuner, a 1 PPM temperature compensated oscillator (TCXO), SMA F connector. It features an aluminium case with passive cooling via a thermal pad. Moreover, there is a software switchable bias tee circuit, supplementary ESD protection, lower overall noise and built-in direct sampling for HF reception. This device can receive frequencies from 500 kHz to 1.7 GHz and has up to 3.2 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth (2.4 MHz stable).
Note: RTL-SDR dongles are RX only.
You can use this kit either for terrestrial or satellite reception just by changing the orientation of the antenna. Thanks to the included mounts and extension cables it is possible to temporarily place the antenna outside for a better reception. Other potential applications are general radio scanning, air traffic control, public safety radio, ADSB, ACARS, trunked radio, P25 digital voice, POCSAG, weather balloons, APRS, NOAA APT weather satellites, radio astronomy, meteor scatter monitoring etc.
Included
RTL-SDR V3 Dongle (R820T2 RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA)
2x 23 cm to 1 m telescopic antenna
2x 5 cm to 13 cm telescopic antenna
Dipole Antenna Base with 60 cm RG174 extension cable
3 m RG174 extension cable
Flexible Tripod Mount
Suction Cup Mount
Downloads
Datasheet
Quick Start Guide
SDR# User Guide
Dipole Antenna Kit Guide
RTL-SDR is an affordable dongle that can be used as a computer-based radio scanner for receiving live radio signals between 500 kHz and 1.75 GHz in your area.
The RTL-SDR V4 offers several improvements over generic brands including use of the R828D tuner chip, triplexed input filter, notch filter, improved component tolerances, a 1 PPM temperature compensated oscillator (TCXO), SMA F connector, aluminium case with passive cooling, bias tee circuit, improved power supply, and a built in HF upconverter.
RTL-SDR V4 comes with the portable dipole antenna kit. It is great for beginners as it allows for terrestrial and satellite reception and easy to mount outdoors and designed for portable and temporary outside usage.
Features
Improved HF reception: V4 now uses a built-in upconverter instead of using a direct sampling circuit. This means no more Nyquist folding of signals around 14.4 MHz, improved sensitivity, and adjustable gain on HF. Like the V3, the lower tuning range remains at 500 kHz and very strong reception may still require front end attenuation/filtering.
Improved filtering: The V4 makes use of the R828D tuner chip, which has three inputs. The SMA input has been triplexed input into 3 bands: HF, VHF and UHF. This provides some isolation between the 3 bands, meaning out of band interference from strong broadcast stations is less likely to cause desensitization or imaging.
Improved filtering x2: In addition to the triplexing, the open drain pin on the R828D can be also used, which allows to add simple notch filters for common interference bands such as broadcast AM, broadcast FM and the DAB bands. These only attenuate by a few dB, but may still help.
Improved phase noise on strong signals: Due to an improved power supply design, phase noise from power supply noise has been significantly reduced.
Less heat: Another advantage of the improved power supply is low power consumption and less heat generation compared to the V3.
Included
1x RTL-SDR V4 dongle (R828D RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO SMA)
2x 23 cm to 1 m telescopic antenna
2x 5 cm to 13 cm telescopic antenna
1x Dipole antenna base with 60 cm RG174
1x 3 m RG174 extension cable
1x Flexible tripod mount
1x Suction cup mount
Downloads
Datasheet
User Guide
Quick Start Guide
SDR# User Guide
Dipole Antenna Guide
World’s Most Popular ROS Platform TurtleBot is the most popular open source robot for education and research. The new generation TurtleBot3 is a small, low cost, fully programmable, ROS based mobile robot. It is intended to be used for education, research, hobby and product prototyping. Affordable Cost TurtleBot was developed to meet the cost-conscious needs of schools, laboratories and companies. TurtleBot3 is the most affordable robot among the SLAM-able mobile robots equipped with a 360° Laser Distance Sensor LDS-01. Small Size The dimension of TurtleBot3 Burger is only 138 x 178 x 192 mm (L x W x H). Its size is about 1/4 of the size of the predecessor. Imagine keeping TurtleBot3 in your backpack and develop your program and test it anywhere you go. ROS Standard The TurtleBot brand is managed by Open Robotics, which develops and maintains ROS. Nowadays, ROS has become the go-to platform for all the roboticists around the world. TurtleBot can be integrated with existing ROS-based robot components, but TurtleBot3 can be an affordable platform for whom want to get started learning ROS. Extensibility TurtleBot3 encourages users to customize its mechanical structure with some alternative options: open source embedded board (as a control board), computer and sensors. TurtleBot3 Burger is a two-wheeled differential drive type platform but it is able to be structurally and mechanically customized in many ways: Cars, Bikes, Trailers and so on. Extend your ideas beyond imagination with various SBC, sensors and motors on a scalable structure. Modular Actuator for Mobile Robot TurtleBot3 is able to get a precise spatial data by using 2 DYNAMIXEL’s in the wheel joints. DYNAMIXEL XM series can be operated by one of 6 operating modes (XL series: 4 operating modes): Velocity control mode for wheels, Torque control mode or Position control mode for joint, etc. DYNAMIXEL can be used even to make a mobile manipulator which is light but can be precisely controlled with velocity, torque and position control. DYNAMIXEL is a core component that makes TurtleBot3 perfect. It is easy to assemble, maintain, replace and reconfigure. Open Control Board for ROS The control board is open-sourced in hardware wise and in software wise for ROS communication. The open source control board OpenCR1.0 is powerful enough to control not only DYNAMIXEL’s but also ROBOTIS sensors that are frequently being used for basic recognition tasks in cost effective way. Various sensors such as Touch sensor, Infrared sensor, Color sensor and a handful more are available. The OpenCR1.0 has an IMU sensor inside the board so that it can enhance precise control for countless applications. The board has 3.3 V, 5 V, 12 V power supplies to reinforce the available computer device lineups. Strong Sensor Lineups TurtleBot3 Burger uses enhanced 360° LiDAR, 9-Axis Inertial Measurement Unit and precise encoder for your research and development. Open Source The hardware, firmware and software of TurtleBot3 are open source which means that users are welcomed to download, modify and share source codes. All components of TurtleBot3 are manufactured with injection molded plastic to achieve low cost, however, the 3D CAD data is also available for 3D printing. Specifications Maximum translational velocity 0.22 m/s Maximum rotational velocity 2.84 rad/s (162.72 deg/s) Maximum payload 15 kg Size (L x W x H) 138 x 178 x 192 mm Weight (+ SBC + Battery + Sensors) 1 kg Threshold of climbing 10 mm or lower Expected operating time 2h 30m Expected charging time 2h 30m SBC (Single Board Computers) Raspberry Pi 4 (2 GB RAM) MCU 32-bit ARM Cortex-M7 with FPU (216 MHz, 462 DMIPS) Actuator XL430-W250 LDS (Laser Distance Sensor) 360 Laser Distance Sensor LDS-01 or LDS-02
IMU Gyroscope 3 AxisAccelerometer 3 Axis Power connectors 3.3 V/800 mA5 V/4 A12 V/1 A Expansion pins GPIO 18 pinsArduino 32 pin Peripheral 3x UART, 1x CAN, 1x SPI, 1x I²C, 5x ADC, 4x 5-pin OLLO DYNAMIXEL ports 3x RS485, 3x TTL Audio Several programmable beep sequences Programmable LEDs 4x User LED Status LEDs 1x Board status LED1x Arduino LED1x Power LED Buttons and Switches 2x Push buttons, 1x Reset button, 2x Dip switch Battery Lithium polymer 11.1 V 1800 mAh / 19.98 Wh 5C PC connection USB Firmware upgrade via USB / via JTAG Power adapter (SMPS) Input: 100-240 VAC 50/60 Hz, 1.5 A @maxOutput: 12 VDC, 5 A Downloads ROS Robot Programming GitHub E-Manual Community
With this 65 W USB-C PD power supply (with GaN technology) you can start using the FNIRSI HS-01 soldering iron straight away. Of course, you can also use this charger to fast charge your tablets and smartphones via USB-C and USB-A.
Included
65 W USB-C PD GaN Power Supply (EU)
,
by Jean-François Simon
Fnirsi FNB58 USB Tester (Review)
The Fnirsi FNB58 is a versatile USB tester capable of performing a wide array of voltage, current, and energy measurements, as well as supporting numerous...