Planet Arduino

SparkFun has launched a new Qwiic breakout board for the Acconeer XM125 60 GHz pulsed coherent radar sensor that can measure distance to humans even through walls and works at a distance of up to 20 meters. We’ve seen tiny 24GHz or 60GHz radar modules for several years now, and Supachai even reviewed the Seeed Studio mmWave sensor using ESPHome and Home Assistant late last year with the solution relying on Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) technology. The Acconneer XM125 is a Pulse-radar module that emits electromagnetic waves in short bursts instead of continuously like FMCW radars and allows longer measurement ranges potentially at the cost of lower accuracy. Sparkfun Pulse Coherent Radar Sensor specifications: Acconeer XM125 Module A121  60GHz Pulsed Coherent Radar (PCR) Integrated baseband, RF front-end, and antenna in package Detects distance, speed, motion, and objects up to 20 meters away Millimeter precise readings Low power consumption STMicro STM32L431CBY6 [...]

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Nuvoton recently launched the NuMicro M091 Series of microcontrollers, these are 32-bit MCUs based on the Arm Cortex-M0 core, featuring 4 sets of operational amplifiers with 8 MHz gain bandwidth (GBW), 4 sets of 12-bit DAC, up to 16 channels of 2 MSPS 12-bit SAR ADC, a temperature sensor, and extensive I/O options. The MCU supports the NuMaker evaluation board and various third-party IDEs making this an ideal device for industrial sensing, smart sensors, and precision instrumentation applications. Previously we have seen Nuvoton release MA35H0 and MA35D1 both MPUs are based on Cortex-A35 cores, feel free to check those out if you are interested in the topic. Nuvoton NuMicro M091 MCU specifications: Processor ARM Cortex-M0 core Maximum clock speed: 72 MHz Memory Flash – Up to 64 KB SRAM – 8 KB LDROM – 2 KB (for user program loader) SPROM – 512 Bytes (for security protection) Analog Features 4x [...]

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The Lark Weather Station measures wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and air pressure through a range of sensors and connects to popular development boards such as Arduino UNO, ESP32, BBC micro:bit, Raspberry Pi, or DFRobot Unihiker through I2C or UART. We’ve seen several projects for Internet-connection weather stations that retrieve weather data from the web and display the results locally, but the Lark Weather Station allows the users to get atmospheric data right in his/her current location thanks to its built-in anemometer, wind vane, and built-in sensors, as well as expansion interfaces for additional sensors. Lark Weather Station specifications: Storage – 16MB flash good to store about 160 days of data (when data is recorded once per minute) Sensors Compass Anemometer Wind Speed: 0.5~12m/s Cover to protect the anemometer during storage/transport Wind vane and wind direction shaft to report the wind direction (eight directions) Temperature Range –20~60℃ ±0.2℃ Humidity [...]

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Arduino Nano 33 BLE Rev2 is an update to the Arduino Nano 33 BLE board launched in 2019 that features two IMU sensors instead of one with the BMI270 6-axis accelerometer and gyroscope and the BMM150 3-axis magnetometer and also comes with a few changes made after feedback from users. The new board is still powered by an nRF52840 Bluetooth LE module (u-Blox NINA B306) and remains Arduino Nano compatibility with two rows of 15-pin headers, but replaces the 9-axis IMU with the BMI270 and BMM150 chips, adds new pads and test points for USB, SWDIO, and SWCLK, a new VUSB soldering jumper, and brings changes to the power circuitry. Arduino Nano 33 BLE Rev2 specifications: Wireless Module – U-blox NINA B306 module SoC – Nordic Semi nRF52840 MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64MHz Memory and storage – 1MB Flash, 256KB RAM Bluetooth 5.0 LE Up to 2 [...]

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Neat looking build from filiphoertner up on Instructables:

This project is about monitoring air quality indoors and visualizing it in a fun and tangible way. The Air Quality Cloud measures a wide range of air pollution parameters and turns into a toxic purple colour (or really any colour you’d like). The cloud is meant to be hung in the corner of a crowded room, e.g. a classroom and signalizes the need to ventilate.

See more details here.

Mike Rankin posts on GitHub a wall charger mount version of a CO2 monitor has been slowly evolving for a while.

It started out as a sensor on a Qwiic (STEMMA QT) connector but was too messy with the two cables. This version uses a make USB-C connector and is design to push onto a wall charger. No cord or cables of any kind required and to upload a new sketch you can plug it into the side of your laptop.

See more on GitHub.

2023 is the ten-year anniversary of the Cave Pearl Project, with hundreds of data loggers built from various parts in the Arduino ecosystem and deployed for Dr. Patricia Beddows‘ research.

Cheap, simple, stand-alone loggers enable teaching and research opportunities that expensive, complex tools can not. However there are a few trade-offs with this minimalist design: Supporting only Analog & I2C sensors make the course more manageable but losing the DS18b20, which has served us so well over the years, does bring a tear to the eye. Removing the SD card from the previous model means you have to think about memory constraints on run-time. The RTC’s one second minimum means this logger is not suitable for high frequency sampling – so you are not going to use it for experiments in eddy flux covariance or seismology. UV exposure makes the 50ml tubes brittle after about four months in full sun, and the coin cell limits operation to environments that don’t go much below freezing – although it’s easy enough to convert the logger to use two lithium AAA’s and we’ve tested those down to -15°C.

See the video below and how to build the loggers in the post here.

Connecting an older PC PS/2 mouse to an Arduino is fairly simple. With just a few wires, it can be easily integrated into Arduino projects. The mouse can act as a sensor for determining positions or movements of vehicles, robots, for example.

See the video below and more on hackster.io.

Xyla Foxlin and Becky Stern team up to develop DIY version of a bear that senses hugs and transmits them via the internet to a remote bear.

The project uses a number of Adafruit parts including Feather ESP8266 Huzzah boards, MPRLS pressure sensors and vibration motors attached to a permanent breadboard. Programming is via Arduino and  uses the Arduino IoT Cloud service.

See the video below and more in the post here. Via X.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) can have negative consequences for both marine life and human health, so it can be helpful to have early warning of when they’re on the way. Algal blooms deep below the surface can be especially difficult to detect, which is why [kutluhan_aktar] built an AI-assisted algal bloom detector.

After taking images of deep algal blooms with a boroscope, [kutluhan_aktar] trained a machine learning algorithm on them so a Raspberry Pi 4 could recognize future occurrences. For additional water quality information, the device also has an Arduino Nano connected to pH, TDS (total dissolved solids), and water temperature sensors which then are fed to the Pi via a serial connection. Once a potential bloom is spotted, the user can be notified via WhatsApp and appropriate measures taken.

If you’re looking for more environmental sensing hacks, check out the OpenCTD, this swarm of autonomous boats, or this drone buoy riding the Gulf Stream.