TURN YOUR COMPUTER’S SOUND CARD INTO A SCOPE
I’ve been using an oscilloscope for almost 50 years. It’s my go-to measurement instrument in every electronics project I work on, helping me debug and fine-tune hardware and software projects… Keep reading.
BUILD A GEIGER COUNTER TO MONITOR A RADIOACTIVE CAT
When my cat, Maxwell, needed radiation for an over-active thyroid, a Soviet era surplus Geiger tube and an Arduino Uno were pressed into service to monitor the cat’s… Keep reading.
BUILD THIS PROFESSIONAL GRADE DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM
Forty years ago in my first job as a researcher at Bell Labs, I bought a data acquisition system capable of measuring two voltage channels to four digits at 100 samples per second. I could store a buffer of 1,000 points… Keep reading.
MAKE YOUR LED DANCE JUST LIKE A CANDLE
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are the perfect electronic transducer. They convert electric current into light with typically a 10%-30% efficiency, and can respond in sub-microsecond time scales… Keep reading.
WHY YOU NEED AN ANALOG FRONT END AND HOW TO SET IT UP
The analog input to an Arduino Uno has a resolution of only 10 bits. On a 5V scale, this is only about 1 mV of sensitivity. If you need more sensitivity, don’t look at another microcontroller… Keep reading.
POWER SOURCES: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
With few exceptions, every electronics project needs a power source. It’s what makes the electrons go round and round. However, not all power sources are created equal… Keep reading.
ARDUINO BASED DATA ACQUISITION
I love data. Measuring things, plotting the results in a way to instantly visualize the behavior, and — most importantly — analyzing the results. Maybe it’s because of my physics training… Keep reading.