Fingerprint scanners, which were once reserved for biometric logging systems and attendance systems, are now part of regular smartphones and much more. Fingerprints have been a trusted method of personal identity. Combined with face id or other biometric identification systems like retina scanning, fingerprints offer an impeccable way to recognize any person. With a blast […]
What is IOTA?
IOTA is a cryptocurrency designed to add economics to the internet of machines. IOTA is quite different from thousands of other cryptocurrencies. Some key highlights of IOTA are as follows: IOTA is specifically designed for the Internet of Things. IOTA does not use blockchain technology; instead, it is based on Tangle technology. IOTA has theoretically […]
The pros and cons of the Raspberry Pi 400
In many ways, Raspberry Pi falls short as a full-fledged personal computer. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has tried to change this with its latest addition, the Raspberry Pi 400. Launched in November of 2020, the Raspberry Pi 400 is a single-board computer in the form of a keyboard, retailing at $70 per unit or $100 […]
How to design an Arduino-based EMG monitor
Electromyography (EMG) is a medical procedure that evaluates the health conditions of muscles and nerve cells. These cells transmit electrical signals that cause muscles to contract or relax. EMG is used to read these signals and plot them as numbers or graphs. Typically, EMG is performed by doctors as one part of a diagnostic tool […]
What are the AMBA protocols?
As electronic miniaturization has been an all-time goal of chip manufacturers, motherboard-based computer/electronic systems have been eventually replaced by System-on-Chip (SoC) and Package-on-Package (PoP) ICs. Complex computer systems are now condensed to smartphones and other handheld devices. These sophisticated electronic devices and gadgets have an SoC at their heart which manages complete computing and control. […]
What is the Z-Wave protocol?
Smart homes need wireless connectivity, and Z-wave has emerged as the ultimate solution for home automation. The Z-wave protocol is a wireless, radio frequency protocol designed primarily for smart home networks. All the existing wireless communication protocols had one or the other problem. Bluetooth and Zigbee often shortfall of range while Wi-Fi poses its own […]
What are the different types of light sensors?
Light sensors or photosensors, which are designed to measure light intensity, are one of the most commonly used sensors in electronic applications. Light intensity is one of the seven base physical quantities. The measurement of light intensity is useful in many consumer, industrial, and security applications. What is a light sensor? A light sensor is […]
How to design an LDR light/dark sensor using Arduino
Light sensors are widely used in electronic applications. The most common one used is a photoresistor or light-dependent resistor. Despite a long response time, this sensor is inexpensive and useful in several applications. A photoresistor consists of a zigzag track of photo-sensitive semiconductors. It offers pure resistance although this is dependent on the ambient light. […]
What is the HART protocol?
Data communication over analog signals is a common process. In automation, the data is communicated to and from controllers with several different process instruments. Quality is important as the controllers and smart instruments must communicate over long distances. Additionally, the data communication between a device and a controller must be dictated by a protocol (i.e. […]
How does the SPI protocol work?
In the previous tutorial, we discussed interfacing with the ADXL345 accelerometer sensor with Raspberry Pi using the I2C interface. UART, I2C, and SPI are the most common serial communication interfaces used in embedded systems. UART is used for point-to-point full-duplex asynchronous serial communication between two devices. I2C is used for synchronous serial communication among multiple […]