VoltJots Issue 21

Issue 21

Author

VoltJots
December 12, 2024

Welcome to the 21st edition of the VoltJots newsletter, with links to the very best news, projects, and products to help you get your regular electronics fix.

Here are some of this week's highlights: in the news section, Farnell is celebrating the distribution of over 10 million BBC micro:bits, plus, Arduino’s moving to the Zephyr OS after ARM discontinued its Mbed OS — apparently, it’s faster to compile and packed with cool features like threading and real-time scheduling.

In the projects section, check out a host of creations, such as:

  • the Arduino earthquake alarm,

  • a 3-phase, brushless motor driver for motors up to 5A, and

  • an Arduino-powered headband that gives you a “sixth sense” with vibrations for distance sensing.

There’s also a pretty neat guide to asynchronous programming in MicroPython for ESP32 and ESP8266.

And finally, in the products section, if tiny but mighty is your thing, the Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S2 WiFi dev board’s worth a look. And....before you go, don’t miss Arduino’s Nano Matter dev board — it’s built for smart homes with Matter protocol, Bluetooth, and Thread connectivity.

Hope you enjoy! Until next week,

VoltJots

Farnell has reached a milestone of distributing over 10 million BBC micro:bit computers, which has helped inspire young people, particularly from diverse backgrounds, to learn digital skills and pursue careers in STEM fields.

Raspberry Pi is releasing two new products: the Raspberry Pi 500, a $90 all-in-one desktop computer, and the Raspberry Pi Monitor, a $100 display device designed to work seamlessly with the Pi 500.

Bytesnap highlights key trends for 2025, including advances in AI integration, the rise of smart devices, and the push for sustainable tech solutions.

Arduino's ditching ARM's discontinued Mbed for the more flexible Zephyr OS, which brings with it faster compile times, and access to some awesome features such as threading, inter-process communication, and real-time scheduling.

Researchers at Lero, a University of Limerick-based research centre, have successfully designed and fabricated a silicon chip entirely using machine learning, paving the way for a new high-tech export-based industry in Ireland.

Build an Arduino-based Earthquake Detector Alarm, complete with a Seismic Graph, using an ADXL335 accelerometer to detect tilting or shaking movements and triggering a buzzer or LED alarm when a predefined threshold is exceeded.

This cool headband uses Arduino to provide time-of-flight distance sensing that turns feedback into vibrations, giving users a unique sixth sense for spatial awareness.

Learn how to use asynchronous programming in MicroPython on ESP32 and ESP8266 to run multiple tasks simultaneously without blocking.

Discover how isolation amplifiers use optical, capacitive, or magnetic isolation techniques to separate input and output signals, enhance signal accuracy, and improve safety in applications.

Learn how to build an IoT-based ECG monitoring system using the AD8232 ECG sensor and ESP8266 to capture and wirelessly transmit heart rate data to a web server.

Explore how to use the Florence-2 Vision-Language Model (VLM) on a Raspberry Pi to enable real-time computer vision applications like image captioning, and object detection.

A compact board that drives 3-phase motors with currents up to 5A and a power supply range of 12V to 60V DC.

Tiny, yet powerful: the Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S2 WiFi dev board features a UFL antenna port, Stemma QT compatibility, and a compact design ideal for various projects.

Arduino's new Nano Matter dev board features Silicon Labs' MGM240S chip, integrates Matter protocol support for seamless smart home interactions, and brings Bluetooth and Thread connectivity in a compact design ready for various projects.

GaN technology revolutionizes power electronics with faster switching speeds, higher efficiency, and smaller form factors compared to traditional silicon.

These wireless combo modules (Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.4) offer global connectivity, plug-and-play simplicity, and energy efficiency, making it suitable for battery-powered IoT devices.

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