40 cent DIY pressure sensor based on a capacitive principle

Lately I am spending a lot of time working on Fochica. Fochica is a system that alerts parents if they unknowingly leave a child in a car. The Fochica device is Arduino-based, installed in a vehicle and communicates with the parents’ smartphones via Bluetooth. Fochica is a finalist in the Hackaday Prize 2017 competition and … Read more

Efficient DC 12V to 5V conversion for low-power electronics, evaluation of six modules

I am currently working on a vehicle-installed Arduino project. The device is designed to be powered constantly and I decided to use the car battery as the constant power source. I am designing the device for low power consumption, consuming 50mA or less, ’cause who wants to get stuck with a flat battery, right? Car … Read more

MLT-BT05 BLE module – a clone of a clone??

Previously I covered the HM-10 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module and its clone, the CC41-A.  Those are two popular modules that allow simple BLE communication through a serial interface and are handy with Arduinos and other hobby micro controllers. Make sure you read that article first as it provides important background for this curious update. … Read more

HM-10 or CC41-A module? Automatic Arduino BLE module identification

Lately I am working a lot with Arduino, which is a new field for me, hence fewer posts. Arduino is a very popular entry level embedded electronics platform. My latest Arduino project features Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication. Arduino boards have no built-in BLE capabilities so I was looking to add a BLE module to … Read more

Capturing and reversing wireless keyboard signal

Scanning

Recently I have made a presentation at the “Software Defined Radio Israel” meetup about my work capturing and reversing wireless keyboard signals. I focused on a “Rapoo E2700 keyboard and track-pad” but we also discussed the broader challenge of such capturing for SDR enthusiasts. The project involved capturing 2.4Ghz wireless signal with an RTL-SDR dongle … Read more

Why use – Fosphor, a GNU Radio real-time spectrum analyzer?

Lately I have been experimenting with Software Defined Radio, SDR, which is a software-based radio signal processing system. I find this field intriguing. I can capture all kinds of signals in the air and get a better understanding of how technologies and gadgets around me operate. During my exploration of SDR I discovered one tool … Read more