October | 2011 | Embedded Lab

Monthly Archives: October 2011

How to use mikroElektronika’s GLCD bitmap editor tool to convert a BMP image in to a data array

Posted on October 24, 2011 by R-B 6 comments

This tutorial describes how to use the mikroElektronika’s GLCD bitmap editor tool to convert a monochromatic bit map (BMP) image file into a data array so that it could be displayed on a graphics LCD using a microcontroller. The GLCD bitmap editor tool is embedded into mikroElektronika’s compilers. It can generate a code equivalent of a BMP image, which can be easily inserted into the microcontroller’s source program.

Low cost temperature data logger using PIC and Processing

Posted on October 16, 2011 by R-B 35 comments

This project describes an easy and inexpensive way of adding a digital thermometer and data logging feature to a PC. It involves a PIC microcontroller that gets the surrounding temperature information from the Microchip MCP9701 sensor, and sends it to a PC through an USB-UART interface. The USB port of the PC is also used to power the device. The open-source Processing programming platform is used to develop a PC application that displays the temperature in a graphics window on the computer screen. The PC application also records the temperature samples plus date and time stamps on an ASCII file.

Introducing the AmiPIC18 LCD shield

Posted on October 10, 2011 by R-B 4 comments

Last month I reviewed the Amicus18 development board, which is an Arduino-style platform with a PIC microcontroller. The Amicus18 board is physically compatible with Arduino shields. However, the default PIC processor on the board is a 3.3 V type, which could be an issue while interfacing some of the shields that strictly operate at +5V. As a support to the users of the Amicus18 development board, Gevo Electronics from The Netherlands has designed a special shield, named AmiPIC18 LCD. Although the name says it is a LCD shield, but in real it provides a lot more features, which we will be

MikroElektronika releases EasyPIC v7

Posted on October 8, 2011 by R-B Leave a comment

MikroElektronika has just released EasyPIC v7, a latest edition to its successful EasyPIC series development boards for PIC microcontrollers. ” This is a very special day for us. We are excited and honored to present you with the new version of our famous brand – EasyPIC v7 is here! We’ve asked ourselves what can we do to improve such an amazing board as EasyPIC6, and even if it seemed like a tough assignment, we have done some outstanding interventions in design and functionality, and made a new board no one can stay indifferent to. For the first time in EasyPIC’s almost 10-year history, we’ve

Make your own animated LED Christmas sign

Posted on October 6, 2011 by R-B 17 comments

Last year I made a simple LED Christmas sign with very basic animation effects controlled by a PIC MCU. One of my friends, who visited us during the last Christmas, liked it and asked me the recipe of the project so that he could make something similar to decorate his front porch during the next Christmas. In response I gave him the link on my blog where I have described the details of the project. As Christmas is just couple months away, I got an email from him two weeks ago, saying that he has just started working on the project.