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SubPos: A non-GPS based local positioning system

Posted on April 28, 2015 by R-B Leave a comment

SubPos is a WiFi-based local positioning system designed using PIC microcontrollers and ESP8266 modules by Blecky on Hackaday.IO. SubPos is an indoor positioning system that can be used in various environments such as metro lines, shopping malls, carparks, art galleries or conference centers, essentially anywhere GPS doesn’t penetrate. SubPos defines an accurate method for subterraneous positioning in different environments by exploiting all the capabilities of Wi-Fi. SubPos Nodes or existing Wi-Fi access points are used to transmit encoded information in a beacon frame that is utilised for position trilateration.

Personal Air Conditioner Powered from Solar Energy

Posted on April 26, 2015 by R-B 3 comments

This personal air conditioner is specially designed for outdoor use and runs over solar power. It uses a copper tube with circulating ice water through it to work as a heat exchanger. A small water pump helps to circulate the ice water, while a small fan distributes the cool air.

RF detection using a common LED

Posted on April 26, 2015 by R-B Leave a comment

Hardware hacker b.kainka has posted on Hackaday.io a very interesting trick of detecting a RF signal using an everyday LED and ATtiny13 microcontroller (other microcontrollers should work too). I am using the ATtiny13 on the Sparrow board. https://hackaday.io/project/4926-cheepit-sparrow-dev-boards-for-smartphones LED2 is connected to port B.3 which is ADC(3) as well. So why not connect an Antenna here. The LED should work as a detector diode. A bias voltage is needed. So I should switch on the internal pullup. Now it works fine! Don’t believe it? Watch the video. To get it sensitive enough I had to use one more trick. I switch on

Quick Review of a cheap Chinese component tester

Posted on April 24, 2015 by R-B Leave a comment

Adam Fabio has posted a quick review of a cheap Chinese brand multifunctional component tester on Hackaday. He found its build quality was very cheap, but he was also amazed with its features and functionalities, including ohmmeter, capacitance meter, transistor tester, etc, which worked amazingly well with a reasonable accuracy. Powered with Atmega328 microcontroller, this component tester can be purchased for ~ $20 on eBay and Aliexpress. I didn’t have huge expectations for the tester, but I hoped it would at least power up. Hooking up a 9 volt battery and pressing the magic button brought the tester to life.

DIY bike speedometer

Posted on April 23, 2015 by R-B One comment

Check out this detailed build of Arduino-powered speedometer to monitor your bike speed on road. The project uses a reed switch to sense the rotation of one of the bike’s wheels. The Arduino reads in the reed switch closings and calculates the bike speed in mph. The calculated speed is displayed on a LCD screen. The speedometer is calibrated by defining the radious of the wheel in the firmware. Secure both the magnet and reed switch to your bike wheel with electrical tape (either wheel is fine). As shown in the images above, the magnet connects to one of the tire

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