Tag Archives: mbed


New STM32 Nucleo development boards are mbed-enabled and support Arduino connectivity

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STMicroelectronics reveals affordable, extensible platform called STM32 Nucleo for efficient prototyping with STM32 Microcontrollers. The STM32 Nucleo development boards are mbed supported, and have Arduino pin headers on board so that the tons of existing Arduino shields can be easily used with these boards.

STM32 Nucleo board

STM32 Nucleo board

The new STM32 Nucleo boards are mbed-enabled, and support Arduino connectivity while also providing ST Morpho extension headers that allow access to all of the microcontroller’s on-chip peripherals. As an mbed-enabled board, developers can make use of the mbed open source software platform, online tools and collaboration infrastructure at mbed.org. The board’s Arduino headers accept shields from the extensive Arduino ecosystem, allowing developers to add specialized functionality quickly and easily. ST will also offer its own dedicated shields supporting functions such as Bluetooth® LE or Wi-Fi® connectivity, GPS, audio recording leveraging the Company’s MEMS microphone expertise, proximity sensing, and wireless control.

mbed powered automated Sun tracker

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Maximizing power output from a solar system is desirable to increase efficiency. One way of maximizing power output is by keeping the solar panels always aligned with the sun. This requires a means of tracking the sun. Here is an mbed powered solar tracker that continuously keeps track of the sun and points the solar panels directly towards the sun all the time.

mbed powered solar tracker

The project uses two smaller solar cells (besides the large solar pannels) placed right angle to each other. The alignment of the big solar panels and smaller solar cells is such that when the solar panels are directly facing to the sun, the output voltages from then two smaller cells are almost equal. The mbed microcontroller reads the voltages via two of its analog inputs, compare them, and rotates a motor connected to the antenna rotator to move it so as to keep the voltages from the two solar cells nearly equal.