Artificial Intelligence is a multi-disciplinary field that deals with making computers/machines intelligent like humans. Theoretically, it aims at simulating human cognitive functions and excelling them even better than humans. This theoretical concept of artificial intelligence is known as “Artificial General Intelligence”. AI, from the view of its concept, is still in its infancy. Despite that,…
What is Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing?
Data science is set to prevail in the 21st century. By the late 1900s, computers had already become an inseparable part of human civilization, all thanks to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. This followed the glorious rise of the internet all across the globe. Then with mobile phones, smartphones, and wearables, almost every person on…
Color generation using RGB LED, Arduino, and potentiometer
RGB LED is a combination of three LEDs red-green-blue together. It has four terminals – either anode or cathode, and the other three are for these three colors. Interestingly, when two colors inside the LED are turned ON simultaneously, the LED gives a different color. Also, as the amount or intensity of any color in…
IoT liquid (oil) level monitoring system
In this article, we will make a device that will monitor liquid levels in water/oil or any tank. The monitored level information will be sent to a monitoring station. This can be helpful to monitor some water tanks installed at a place where humans cannot frequently reach and at places that are toxic, like labs…
Fingerprint-based access control system using Arduino and R307/Adafruit fingerprint sensor
Optical fingerprint scanners are prominent security devices nowadays. These scanners are low-cost and easy to use with any embedded hardware platform. The scanners have built-in memory and a controller to store and compare fingerprints. Usually, optical fingerprint scanners have a USB and/or UART port to communicate with external controllers or computers. The scanner handles enrollment…
8-, 16- and 32-bit MCUs, are more bits better?
Are more bits better in an MCU? That’s similar to asking: are more cylinders better in an internal combustion engine (ICE)? Peripherals and other features matter, not just bits (or cylinders). For example, in the 1980s, Volvo offered a station wagon with a turbo-V4 engine that was faster off the line than Chevrolet Corvette with…
What are different types of biometric sensors?
The term “Biometrics” is derived from “bio’” which means life, and “metrics”, which means measurement. Biometrics is developing for use in various technologies, including the unique identification and recognition of people. The technology at its current juncture is widely used in security and surveillance systems. Biometrics also has the possibility of converging with other technologies…
Switches: The complete guide
From DIP, rotary DIP, and slide switches to tactile, rocker, push button, and toggle switches, there is a nearly limitless range of mechanical switches differing in size, shape, interfaces, and features. Although a relatively basic component in electronic design, each switch type has its benefits, drawbacks, and ideal use cases. Because all switches serve a…
How to use Raspberry Pi camera module with Python
One of the main attractions of the Raspberry Pi platform is its camera module. At present, Raspberry Pi Foundation offers three camera modules: • Camera Module 2 • Camera Module 2 NoIR • Raspberry Pi High-Quality Camera The camera module 2 is a replacement for the original camera module in April 2016. The V2 module…
Arduino-based walking steps and distance calculator
A very common feature in Android and iOS fitness apps is calculating the number of steps the user walks and the distance he covers. These apps calculate the number of steps walked by the user either using GPS location and manipulating the geospatial data or by monitoring the acceleration vector of the device using an…
What are Zener diodes?
A Zener diode is one of the diode types that is often used at any electronics bench. That is because Zener diodes are almost always used in power supply circuits and wave shaping circuits. Zener diodes are just like a regular PN junction diode, athough it is heavily doped. This makes the diode behave differently…
Battery configurations (series and parallel) and their protections
A single cell is not sufficient for some devices. To achieve desired voltage, the cells are connected in series to add the voltage of cells. To achieve the desired capacity, the cells are connected in parallel to get high capacity by adding ampere-hour (Ah). This combination of cells is called a battery. Sometimes battery packs…
How to generate PWM-based dual sine waves
By Krupa Bhavsar, Applications Engineer, Dialog Semiconductor Sine waves are continuous waves, which describe a smooth periodic oscillation. These waves are generally used in signal processing and engineering fields In this article, dual sine waves with opposite polarity as shown in Figure 1 are generated without coarse PWM “steps”. For generating sine waves, one PWM…
Arduino-based portable pollution monitor with OLED display
A majority of middle-aged people suffer from health issues like asthma and breathing problems, particularly in cities. Air pollution is the major cause of it. In this project, we have designed a portable device that detects different air pollution metrics and displays them on a small OLED screen. People with respiratory issues can use the…
Centralized control system for IoT devices
In this project, we will be creating a single control center for all of our IoT devices. We will control all of our IoT devices with just one single tool and get the status of all of them live on a single screen. We can implement these types of control centers for most of the…
What is Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrencies are getting popular day by day. Bitcoin was the first-ever cryptocurrency and is the most popular one right now. At present, there are more than 6700 cryptocurrencies around the world. In the future, where the world may go cashless with different kinds of electronic money, and all financial transactions may become digital, cryptocurrencies have…
What are the different types of fingerprint scanners?
Fingerprint scanners, which were once reserved for biometric logging systems and attendance systems, are now part of regular smartphones and much more. Fingerprints have been a trusted method of personal identity. Combined with face id or other biometric identification systems like retina scanning, fingerprints offer an impeccable way to recognize any person. With a blast…
DC motor controller using rotary encoder
Controlling a DC motor means: Start and stop the motor Change the running direction of the motor as forward (CW) or reverse (CCW) Vary motor speed (RPM) All different types of DC motor controllers control the speed and direction of the motor. They use different types of input devices like Two push-buttons (or maybe a…
Battery voltage/usage monitoring using Arduino and Simulink
Simulink and MatLab are great tools to simulate and analyze an application. Simulink offers blocks (software, hardware, arithmetic, functional, electrical, etc.) which can be put together for monitoring or generating various kinds of functions and controls. Putting blocks together gives a clear image of the system. Through blocks, control and data flow sequentially. Let’s see…
Wireless Sensor Network example using Arduino
A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of the following: One central receiver (for monitoring, storage, and controlling) Several wireless sensor nodes The wireless sensor node is a battery-powered or solar-powered circuit that senses any physical quantity (like temperature, pressure, flow, soil moisture, gas, smoke, etc.) and transmits its value to a remote receiver. It consists…