We have sent 100+ loggers to the folks at T4A to help support their revolutionary mapping techniques. Here's a tidbit about their mission focus:
Using GPS devices, the Tracks4Africa (T4A) community when touring Africa do meticulous record keeping of their travels. From this huge repository of high quality GPS data we have created a super accurate GPS map called the T4A Map. But the T4A Map is more than that, it is the collective navigational experience of the T4A community over the past 7 years. It shows Africa the way it is and how it is constantly changing. Click here for more informaton about Tracks4Africa’s maps.
To help us crank out rapid prototype design for customers we are investigating a number of pcb router manufacturers. So far we have been very impressed with samples provided to us by Chris at Accurate CNC. Check out his great little router for about 1/3 the cost of similar german units.
This design is the next iteration on 15W Led Strobe! It took 6 minutes to route and contour cut this bit of kit! Sure beats waiting a week, like we do now, for a sample design to ship.
Saturday, 15 March, 2008
15W LED STROBE
Well, we have been really busy lately and thought we might share one of our latest conceptual designs for a customer. This is a 3 x 5W = 15W high power led strobe for ultralight aviation helicopters - Mosquito! This is an initial proof of concept and is blindingly bright. Once we get certification on 3 mile visibility will continue with manufacturing this design.
Okay, not really. Instead we have recently purchased a Epilog Helix 45W laser in efforts to expand our business services. We will be mainly using the laser to produce low cost stencils for prototype surface mount stencils. Check out a great tutorial from SFE to learn more about how to use these stencils. We hope to have the upgrade to the website to handle this up and running shortly after the New Year!
Tuesday, 11 September, 2007
CHECKOUT CRAIG STANTON ON THE PCT2007
Craig is about to complete the Pacific Coast Trail this month and has been using a V2.0 logger and some solar panels to continuously log his adventures along the West Coast of the US.
Checkout PCT2007 for his latest updates!
See some of the amazing views in his Photo Gallery.
Finally, see the ridculous amount of Google Earth tracks he has created with the SD GPS LOGGER V2.0.
Sunday, 9 September, 2007
5HZ GPS ENGINE UNDERGOING TESTING
Here is an early prototype board for use with the EB-85A gps engine. The neat thing about this engine is its low cost, low power, and 5HZ data output. Initial testing shows great performance and will suit the needs of the motorsports market very well.
See this link for a comparision of the 5Hz data vs the 1 Hz data of the EM406A in Google Earth.
Have you ever seen a kit developed solely for learning how to assemble an electronic circuit of only SMT parts? Did it have BLUE LEDs? I haven't seen one with either! Taking a cue from LADYADA we are in the process of developing a cool SMD version of the MINIPOV3*.
Expect to see all SMT components, acrylic stencil, solder paste, acrylic scraper, solder wick, enclosure, and battery all in one kit for about $30!
A full instructional manual to include schematic and source code (picbasic) will also be provided. Stay tuned as we are in the process of acquiring all the necessary materials for a 50 piece run! In the mean time see more pics at FLICKR
*Ladyada approved our request to improve upon this design
** "HELLO WORLD" is displayed the camera shutter rate cannot be changed!
Sunday, 5 August, 2007
LEARN HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE SD GPS DATALOGGER
I am beginning to adopt a bit of open source mindset on some of our products and wanted to share how we assemble our products. Click on the picture to the left to learn more!
Thursday, 2 August, 2007
LEADTEK LR9101LP - ANTENOVA - USB BREAKOUT BOARD
In the pursuit of the smallest SD GPS datalogger EVER I have developed this proto board to test out 2 new devices. Specifically the small SirfStar III GPS engine from Leadtek and the Radionova passive pcb chip antenna from Antenova. Expect the logger version of this concept to have similar dimensions and a continuous runtime of 30-40 hours from a single nimh or alkaline AA battery!
Board dimensions are 1"x 2" x .25"
Wednesday, 1 August, 2007
NIKON D200 GPS PROTOTYPE
Recently Joe Colson contacted me and wondered if I could help him to develop a GPS input device for his Nikon SLR Camera. Now this has been done before but we would like to use the EM406 do this effectively. In the next month I plan to have a final design done with enclosure for easy mounting to the hot shoe of these cameras. Expect cost to be in the $125 range.
Often when I am submitting designs for prototyping boards I will throw in a couple of random back burner projects. I have been wanting to build an LED table for awhile so I quickly sketched up this design to test out the control chips that I want to use.
Enjoy the soothing blinky blue leds!!!
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Tuesday, 17 July, 2007
IN-18 NIXIE CLOCK PCBS, CASING, AND TUBES ARE IN!!!
It has been a long time coming but everything has finally come together for this Nixie Tube Clock. I have quite a few plans in store for this design. Including an assembly instructional for all of you curious folks out there. Stay tuned. I have 6 IN-18 tubes in stock with more on the way! Expect pricing to be $125.
I had to include a size comparison to the IN-14 tube! The IN-18 really dwarfs the IN-14 of the original design. The original design allows for the ability to simply swap out the pcb that holds the tube. Previous owners of th IN-14 clock can easily upgrade their tube if they so desire. It's no iPhone when its comes to packaging, but I did try and keep things very modular.
Click image to enlarge
Tuesday, 26 June, 2007
I AM BACK FROM 5 WEEKS OF FIELD TRAINING
When I am not designing GPS and Zigbee circuits I am training the future officers of the US Air Force. I just returned from sunny South Dakota and am back to the grind. Click Here to learn more about what I was doing as a Field Training Officer.
Click image to enlarge
Sunday, 6 May, 2007
TAKES A LICKIN' AND KEEPS ON TICKIN'
Paul Adler continues to make his way up Mount Everest, passing nearly 23,000',and the GPS logger is serving him well! Be sure to check out his progress. Paul provides daily updates and even some audio updates. It's all really exciting!
Paul Adler is well underway on his expedition up Mt. Everest. Click on the link to add the internet feed of his progress in Google Earth (best viewed using GE4). Gary Nicholson of www.whererya.com has done a great job of adding in some neat features: Trip Route, Critical Waypoint Descriptions, etc.
Click image to enlarge
Tuesday, 3 April, 2007
New Antenna and SirfStar III Receiver!
From Embedded Works comes the Leadtek LP9101 small form factor SirfStar III gps receiver and the Antenova GPS RADIONOVA® Co-planar Antenna. Both products are being evaluated for implementation in future designs based upon their extremely small package size.
Click image to enlarge
Wednesday, 28 March, 2007
GPS LOGGER VERSION 2.0 - HEADING TO MT. EVEREST
Recently Paul Adler informed me of his 2nd attempt at climbing Mt. Everest this year and requested a GPS LOGGER. I am always looking for new environments to test out the logger and thought this would be a great opportunity to really put the device to the test. Read about Paul's adventure and if things go well will be able to track his progress in google earth!
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Friday, 17 March, 2007
DRIVING TO WORK
Check out my drive to work today with data from the MicroSD GPS Data Logger. The data was taken using the "KML Mode" option and uploaded to GPS VISUALIZER for conversion into a Google Earth file. You can check out these results in Google Earth: Drive to Work.
Click image to
enlarge
Friday, 17 March, 2007
"OHARARP, HOW DO YOU GET SUCH LONG RUNTIMES?
Check out this great article from the "EE Times-Asia | March 16-31, 2007" about the use of buck-boost regulators to maximize the runtime of devices with li-ion batteries. This article was not available when the loggers were designed but does a great job of surmising a portion of the battery management techniques that are implemented in the sd gps logger design.
Click image to
enlarge
Friday, 17 March, 2007
MicroSD GPS LOGGER V3.0
After a bit of work to the MicroSD GPS Logger V1.0 design you can now
see the addition of the "geo-helix" antenna from Sarantel. This antenna provides
a small and compact arrangement for future designs. Limited testing has been done to date but initial results show very quick Time-to-First Fix and the ability to keep and maintain a GPS Fix inside of buildings.
Other additions to this design include a "soft-shutdown" capability to prevent corruption of the data card if power is removed during a write cycle. All the advanced power management modes of the SD GPS Logger V2.0 have also been implemented on this design.
This unit will become available once an enclosure for this module can be procured. Stay tuned!
Friday, 23 February, 2007
OHARARP LLC HELPS
JUDY ON HER TREK!
In preparation for her 3300 mile trek through the Alps of
Europe, Judith Armstrong has chosen to use the SD Logger V2.0 to
share her trips with those following her adventure at Alpine
Challenge. During her preparation I am hoping Judy will
provide some data files generated by the logger for all of us to
checkout via Google Earth.
Judy was provided the "The
Pouch" and a 128 MB SD Card at no cost to help her get out
on the trails as soon as possible.
GOOD LUCK JUDY!!!
Click image to
enlarge
Friday, 23 February, 2007
SD GPS LOGGER V2.0 and "The
Pouch"
It's nearly impossible to isolate
the electronics of the SD Logger from the elements due to the
need to have a usb port and access to the sd card. I have been
searching for a good solution to "insulate" the logger
from the outside world. I recently stumbled upon "The
Pouch"and ordered up a
4.8"x2.2"x.75" pouch for the V2.0 Logger and have
found it to be most useful. Cost is $29.99 and can be ordered
from www.thepouch.com.
Click image to
enlarge
Friday, 23 February, 2007
SD GPS LOGGER V2.0 - Available for
Sale
Well I have finally implemented all of
the power management modes that I could think of to make this a
truly unique product. Initial testing has shown that run times
just over 49 hours can be achieved at 0 second recording
intervals; that is a 39 hour increase over previous designs!
Longer run times are easily realized by setting the sampling
intervals to values between 0 65535 seconds. From 1-59 seconds
the uProcessor will be put into a low power sleep mode to
conserve power. Sampling intervals greater than 60 seconds will
shut down both the gps and sd card.
Having corrected the design mistakes
in the first version everything is working out very well.
Firmware is currently being tested to allow this device to
operate for several months at a time without requiring a
charge.
After some prodding from customers and
an upcoming prototype run I decided to throw in a little breakout
board that would allow 2 solar panels to be connected in parallel
to a 7805 linear regulator. An LED was added with a switch so the
user could identify when the board was making power. These boards
can output 8V@300 mA and should easily provide more than enough
voltage and current to charge the batteries. This setup is
perfect for backpackers and other users looking to ditch their
backup AA batteries.
Only indoor testing has been conducted on
these (its nightime right now) but some 23W florescent bulbs
provided enough voltage to light the LED charging light of the
gps logger!
If you think you might be interested in
obtaining one of these little boards or solar panels please drop
me a line at ohararp@ohararp.com so I can gauge whether I should begin to
stock these items.
PROTOTYPES ARE IN AND
ASSEMBLED! I have been trying out www.4pcb.com
and their "bare bones" pcb offers to prototype some new
designs. This first design is an updated concept of the
SD_GPS_LOGGER. Main difference is that the battery will be
mounted on the top side of the pcb. This allows for only one
circuit shell to be needed and significantly reduces the volume
of the design. The battery has also increased in size from 2000
mAh to 2600 mAh at no extra cost. This would allow for a 30 hour
run time at 5 second recording intervals.
This second design is based on a number of
requests for a SD_GPS_LOGGER with an external antenna. It also
utilizes an SD_MICRO/TRANSFLASH card for an extremely small
package. This "frankenstein" board is going to require
a few mods as can be seen by the photo. It is intended to be used
with an external active antenna. Applications for this device may
include animal tracking and rally car racing. Crazy!
Finally, this is the single tube nixie
clock with a proto design of the IN-18 tube. This tube is
"freakin huge, mon!" It is nearly double the size of
the IN-14 in both height and width. Good thing this was a proto
design since I "accidently" flipped the pinout of the
tube and had to mount it upside down. Future designs will not
have this flaw!
I am not sure why but engineers seem to
have a fascination with clocks and my obsession continues to
grow. My loving wife purchased this BINARY watch for me for XMAS
and I couldn't be happier! Hours our are represented using 4
bits and minutes using 6 bits. It takes a little bit of getting
used to but isn't really all that bad.
Click image to enlarge
Friday, December 15 , 2006
NIXIE CLOCK IS
COMPLETE!
Well
the arrival of the Single Tube Nixie Clock Base makes this
a complete design! The Nixie Clock was designed to be powered by
your computer's usb port so you can show off to all of
your friends how "cool" you are at work! Since desks can often get
crowded and cramped with with crap I wanted
to keep the clock as small as possible. Using the Microchip
18F1220's internal oscillator, HPWM port, and an external 32
KHz crystal the bottom pcb measures only 2.25" in diameter. A
super capacitor was incorporated to allow for short term continuation of timekeeping whenpower isremoved(>24 hrs).
A 2 piece design with genuine
Russian Tubes and Driver IC's was implemented to allow for
different tubes to be easily implemented in future designs at a
minimal cost. Finally, these pcb's are housed within a 3
piece acrylic case for display.
Controller PCB Click image to enlarge
Controller PCB Click image to enlarge
Tube & Driver IC Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
NIXIE CARRIER BOARD IS
IN!!!
My Single Tube Nixie Clock is progressing
right along in time to make for a great stocking stuffer for
friends and family! I just got the top carrier board that holds
the Russian Nixie Tube and High Voltage Driver. Once again the
black solder mask is totally bitchin! Be sure to check out the
latest video that includes the Super Bright (13,000 mcd) blue led
and improved cross fading and blinking code.
After surfing the web over Thanksgiving
weekend I found these really neat waterproof enclosures. I had to
route off some of the edges of the current data logger boards to
get one of them to fit in the case. Future designs will fit into
this enclosure without a problem. You can learn more by checking
out www.otterbox.com. In
case you were wondering the that is a sylish Microchip PIC
18F1220 data sheet that I used for a background!
Click image to
enlarge
Alternate View
Sunday, November 26,
2006
SD GPS DATA LOGGER -
CASE
These pics were recently
submitted by a customer. If anyone is interested you can checkout www.sfbags.com if you are
interested in providing a nice protective case for the
logger.
Click image to
enlarge
Wednesday, November 8,
2006
SINGLE TUBE NIXIE
CLOCK
Christmas is around the corner and I am
still working on my nixie clock and have everything all set as
far as powering the clock from the usb port and the high voltage
conversion. I am playing around with crystals and code to get
everything all dialed in. The final design will be mounted on a
2" circular diameter pcb. This will allow the clock to be
easily mounted inside a 2.25" round acrylic tube. Total
price should be around $30 for the clock. One of the really neat
things about this clock is the allowance for a battery backup
using the LIPO BACKPACK II. With the latest iteration of the
backpack and the 1A current capability you can now power the
clock on its own for over 20 hrs!
Click image to
enlarge
Tuesday, October 31,
2006
LIPO BACKPACK II is completed and
ready for shipment!!!
The latest version of the LIPO BACKPACK is
assembled and looks great. A blue soldermask was used on this
pcb. Its not as dark as I'd like but it still is cool. The
backpack includes protection circuitry, usb charger (5V @500 mA),
and 5V output to a USB B plug. Other features include the use of
an "on-off" switch that is tied to the enable pin of
the converter. Special thanks goes out to "seulater"
from the Sparkfun Electronics forum. Jim and I have been trying
to find a stepup converter that can output more than 120 mA @ 5V.
The TPS61030 can output 2.5V-5.5V at 1A!!! Ipods beware!
Click image to
enlarge
Monday, October 24, 2006
PRODUCTION BOARDS ASSEMBLED AND
READY TO SHIP
Well the first 3 production pcbs have been
assembled! The black soldermask still continues to look awesome.
I was able to get a 500g jar of solder paste from Kester today
for $50. Since I picked it up directly from the distributor I
didn't have to worry about shipping and the extra $30-$50
this would have cost. The use of the solder paste and a mylar
stencil made assembly go alot faster than using just a 12g
syringe. All the components are still placed by hand. I have some
assembly people available for large quantity orders. Otherwise I
am planning to keep small quantities on hand and build to
order.
Click image to
enlarge
Thursday, October 12,
2006
New Circuit Shell Spacers Have
Arrived!!!
These spacers are used to
allow the larger 18650 Lithium Ion cells to be used with in one,
two, and three cell configurations. These were ordered from
www.pololu.com and the look terrific! A mylar stencil was also
ordered to aid in the application of solder paste. Since the
mylar is clear it doesn't come out very well in any of the
pictures I took. I'll try posting some pics when I begin
assembly of the newest boards. I am expecting to have a few units
for sale after the weekend so stay tuned!
Click image to
enlarge
Wednesday, October 11,
2006
New Circuit Boards Arrive!!!
New circuit boards
from www.pcbcart.com have arrived! I have decided to make a run
of 35 SD GPS DATALOGGERS and these pcb's are the culmination
of the prototype designs. I have used a black soldermask for a
cool visual effect and have also implemented rounded corners.
Other changes have been a slight movement of the switch and
extending the overhang to the SD card connector to make inserting
and removing the card a bit easier.
Click image to
enlarge
Tuesday, October 10,
2006
SD GPS LOGGER PIN
CONFIGURATION
By configuring the
different pins of "J4 Serial you can allow the gps data
logger to simultaneously output data and allow you to use a
laptop to provide real time navigation at the same time. The
figure above depicts the manner in which to config the red
jumpers to properly do this. The user is responsible for
providing the real time mapping software and laptop to properly
map their gps location in real time.
Click image to
enlarge
Click image to
enlarge
Sunday, September 17,
2006
3 Cell Li-Ion 18650 7200 mAh
Battery
By combining 3x18650 Li-IOn cell I
have successfully been able to provide 35.6 hours of continuous
operation of the GPS Data logger. These battery packs willl be an
extra option for the gps data logger and to charge usb charging
devices like the Apple IPOD.
On Friday 20 NEW production Circuit Shells
showed up and will quickly be machined for use in the GPS DAta
logger production run!
Tom from Circuit Shell just sent 2 pre
production samples of the enclosure for this design. Having this
cover in clear makes it really easy to see the LED's and to
ensure functionality of all the devices in this project. A slight
bit of machining is required to make space for the on/off switch,
usb connector, and sd card. Overall it makes for a complete
design that I am really happy with! With things ironed out I will
be getting ready to make a production run of these devices here
shortly.
Be sure to check out the startup sequence
file for actual operation of the EM406 and uPIC. It's not to
fancy, but if you like watching led's flash this video is for
you.
Click image to
enlarge
Alternate View
Monday, August 21, 2006
LIPO IPOD CHARGER
After visiting Lady Ada's MINTY BOOST I
thought that the lipo backpack would easily adapt to charging an
IPOD. Sure enough by connecting USB Pin 1 to 5V and the other USB
Pins 2-4 to GND everything works like a charm. Other than that
nothing has changed from the original schematic. Now my
wife can listen to her IPOD Nano on those long play flights
without worry. Version two will probably be tied to 3 parallel
18500 (2400 mAH x 3 = 7200 mAh) batteries and housed in an 1.76
oz Altoids tin. Besure to drop me a line if you are interested ohararp@ohararp.com in
something like this for yourself
Click image to
enlarge
Monday, August 07, 2006
MICROSD DATA LOGGER
CONCEPT
Plans to make a 2.1" x 2.1"
MicroSD datalogger are underway. Here's a "layout"
of how things might look. The pcb is the same one used in the
LIPO BACKPACK
Click image to
enlarge
Alternate View
Wednesday, July 26,
2006
LIPO BATTERY BACKPACK BECOMES A
REALITY!
As previously mentioned this little pcb
was made to complement the power management work I have done with
the gps data logger. It was intended to provide the hobbiest with
the ability to SAFELY work with a 2000 mAh (2C continuous
discharge) lithium polymer battery. The pcb includes a onboard
500mA USB charger, 5V-120 mA regulated outpute, a 3.3V-120 mA
regulated output, and finally Protection Circuit Module (PCM)
which provides:
* Overcharge Protection
voltage for single cell: 4.35V +/- 0.025V
* Overdischarge Protection voltage for single cell: 2.40V
+/-0.08V
* Overcurrent detection Protection 3.5 A +/-1A
* Supply current: MAX 6uA
* Short circuit Protection
* 0 V charge
* Protection circuitry
* Resistance: <= 80m ohms
**Special Note: 4 Lithium ion batteries can safely be hooked up
in PARALLEL to the PCM to provide ~8000 mAh to an application.
Other safety precautions were used to completely "hide"
the exposed leads of the battery to prevent shorts by items found
on the workbench or enclosures!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Leveraging the lessons I learned from
incorporating lipo technology into the gps data logger I figured
I'd try and share this knowledge. I have designeda pcb with a
protection circuit module ( http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=549),
two on board step-up/step-down converters (MCP1252-33x50) that
provide a regulated 5V and 3.3V at 120mA, and on board usb
charging (MCP73831-2DC) at 100 mA-500mA for use with SFE's
2000mAh LIPO battery ( http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=340).
PCB's are on order and once they are finished I'll post
some more pictures. These boards will also be available for
purchase very shortly ($25 w/out battery)...staytuned
Thursday, July 20, 2006
After viewing
requests from forums I have decided to add the abiility for my
gps data logger to include the ability to record pertinent GPS
dilution of precision data of each sample. I'll be working
the code tonight and will have an example of the output up
shortly. Some good links on DOP:
A breakdown of what DOP values are acceptable are below:
Very Good 1-3
Good 4-5
Fair 6
Suspect >6
Click image to
enlarge
Click image to
enlarge
Wednesday, July 19,
2006
A new
batch of EM406's have just arrived and I can
continue product development on this device. I am currently
sorting out some issues related to current consumption and overall reliability.
To address these issues I will be adding an addionational steup converter
to the design. In this manner the EM406, the SD
Card, and the 18F4620 will each have their own dedicated power source.
Previously the EM406 and 18F4620 were sharing a power source. I
have also stepped up to use a 2000 mAh lithium polymer battery
versus the previous 14550 AA sized lithium ion battery of 750
mAh.Finally,thenextbigchangetothedesignhasbeentheadditionofaFTDIFT232RLusb->serial converter. Now the usb mini b port can be used to
talk directly to the EM406 while also charging the lipo battery
and powering the complete circuit. Overall I am pretty excited
about the additional features; but this will push back the
release date.
Wednesday, July 12,
2006
I wanted to address the data being
provided by the SD GPS Datalogger and how this information is
most easily transferred to google earth. I have provided an
example of my drive to my "real job". Basically the
logger saves the travel of the adventurer in .csv format (see
screen capture and .zip below). There is a lot of data available
that can be included at each log point (LATITUDE, LONGITUDE,
ALTITUDE, HEADING,SPEED, SATELLITES, FIX, UTC TIME, DATE). This
is represented by the picture below and the GPSXX004.CSV file. A
subset of this data (LAT,LONG,ALT) is found in GPSXX004a.CSV and
is easily loaded into www.gpsvisualizer.com via the web. GPS
Visualizer produces the actual KML/KMZ file for use with google
earth. GPS Visualizer allows you to really customize the way the
data is viewed. You can add topo and aerial photo overlays,
waypoints at predetermined intervals, etc. It is really a
powerful tool and supports a variety of gps data formats. If
anybody has any questions feel free to drop me a line.
Click image to
enlarge
Friday, July 07, 2006
This is the gps data logger that I
designed just recently. I just got the first one assembled. The
EM406 gps uses the latest SIRFSTAR III chipset to make sure you
get a signal in areas of dense foliage, canyons, and even inside
buildings depending on the construction technique. Battery is a
3.6V lithium ion type large enough to provide 8 hours of
continuous operation and can be replaced with a fresh battery or
charged/powered via a usb port at 100mA. The SD memory card can
be as large as 2GB and up to 255 files can be on the card at a
time. The time and date of each file is also recorded when the
file is created and updated. Recording options allow for direct
recording of NMEA output from the gps or processed data. Either
option is configurable via a CONFIG.TXT file.
To help us crank out rapid prototype design for customers we are investigating a number of pcb router manufacturers. So far we have been very impressed with samples provided to us by Chris at Accurate CNC. Check out his great little router for about 1/3 the cost of similar german units.
This design is the next iteration on 15W Led Strobe! It took 6 minutes to route and contour cut this bit of kit! Sure beats waiting a week, like we do now, for a sample design to ship.
Saturday, 15 March, 2008
15W LED STROBE
Well, we have been really busy lately and thought we might share one of our latest conceptual designs for a customer. This is a 3 x 5W = 15W high power led strobe for ultralight aviation helicopters - Mosquito! This is an initial proof of concept and is blindingly bright. Once we get certification on 3 mile visibility will continue with manufacturing this design.
Okay, not really. Instead we have recently purchased a Epilog Helix 45W laser in efforts to expand our business services. We will be mainly using the laser to produce low cost stencils for prototype surface mount stencils. Check out a great tutorial from SFE to learn more about how to use these stencils. We hope to have the upgrade to the website to handle this up and running shortly after the New Year!
Tuesday, 11 September, 2007
CHECKOUT CRAIG STANTON ON THE PCT2007
Craig is about to complete the Pacific Coast Trail this month and has been using a V2.0 logger and some solar panels to continuously log his adventures along the West Coast of the US.
Checkout PCT2007 for his latest updates!
See some of the amazing views in his Photo Gallery.
Finally, see the ridculous amount of Google Earth tracks he has created with the SD GPS LOGGER V2.0.
Sunday, 9 September, 2007
5HZ GPS ENGINE UNDERGOING TESTING
Here is an early prototype board for use with the EB-85A gps engine. The neat thing about this engine is its low cost, low power, and 5HZ data output. Initial testing shows great performance and will suit the needs of the motorsports market very well.
See this link for a comparision of the 5Hz data vs the 1 Hz data of the EM406A in Google Earth.
Have you ever seen a kit developed solely for learning how to assemble an electronic circuit of only SMT parts? Did it have BLUE LEDs? I haven't seen one with either! Taking a cue from LADYADA we are in the process of developing a cool SMD version of the MINIPOV3*.
Expect to see all SMT components, acrylic stencil, solder paste, acrylic scraper, solder wick, enclosure, and battery all in one kit for about $30!
A full instructional manual to include schematic and source code (picbasic) will also be provided. Stay tuned as we are in the process of acquiring all the necessary materials for a 50 piece run! In the mean time see more pics at FLICKR
*Ladyada approved our request to improve upon this design
** "HELLO WORLD" is displayed the camera shutter rate cannot be changed!
Sunday, 5 August, 2007
LEARN HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE SD GPS DATALOGGER
I am beginning to adopt a bit of open source mindset on some of our products and wanted to share how we assemble our products. Click on the picture to the left to learn more!
Thursday, 2 August, 2007
LEADTEK LR9101LP - ANTENOVA - USB BREAKOUT BOARD
In the pursuit of the smallest SD GPS datalogger EVER I have developed this proto board to test out 2 new devices. Specifically the small SirfStar III GPS engine from Leadtek and the Radionova passive pcb chip antenna from Antenova. Expect the logger version of this concept to have similar dimensions and a continuous runtime of 30-40 hours from a single nimh or alkaline AA battery!
Board dimensions are 1"x 2" x .25"
Wednesday, 1 August, 2007
NIKON D200 GPS PROTOTYPE
Recently Joe Colson contacted me and wondered if I could help him to develop a GPS input device for his Nikon SLR Camera. Now this has been done before but we would like to use the EM406 do this effectively. In the next month I plan to have a final design done with enclosure for easy mounting to the hot shoe of these cameras. Expect cost to be in the $125 range.
Often when I am submitting designs for prototyping boards I will throw in a couple of random back burner projects. I have been wanting to build an LED table for awhile so I quickly sketched up this design to test out the control chips that I want to use.
Enjoy the soothing blinky blue leds!!!
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Click image to enlarge
Tuesday, 17 July, 2007
IN-18 NIXIE CLOCK PCBS, CASING, AND TUBES ARE IN!!!
It has been a long time coming but everything has finally come together for this Nixie Tube Clock. I have quite a few plans in store for this design. Including an assembly instructional for all of you curious folks out there. Stay tuned. I have 6 IN-18 tubes in stock with more on the way! Expect pricing to be $125.
I had to include a size comparison to the IN-14 tube! The IN-18 really dwarfs the IN-14 of the original design. The original design allows for the ability to simply swap out the pcb that holds the tube. Previous owners of th IN-14 clock can easily upgrade their tube if they so desire. It's no iPhone when its comes to packaging, but I did try and keep things very modular.
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Tuesday, 26 June, 2007
I AM BACK FROM 5 WEEKS OF FIELD TRAINING
When I am not designing GPS and Zigbee circuits I am training the future officers of the US Air Force. I just returned from sunny South Dakota and am back to the grind. Click Here to learn more about what I was doing as a Field Training Officer.
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Sunday, 6 May, 2007
TAKES A LICKIN' AND KEEPS ON TICKIN'
Paul Adler continues to make his way up Mount Everest, passing nearly 23,000',and the GPS logger is serving him well! Be sure to check out his progress. Paul provides daily updates and even some audio updates. It's all really exciting!
Paul Adler is well underway on his expedition up Mt. Everest. Click on the link to add the internet feed of his progress in Google Earth (best viewed using GE4). Gary Nicholson of www.whererya.com has done a great job of adding in some neat features: Trip Route, Critical Waypoint Descriptions, etc.
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Tuesday, 3 April, 2007
New Antenna and SirfStar III Receiver!
From Embedded Works comes the Leadtek LP9101 small form factor SirfStar III gps receiver and the Antenova GPS RADIONOVA® Co-planar Antenna. Both products are being evaluated for implementation in future designs based upon their extremely small package size.
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Wednesday, 28 March, 2007
GPS LOGGER VERSION 2.0 - HEADING TO MT. EVEREST
Recently Paul Adler informed me of his 2nd attempt at climbing Mt. Everest this year and requested a GPS LOGGER. I am always looking for new environments to test out the logger and thought this would be a great opportunity to really put the device to the test. Read about Paul's adventure and if things go well will be able to track his progress in google earth!
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Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Friday, 17 March, 2007
DRIVING TO WORK
Check out my drive to work today with data from the MicroSD GPS Data Logger. The data was taken using the "KML Mode" option and uploaded to GPS VISUALIZER for conversion into a Google Earth file. You can check out these results in Google Earth: Drive to Work.
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Friday, 17 March, 2007
"OHARARP, HOW DO YOU GET SUCH LONG RUNTIMES?
Check out this great article from the "EE Times-Asia | March 16-31, 2007" about the use of buck-boost regulators to maximize the runtime of devices with li-ion batteries. This article was not available when the loggers were designed but does a great job of surmising a portion of the battery management techniques that are implemented in the sd gps logger design.
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Friday, 17 March, 2007
MicroSD GPS LOGGER V3.0
After a bit of work to the MicroSD GPS Logger V1.0 design you can now
see the addition of the "geo-helix" antenna from Sarantel. This antenna provides
a small and compact arrangement for future designs. Limited testing has been done to date but initial results show very quick Time-to-First Fix and the ability to keep and maintain a GPS Fix inside of buildings.
Other additions to this design include a "soft-shutdown" capability to prevent corruption of the data card if power is removed during a write cycle. All the advanced power management modes of the SD GPS Logger V2.0 have also been implemented on this design.
This unit will become available once an enclosure for this module can be procured. Stay tuned!
Friday, 23 February, 2007
OHARARP LLC HELPS
JUDY ON HER TREK!
In preparation for her 3300 mile trek through the Alps of
Europe, Judith Armstrong has chosen to use the SD Logger V2.0 to
share her trips with those following her adventure at Alpine
Challenge. During her preparation I am hoping Judy will
provide some data files generated by the logger for all of us to
checkout via Google Earth.
Judy was provided the "The
Pouch" and a 128 MB SD Card at no cost to help her get out
on the trails as soon as possible.
GOOD LUCK JUDY!!!
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Friday, 23 February, 2007
SD GPS LOGGER V2.0 and "The
Pouch"
It's nearly impossible to isolate
the electronics of the SD Logger from the elements due to the
need to have a usb port and access to the sd card. I have been
searching for a good solution to "insulate" the logger
from the outside world. I recently stumbled upon "The
Pouch"and ordered up a
