Embedded Development Club

Rob Miles

Department of Computer Science

University of Hull

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Agenda

• Why Fiddle with Hardware?

• What Kind of Hardware Can you Fiddle With?

– Arduino– Raspberry Pi– Electric Imp– Gadgeteer

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Why would you Fiddle with Hardware?• It is cheap

– You can get started with lots of lovely hardware for less than the price of a video game

– All of the software and tools are free

• It is fun

– The tools and libraries that are available make it very easy to get interesting contraptions working

– There is always new stuff coming along to play wity

• It might even be useful one day

– You might end up with a useful gadget– You might get a job based on your new skills

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Arduino

• Single board micro controller

• Costs around 10 pounds

• Lots of inputs and outputs to talk to hardware

• Not a PC (or even a Pi) but plenty powerful enough to be properly useful

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Programming Arduino

• You program the Arduino in C++

– But it is best to regard it as C

• The Arduino toolchain includes a compiler and a downloader to put the code in the device

• Larger Arduinos have a serial channel they can use to send messages to the PC as they run

• The IDE works on PC,Mac or Linux

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Using Visual Studio

• You can also obtain a plugin for Visual Studio that lets you write programs and even claims to allow remote debugging

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Lots of Versions

• There are tons of different Arduino versions

– Uno – great to get started with– Leonardo – bit more power and space (but

annoying)– Due – more pins, power and space– Pro-mini – my favourite with all the pins of

an Uno but £1.50 each – need a programmer though..

– Trinket – tiny embedded version– Lilypad – great for wearables– Squareware – good for driving things

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Lots of Components

• Bluetooth – JY-MCU HCO6 (around a fiver)

• WiFi - ESP8266 (can do lots of other things too – a fiver)

• GPS – GY-NEO6MV2 (around 8 quid from AliExpress)

• Clock – DS3231 (around one pound fifty)

• LCD – 1.8 inch TFT LCD with touch screen (around six pounds)

• Coloured LEDS – WS2812B leds in various combinations

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Interfacing

• All of the components are easy to use

• Most times you can just search for the part number and someone will have created a driver for you

• This is just a lump of C++ that you add as a library to your program

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Raspberry Pi

• Not really an embedded device

• But so cheap that you can think of using it as one

• Has a bunch of pins that you can use from Python (or lots of other) programs

• Takes a while to boot – which can be a problem

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Electric Imp

• Electric Imps are fascinating devices

– Although they are comparatively expensive at 20 pounds each plus around 10 for the carrier

• They look like an SD card but they are really an internet managed embedded device

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Impish Programming

• The Imp has a bunch of pins that can be configured as inputs/outputs or serial connections

• You download a program into the Imp device via its WiFi connection

• This can run “free standing” or be connected to a script that runs on the server

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Imp Development

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Gadgeteer

• Gadgeteer devices run on an embedded version of .NET

• You can write C# and do in-circuit debugging using Visual Studio

• Great for “professional” applications but rather expensive for the hobbyist

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What next?

• If you want to have a go you could do worse than buy a kit of parts from eBay

• Just search for Arduino and you will find quite a few

• You can get an awful lot of toys for around thirty pounds

• There is a kit from SparkFun that is quite good too

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Next Time

• We have some practical sessions that you might like to have a go at

• Alternatively just bring along what you are trying to build and we will have a go at building it

• If you have a passion about a particular aspect of embedded you can give a session all about it

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More Links• Hardware:

– http://www.arduino.cc/– https://www.sparkfun.com/– http://www.electricimp.com/– http://gadgeteering.net/

• Components:

– www.ebay.co.uk – www.aliexpress.com– http://www.4tronix.co.uk– http://hobbycomponents.com/– http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/– http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/– http://proto-pic.co.uk/– https://www.tindie.com/– http://robosavvy.com/web/