Projects

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Open Circuits

These should be projects or links to projects that are open, at a minimum in the sense that there is enough information so that others can reproduce the project. Lets stay away from sites that are just show cases without the details.

Open Source Circuits Magazine

Anykits magazine - Anykits publishes an open source magazine with quite a few, application oriented circuits. It contains schematics, parts list and PCB illustrations. The best part is that its formated for print and available as regular PDF.

Open OBDII

Link to source and schematics Open source hardware and software implementing OBDII tester for cars. Two versions one using a PIC microcontroller and one using an AVR microcontroller.

vehicles: manned and unmanned

Lots of vehicle-related projects -- for motorcycles, automobiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Phone line relay controller with PIC16F84A - single relay

  • [1] controll one relay over phone-line. Uses PIC16F84A and MT8870.

Phone line relay controller with PIC16F876A - 6 relays!

  • [2] controll up to 6 relays over phone-line. Uses PIC16F876A and MT8870.

Homemade MIDI turntable

Cheap and simple homemade MIDI turntable with GPL2 license. Using a ATmega, a HDNS-2000 optical mouse encoder, GCC-AVR, AVR-Libc and FreeRTOS. Homepage of Homemade MIDI turntable.

Motherboards that Run Linux

ARMUS Embedded Linux Board

An ARM920T board running Linux at 200 Mips with sound, Ethernet, CAN, 48+ bidirectionnal IOs and 4 DSPs for motor control (DC, Servos, etc...). Built as a student proof robotics design platform.

Balloon Xscale ARM+FPGA dev board

The Balloon project has produced Balloon3, a high-performance ARM board designed for use by OEMs and Higher education. Spec is PXA270 (583Mhz), FPGA or CPLD, 1GB flash, 784MB RAM, USB (master, slave, OTG), CF slot, expansion bus, 16-bit bus, I2C, LCD, serial, audio. Very low power in CPLD confiuguration. Small, light. Various add-on boards: VGA LCD driver, robot motor driver+A/D, digital IO. Released under the Balloon Open Hardware license, which allows anyone to manufacture and for people to make derivatives. The expansion bus allows balloon to be used as the computing component for various special-purpose devices.

Linuxstamp

The linuxstamp is an open source processor module. It is designed to be a very simple board capable of running linux. It is based on the Atmel AT91RM9200 processor (An ARM9 processor with a MMU).

Linuxstamp Mboard 1

This is the first mother board for the linuxstamp. It is still in the planning stages (no pcbs).

LART -- an open license StrongARM based tiny SBC

"All CAD files required for building LART are available under the closest we could get to an Open/Free Hardware License." (Has this information gone offline?)

Other Boards that Run Linux

Programmable Chip EEG

The Programmable Chip EEG is a Multi-channel electroencephalograph that could be a brain-computer interface. See the OpenEEG Project

Open Mobile Gadgets -- open source, open hardware, mobile phone

An open source, open hardware mobile phone in its preliminary development.

Music Players including MP3 players

  • TRAXMOD Open source MOD music player for dsPIC/ARM microcontrollers.

PG31 GPS RS232 Dev Board

A simple RS232 example project that takes 3.3V TTL serial and outputs to a super-common RS232 connection. Insto-NMEA!

RS232 Dev Board

A simple RS232 example project that takes all the power it needs from the serial port. Use it to power your microcontroller and communicate between serial port and microcontroller. Takes advantage of the fact that pc serial ports will accept 0-5V rather than the RS232 standard of around negative 10V to positive 10V. Very convenient - no external power required! Note that you may use either a 5.1V zener or a 5V regulator.

RS232 RS485 USB Converter Board

Aim to build a general Converter between different Interfaces.

PG31 GPS USB Dev Board

A great example project using the CP2102 USB to TTL UART IC as well as some basic battery holder info.

Number Six

"#6" (the son of Chalk Roach) is a ultra simple microcontroller development board for Atmel ATmega32 = 16MHz, 2KB SRAM, 16KB Flash

LED and POV displays

Led displays range from a battery and an LED which light up ( cool!, add a magnet and you have an led throwie ) to microcontroller led projects, either Smart Led ( Led with a microcontroller so that it blinks, reacts to the environment, or shifts color ) or Led Arrays ( or led matrix ) that do simple graphics and or play games, or POV devices where what you see depends upon you persistance of vision ( which can include some led arrays ). You can probably dig up more using these terms in google.

Our Own Projects

Off Site

RFDISPLAY - A Scrolling Display with RF connection to a PC

POV scrolling display with an RF connection to a mini-itx computer and weatherstation. Project is built out of 384 discrete red LEDs. Display shows time and date, sunrise/sunset time and outdoor/indoor weather.

Schematics, Board Layouts, and MPLAB C18 firmware source code is provided.

Cellular Rotary Phone

An indepth breakdown of the Port-O-Rotary. Some clues to help you avoid audio problems with the GM862.

Das Brewmeister! and Fermenter Controller

Home controller

Program your appliances to operate automatically in conjunction with your weekly and daily schedule, manually turn them on/off from your PC or use the controller as a process ON/OFF controller to regulate some kind of physical variable to the desired value.

Interactive Lock Box

An interesting project using an accelerometer and capacitive touch ICs.

Motor driver (H-bridge)

atomic microscope

An atomic-resolution microscope.

  • STM (scanning tunnelling microscope)
  • AFM (atomic force microscope)

BlueICE

A bluetooth JTAG ICE debugger for AVR's!!!

Sort-of-Networked RFID Reader

A 125Khz RFID Reader with a simple ring network - to allow connection of multiple units to the same control computer.

Battery charger

See "Build A Smart Battery Charger Using A Single-Transistor Circuit" by Ejaz ur Rehman. But be sure to read the "Reader Comments" at the end. The suggestion to add a zener diode is a good idea.

the Open Graphics Project

the Open Graphics Project a project started by chip-designer Timothy Miller. His goal, along with the rest of the project, known as the “Open Graphics Foundation” is to make a 3D accelerated video card which is fully documented, free-licensed, and open source. See the Open Graphics wiki.

Amiga floppy project

The Amiga floppy project: designing, building, and programming an adapter to allow PCs to read from Amiga floppies. "This is really designed to be a community project(hence the blog with progress reports)."

This project is the building of an external USB amiga floppy drive controller. It sits between the USB port on a Windows PC, and a regular PC floppy drive. It will allow the PC to create .ADF images from an amiga floppy disk. This device is based on a Parallax SX28 microcontroller, uses Ramtron FRAM memory for temporary track storage, and uses another Parallax component for the USB interface.

See http://www.techtravels.org/amiga/amigablog for the latest in the blow by blow attempts to get this thing off the ground!!

Irsensor-a

Infrared Proximity Sensor Alfa Infrared Proximity Sensor Alfa in www.kedo.com.mx

The Infrared Proximity Sensor Alfa is a sensor to detect objects that can reflect infrared light. It has the following characteristics.

  • Designed to detect objects that are close and can reflect infrared lights.
  • It has a Infrared Transmitter to eliminate the dependency of solar lighting. So It can be used in the night.
  • It has a Infrared Receiver that detects the closest object that reflects the infrared lights.
  • It has an incorporated voltage regulator
  • The output is a constant 5V when it is active and 0V when no detection.
  • You can change the proximity threshold with a potentiometer.

dsPIC30F 5011 Development Board

A development board using Microchip dsPIC30F5011, a 5V based 16-bit microcontroller with DSP functions, EEPROM, ADC, PWM and communciation ports of UARTs, I2C, SPI etc. Contains concise information on:

  1. Development environments (IDE)
  2. External programming methods (ICSP Programming using ICD2 Programmer)
  3. Bootloader implementation (RTSP)
  4. Software development tips based on POSIX concepts
  5. Basic conversion tips to target board using Microchip dsPIC33FJ128GP306, a pin-to-pin compatible 3.3V microcontroller

Scavenge

Some people derive an inordinate amount of pleasure from building semi-useful objects from zero-cost junk.

In the electronics field, most of the stuff built from scavenged components falls into 2 categories:

  • ham radio transmitters and receivers -- built from a few transistors, caps, resistors, and wire
  • BEAM robotics -- built from the above plus motors, solar cells, ...

According to http://coprolite.com/art12.html , "I'd love to hear about where you found your 8048. Take a picture of the host that you remove it from (CD player, truck, refridgerator, whatever) and I'll put your picture on a page that chronicles our adventures sifting through the rubble."

Also see Free_From_Salvage

openEyes

openEyes is an open-source open-hardware toolkit for low-cost real-time eye tracking. See the OpenEyes hardware and software and the openEyes wiki.

RepRap

RepRap is an open source project to create a 3d printer or fabber machine. There is tons of information available on its website. The current iteration is a 3 axis cartesian robot with 2 extruder heads: a Thermoplastic head that extrudes plastics like HDPE, ABS, and CAPA, and a support material head that extrudes a water soluble material to support the build process.

The Biollante project is a kind of RepRap that uses a 6 axis Stewart platform. Can devices from a mechanical model library be fabbed with RapRap? The article "Self-reproducing machines" goes even further than just 6 identical parts -- it suggests that "self-reproducing machines composed of many identical microscale modules" may be a better design than the original RepRap design where just about every part is unique.

"This is the meta-problem of engineering: Design a machine that can design other machines." -- Hod Lipson[4]

TwentyDollarWikiDevice

Challenge: Build a Wiki Device with a parts cost of no more than twenty dollars which is usable as a portable wiki. Include feature to make it compatible with a desktop or laptop computer's PersonalWiki, with a connector allowing this use. -- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TwentyDollarWikiDevice

breakout boards

These are three boards that I designed for a specific project and found them very useful. Each of these boards uses the phoenix contact plugable terminal blocks. The 50-pin breakout board is for a 50-pin ribbon cable. The LEM breakout board is for LEM AC/DC current sensor. The power supply breakout board is for a +5v +/-15v power supply.

Free Telephony Project

Free Telephony Project

  • Embedded Asterisk IP-PBX hardware and software
  • Low cost, completely open IP-PBX hardware including FXS/FXO analog and E1/T1 interfaces, and DSP motherboard hardware. Target price of $100 for a 4 port IP-PBX.

Eyes for Open Robot

Is there a simple way for my Java application to fetch the latest camera image in an Array of pixel values?

robot

  • open architecture humanoid robotics platform --OpenHRP

RCAP: R/C Auto Pilot: Remote Control Auto Pilot

"The RCAP2 is a Remote Control AutoPilot] for model airplanes, cars and boats. The autopilot function can be switched off or on during flight with the flick of a switch." Uses PIC16F876A to:

  • read (servo) commands from the RC server
  • read (RS-232) GPS location from a NMEA capable GPS (with programmable goto/waypoints functions)
  • drive (servo) commands to the rudder.

RCAP Documentation at Wikibooks , and RCAP PCB layout at Sourceforge .

Wiegand reader simple controller

The PICmicro 16F628 decodes Wiegand protocol coming from card reader. If the card matches one of the 40 cards in EEPROM, it turns on the light (opens the door). Schematic and source code published under GNU terms.

ComClone2 Intercom

ComClone2 is a DIY clone of the industry-standard "party line" production intercom system as first introduced by Clearcom and now sourced by many other vendors. This intercom system is widely used in both live show(theatrical, music, etc.) and video production. Website provides complete construction information including PC board, etc.

Ethernet Module

  • This project aims to develop an Ethernet Module, to be used in conjunction with a 8/16 bits embedded system such as the dsPic33F development board.
  • The entire Ethernet Module consists of:
  1. Hardware: a LAN card based on Davicom DM9000A chip
  2. Software: a TCP/IP stack based on uIP 1.0 or lwIP

Minimig

Amiga 500 implemented with Xilinx FPGA + Freescale mc68000

USB Audio Streamer : A Homebrew USB Soundcard

This project is a homebrew 12bit 24KHz homebrew USB soundcard based on a pic 18f2550 and a few Microchip analog parts. The project is based on the Microchip USB framework, but the core audio processing is written from scratch. The card is a duel Audio 1.0 + generic interface composite device with the generic interface being handled by WinUSB. The schematic, card firmware, and host C++ software is provided.

PINGPONG-CDC : A Homebrew USB FHSS RF Modem

This project is a homebrew USB frequency hopping spread spectrum RF modem. The modem is based on the Microchip 18F2550 and the Semtec XE1205 RF module. The module does not include a MAC or protocol layer. That is what this project implements. The project demonstrates how to write a FHSS MAC layer and use USB to interface it with a PC through CDC and WinUSB. A utility for pairing and configuring modems is included. The schematic, firmware, and host C++ software is provided.

An acceptable third generation PostScript printer

"Ask the Guru: A Third-Generation Printer" article by Don Lancaster 1990 http://www.tinaja.com/glib/guru60.pdf lists specifications for "An acceptable third generation PostScript printer." Would this be a good "open hardware" project ?


the Kestrel

"About the Kestrel" by Samuel A. Falvo II 2004

(quote)

The Kestrel's intended purpose is to be a rational, grass-roots computer design employing half-way modern technology, where (quite unlike the PC) *EVERYTHING* is documented openly. BUT, not adopting every possible technology under the sun just because it exists. ... you'd get the circuit schematics, register-level programming information, timing diagrams, and descriptions of the ROM-resident OS interfaces ...

The over-arching goals of the project remain the same:

  • An open, completely documented architecture, able to be described in a SINGLE BOOK. ...
  • Fan-less design, which means, low power, even at the expense of computation speed. ... I'm not aiming for the lowEST power -- but fanless design is critical.

...

  • Instant on, (nearly) instant off. ... On the Amiga, you just waited 5 seconds, without touching anything, (that's it) for the disk caches to sync with the volumes, and then you flicked the power switch. End of discussion. Not so with Windows or Linux. Anyway, boot-up is way, way more expensive. It has to check RAM every freaking time ..., it probes the buses and takes its damn sweet time doing it, etc. AmigaOS did all this in a fraction of a second. Heck, even just spending 5 seconds is sufficient for me. But remember that this is added on to the start-up time of the OS you're loading too! The goal: instant on, instant off. Trust me -- it really DOES make a difference!

...

  • Lightning fast I/O auto-detection. If the Amiga can do it with 8MHz processor technology, so can we with 66MHz. I simply cannot emphasize this enough.
  • Relatively easy to build. Since this is now an advanced kit idea, this isn't nearly as weighted as it used to be. Nonetheless, it is a goal to strive for.
  • Minimum cost. ...

...

The whole purpose is to have FUN with this computer -- to have fun building it, to have fun using it, to have fun expanding it. Part of this fun factor is being able to hack the hardware as much as you can hack the software. Commodore's IEC bus, HP's HP-IL, and Amiga's Zorro bus are all inspirations here. ... it wasn't hard to build a Zorro card that fully interoperated with the system, you didn't need to be registered with anyone but Commodore (and they gave away mfr IDs for FREE), and full hardware interface details were available in the Amiga HRM for a cost of $29.99 US. It was bliss.

  • Everything is LGPLed. So if you DID want to include PCI slots or whatever, please feel free!! Just because it's not my personal priority with the system doesn't mean it's not someone else's. This is the beauty of open source and, indeed, open hardware.

...

  • Support for new business opportunities. ... This ties into the prime goal of this whole thing, which is,
  • The creation of a vibrant and healthy user and developer community, capable of supporting itself on both software AND hardware fronts.

...

(end quote)

A more up-to-date description of The Kestrel Project. (several other pages on the Kestrel project nearby).

astronomy

A variety of "open" tools for optical and radio astronomy.

flash downloaders

Many people have published open-hardware schematics for downloading programs into the flash of various microcontrollers. m8cprogs for Cypress PSoC, various flash downloaders for Microchip PIC, etc.

WikiNode

The WikiNode project tries to link every wiki in the world together. Our "WikiNode" links to closely-related wiki (and their WikiNode links back).

If you want to talk about something that is not quite on-topic here at Open Circuits (say, "desktop PC case modding", or "embedded Linux programming"), our WikiNode helps you find another wiki where people love to talk about that exact topic. The corresponding WikiNode on each of those wiki helps people who want to talk about "open hardware" to discover this wiki.

arm7-oled-clock

arm7-oled-clock is a clock hardware/software project for a clock with a graphic organic led display running on an atmel arm7 microcontroller.

Here is the arm7-oled-clock's project page on google code.

Sun SPOTs

Sun Microsystems has open sourced both hardware and software for the Sun Microsystem Laboratories Sun SPOT (Small Programmable Object Technology) Wireless Sensor Network.

This Java-based system is an ARM920T 180MHz processor, 4Mbyte Flash, 512Kbyte pSRAM and 802.15.4 radio transceiver (TI CC2420). See the Sun SPOT World website for more information. We also have an active forum.

The hardware designs can be downloaded from https://spots-hardware.dev.java.net. The content available for download (subversion) are the schematics (pdf, Altium), bill of materials (Excel), assembly drawings (pdf), fabrication drawings (pdf), PC design files (Altium) and gerber files (RS274X) for these boards.

The boards we have posted are:

  • eDemo: Demonstration add-on board for the Sun SPOT.
  • eFlash: MiniSD card reader/writer add on board for Sun SPOT
  • eProto: Prototype board with simple interface to Sun SPOT
  • eProtomega: eSPOT Prototyping board with Atmega88 processor
  • eSerial: RS232 Serial interface board for the Sun SPOT
  • eUSB-Host: USB host interface to Sun SPOT
  • eBones: Basic interface board application note
  • eSPOT: Main Sun SPOT board


Other Lists of Semi-Open Projects

  • UHF FM BUG with ButtonCell battery ( http://www.elektronika.ba/el.sheme/?akc=daj_shemu&idshema=490 ) "This bug is 100% made from an old Nokia GSM phone! It operates at 434 MHz and reception can be achieved on a modified TV tuner or 70cm band HAM radio."
  • microcontroller alternatives lists a bunch of "small PCBs" (is there a better name?) designed for hacking and prototyping, that already have the processor and a few other super-common things built in ... so you don't have to start *completely* from scratch.
  • ThinkCycle "ThinkCycle is a ... non-profit initiative ... supporting distributed collaboration towards design challenges facing underserved communities and the environment. ThinkCycle seeks to create a culture of open source design innovation"
  • Are the Positron projects "open" enough to be mentioned? I especially liked the "Lasercut Acrylic Casebuilding Tutorial" .
  • Is the Vislab puck suitable for this list?
  • PICList & JAL_List free PCB contest "this will encourage people to publish designs and get more good ideas out into the real world for everyone to see." (So, are these "open" circuits?)
  • http://ePanorama.net/ has a bunch of schematics and a web discussion forum. Are they "open" enough to mention here?
  • "Yet Another One-hand Keyboard" ( http://chordite.com/ ) "The firmware included in the download lets an Atmel AVR '2313 microcontroller interpret chords and talk to a PS/2 port." -- it's not completely open, but the license allows you to immediately download, for free, lots of technical information and a license to build up to 5 of your own. Building more than 5 requires some sort of payment to license the patent on the hardware configuration. (The software appears to be open source). There seems to be an associated Yahoo mailing list. What is an appropriate way to invite John W. McKown and others on the mailing list to use a wiki such as Open Circuits to maintain a FAQ?
  • FC's Electronic Circuits ?
  • "Pandemic Ventilator Project" asks: "Does Open Source Hardware Development Work?"
  • GSM SMS Controllers ( http://www.elektronika.ba/projekti/?akc=daj_projekt&idprojekt=6 ) "TwoWay Thing (GSM Controller v3) is a device that allows you to control appliances using SMS messages. There are also 4 inputs for connecting sensors so the device will send an alarm SMS or even call you to report an alarm condition. The device draws very little current and is being powered by phone’s battery which is a great thing. Nokia should be constantly charged or supplied with some sort of external power for long term operation."
  • Phone-call alarm alert ( http://www.elektronika.ba/projekti/?akc=daj_projekt&idprojekt=7 ) "After programming just supply power to the device. After pressing the button "Pokreni dojavu alarma" it will start to dial (tone or pulse, depending on the jumper setup). When the phone call is succesfully established, the called party should press pound key "#" to stop the device from calling another number or again."
  • SMS Box ( http://www.elektronika.ba/projekti/?akc=daj_projekt&idprojekt=9 ) "This device acts as interface between your microcontroller project and a GSM phone. It handles all modem data communication between the GSM phone and your micro-project. The best thing is that it decodes PDU into TEXT on the fly!"
  • GSM alarm alert - call ( http://www.elektronika.ba/projekti/?akc=daj_projekt&idprojekt=5 ) "Alerting alarm over via GSM network"
  • Bug Labs: A startup is readying a modular, open source hardware/software system resembling a set of electronic Legos. Nov. 05, 2007 [5]
  • PIC flow meter and instrumentation modules: Sensors, Gauges, Flow meter, data logging, connected by Grundfos Pumps inc. GENIbus over RS485.
  • Raphaël Assénat has posted several electronics projects, including schematics. Several of them involve interfacing various "classic" video game controllers to USB. His "Caller Id decoder" is a nice example of adding just one more feature to something using a minimum of additional electronics.

other project sites or links to projects

May or may not be open, not much review material here, noted for the record, may be promoted in the future if they are outstanding in any way.

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