Using Python to Store Data from many BLE Devices

BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) sensor devices like the Hexiwear are great, but they cannot store a large amount of data. For a research project I have to collect data from many BLE devices for later processing. What I’m using is a Python script running on the Raspberry Pi which collects the data and stores it on a file:

Raspberry Pi with Python controlling a set of Hexiwear BLE Devices

Raspberry Pi with Python controlling a set of Hexiwear BLE Devices

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DIY USB HID Joystick Device and Game Controller

For many projects it would be cool to build a custom USB Joystick device, either as custom game controller for Windows or any USB host which can be used with a USB Joystick. Instead buying one, why not build my version? All what I need is a USB capable board, some kind of input (potentiometer, push buttons) and some software, and I have my USB Joystick:

DIY USB HID Joystick Device

DIY USB HID Joystick Device

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ARM SWO Performance Counters

In “Cycle Counting on ARM Cortex-M with DWT” I have used the ARM DWT register to count the executed cycles. With the MCUXpresso IDE comes with a very useful feature: it can capture the ARM SWO (Single Wire Output) trace data. One special kind of trace data is the ‘cycle counter’ information which is sent through SWO.

SWO Counters

SWO Counters

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2017 Spring Semester Sumo Challenge

Video

The spring university semester is coming to an end, and the Infotronic course closed with a Sumo robot challenge. Great challenge, new technologies, innovative approaches and funny designs 🙂

Groot

Groot

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3D Printed Sumo ToF Blade

ToF (Time-of-Flight, see “Tutorial: STMicroelectronics VL6180X Time-of-Flight LIDAR Sensor“) sensors are fun: they measure the time the light takes to travel to an object and back again. That way they can measure the distance to object with a millimeter accuracy. An ideal sensor for a battle robot: 🙂

Front Blade attached

Front Blade attached

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MCUXpresso IDE: Blinky the NXP LPC800-DIP Board

During Embedded World 2017 in Nürnberg I was lucky to get a handful LPC800-DIP boards. To get all students who were lucky to get one, here is a tutorial to make that very exciting ‘blinky’ application on that board:

Blinky on the NXP LPC800-DIP

Blinky on the NXP LPC800-DIP

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MCUXpresso IDE: Terminate and Disconnect a Debug Session

Eclipse for C/C++ (CDT) offers two different ways to get out of a debug session: Terminate and Disconnect:

Terminate and Disconnect

Terminate and Disconnect

The terminate and disconnect behaviour is not standardized, and varies between Eclipse distributions and debug connection. This article is about how things are handled in MCUXpresso IDE, and how I can influence the behaviour.

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