For many microcontroller projects requiring accurate temperature sensing the sensor of choice is the Maxim DS18B20.  Although this has a specified absolute accuracy of +/- 0.5°C, it has several drawbacks, not least of which is its relatively high cost.  For my prototype sensors I incorporated a TI TMP112, which is an I2C device with a [...]

There is a degree of uncertainty at the moment regarding the future availability of HopeRF’s RFM22B and RFM23B modules.  Having been in touch with a number of HopeRF’s European distributors the message appears to be that while they are indeed “not recommended for new designs”, there has been no end-of-life notification for either of these products. [...]

As part of my project to bring our central heating into the 21st century I have been working on a custom wireless sensor platform.  My key aim here is to develop a low-cost, open solution with security designed in from the start; something that a lot of sub-GHz protocols seem to totally omit.  I’m avoiding [...]

I had a dead motherboard that had been kicking around for a while after a failed BIOS update.  The flash part on there was the Winbond W39V040B, which is 3.3V only and has an LPC interface.  The device programmer I have access to wouldn’t touch it, so I put together some simple AVR code to [...]

I’ve had a few controllerless QVGA (320×240) mono LCD modules lying around for a while looking for some use.  These are fairly easy to get going with a low-end microcontroller using an external controller IC like the SED1335, but that’s another story.  I’d been thinking about doing some sort of integrated home automation project, and [...]