Welcome to PLAY Embedded, the go-to place for embedded systems enthusiasts! Since 2015, we have been dedicated to helping you learn, create, and innovate in this exciting field. Our wide range of articles, tutorials, and resources will support your journey into embedded systems. Our goal is to build a lively community of like-minded individuals who learn together, share experiences, and contribute to the field's growth. We aim to nurture future embedded systems engineers and professionals with our accessible and engaging content.
We know learning complex subjects can be tough. That is why our articles break down embedded systems concepts into easy-to-understand pieces. We cover topics from basic concepts and programming languages to hardware platforms and hands-on projects. At PLAY Embedded, we focus on Free and Open Source projects like ChibiOS. Our ad-free blog is a labor of love, created in our spare time without any financial interest. We value your feedback and suggestions, so don't hesitate to get in touch with us or join our community on LinkedIn.
Below you will find our latest articles. If you are new here, we recommend checking out our How to Start guide to begin your embedded systems journey. Don't forget to have fun!
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An object can be detected with an infrared system consisting of an infrared transmitter and a receiver. More in detail an IR transmitter, also known as IR LED, sends an infrared signal with a certain frequency compatible with an IR receiver which has the task to detect it. There are different ...
The Clicker 2 for STM32 is a compact development kit by mikroe (also known as MikroElektronika). This board is equipped with 2 mikroBUS socket that allow to connect the Click Boards. These boards, designed by mikroe, are small add-ons that allow to easily connect most common devices to your ...
In the past, building OpenOCD on Windows was a complicated process due to its numerous dependencies and lack of availability on the Windows platform. Fortunately, with MSYS2, building OpenOCD has become a simple task. For those who require the latest stable version of OpenOCD on MSYS2, it is ...
The joystick proposed here is much known between makers. It provides two axis and a key button and every axis is actually a potentiometer: that means axis data is analogue and we need to use ADC to read its positioning.
Potentiometers are provided of springs so, without forcing, wipers are ...
We have already introduced MAX7219 in STM32, ChibiOS and a 8×8 LED Matrix, so we are going to jump directly to code section. For convenience we just report link to documentation:
MAX7219 Datasheet
Note that even if pins are arranged in a different way, pin-out remains the same of the 8×8 LED ...
Using Infra-Red for remote control is a technology born in the 70’s and after 40 years it is still used because the good ratio performances-costs and low power consumption. IR remote require a line of sight, because of that latest remote includes bluetooth technology.
Today it is possible to ...
Widely used in sound mixers, the slider can be used as input for many applications. There isn’t so much to say as this device is made by two potentiometers working together. Indeed, when the cursor slides, it changes the position of two side potentiometers.
The slider shown in Fig.1 has six ...
The MAX7219 is a compact, serial input/parallel output common-cathode display driver. Included on-chip there are a BCD code-B decoder, the multiplex scan circuitry, segment and digit drivers, and an 8×8 static RAM that stores each digit. Only one external resistor is required to set the ...
We already talked about ChibiOS/HAL design and its multiple architectures support. This is very important for regular developers: imagine a scenario in which you design an application using a certain MCU and after a first stage you decide to upgrade your application. Imagine also that hardware ...
The nRF24L01 is one of the most popular RF transceiver as it is very cheap and it could be found already configured on small PCBs with needed passive components. This means that only a MCU is needed to design a radio system with the nRF24L01.
The nRF24L01 is a highly integrated, ultra low ...
Write reusable code is one of the most powerful and time-saving thing that an embedded programmer should learn. Compose well-arranged libraries makes things easiest, especially when we want to add old code in a new project. Citing one of the most talented programmers I have ever met, “Well done ...
The HD44780 is a controller for display developed by Hitachi commonly used to manage alphanumeric dot matrix LCD. This controller is a standard de-facto for this kind of display. It is often used in industrial test equipment, networking equipment, vending machine and in embedded ...