Embedded Systems Weekly – Issue 48
Issue 48 – 15 April 2016
Hardware
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Reverse engineering of the Nevo C2 Universal remote controlShare on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
The popular 555 timer integrated circuit is said to be the world’s best-selling integrated circuit with billions sold since it was designed in 1970 by analog IC wizard Hans Camenzind. This article explains how the LMC555 timer chip works, from the tiny transistors and resistors on the silicon chip, to the functional units such as comparators and current mirrors that make it work.Share on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
Vinod.S wanted to create music on an STM32F407 Discovery board, but he also wanted it to play on his FM radio. He did it, and his technique was surprising and straightforward. The key is that the ARM processor on the Discovery board uses an 8MHz crystal, but internally (using a phase-locked loop, or PLL) it produces a 100MHz system clock. This happens to be right in the middle of the FM radio band. Bringing that signal back out of the chip on a spare output pin gives you the FM carrier.Share on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
Software
A very interesting paper about how to find and analyse bugs of the Linux schedulerShare on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
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DISCLAIMER: This project does not comply explicitly to the IEEE 802.3 standard. It will not work as well as properly engineered devices. Don’t get confused. This is a party trick, not a legitimate engineering solution.Share on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
This solution allows you to keep your SIM card connected to the internet and you can access it from your xmpp-client(or google-hangout) using your handheld mobile device.Share on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
Misc
A micro-processor built large. Very large.Share on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
In this blog post Margaritelli is going to explain how to create a portable GSM BTS which can be used either to create a private ( and vendor free! ) GSM network or for GSM active tapping/interception/hijacking … yes, with some (relatively) cheap electronic equipment you can basically build something very similar to what the governments are using from years to perform GSM interception.Share on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
After several improvements, Proto G’s plasma arc speaker is much louder and can easily be heard across the room.Share on Twitter ∙ Share on Facebook
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Photo by Andrzej Cybulski
