So, back to school tomorrow, that means more activity on this blahg:

-More to come re: specifics on the stepper driver’s implementation
-Source code & schematics for the stepper driver
-I believe some work on custom IR detectors, as well as machine vision (hopefully using the DE4 Stratix IV FPGA board and an Aptina sensor)
-Capacitance Probe & Inductance probe are next on my list of projects

I’ve received consent regarding distribution of materials related to work projects, which is great for anyone out there who likes all this stuff I’ve been posting.

Long term, and maybe someone can remind me of this, but this summer, I’d like to do some work on “fun” projects, i.e. where I’m the client.

Some thoughts are:
a) UAV/USV (Unmanned Aerial/Submersible Vehicle)
b) Digital Line Taps: High speed transparent Ethernet/USB/??? passthroughs that could log, or modify up and downstream information (Hardware firewall? Practical Joke material? Who knows what else…)
c) RF Tech of some sort… This I’m not too specific on because I haven’t learned much in RF yet
d) Musical applications: guitar amps/pedals, etc.  Not super original but it is fun to play on a good piece of hardware.
e) Wireless Home: Presence monitoring based on zigbee communication and RFID that can control lights etc. as well as design intelligent algorithms to make any connected device as efficient (or as cool) as possible

Please, comment if any of these sound interesting to you, if I have an interest base for any of these projects I might put them up through IndieGoGo or Kickstarter, so by all means, tell me if any of these are things you’d like to see tutorials/guides/samples for!

There’s a rather blurry photo of the project powering bipolar LEDs.  It handles up to 220VDC @ 3A and switches at up to (and perhaps higher than) 40Hz.  It can drive bipolar and unipolar steppers, and the hardware is here for an LCD interface and wireless control.  Schematics and code will be uploaded pending permission.

UPDATED - DFR_Key v0.2 Library

The library works now, and the sample program doesn’t suck.  It’s decently documented and even includes a readme file.  Enjoy!

The product page for the DFRobot LCD Shield lists my library as the one to make the shield work.  Small victory for me.