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The WITNESSCAM is an autonomous, self-recording surveillance camera you can build at home!
It looks liike an ordinary alram detector, but when it detects movements, it silentrly starts recording.
- embedded PIR sensor for movement detection
- VGA camera, up to 50000 snapshots on a 1GB card
- records snapshots on SD cards
- PC compatible format, JPEG compression
- interactive voice-prompts menu system
- remote control
 This design awarded the Grand Prize at Atmel's AVR 2006 Design Contest
Go to the Witnesscam page |
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This palm-sized device stores hundreds of IDs, passwords and codes; the legitimate proprietary can browse them on the LCD at the turn of a knob.
- Amazing data-entry system, can receive data from any web browser just "looking at the screen"
- Stores data in hardware-protected memory
- Single-chip project based on the Programmable System On Chip architecture (PSoC)
- C source code available
- Prototype for a visionary class of devices that can be enabled just exposing them to web pages
This design awarded the Cypress Semiconductors' "High Integration Challenge - Honourable Mention Prize"
Go to the Silicon Wallet page
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 A simple
yet accurate thermometer that adds a "temperature icon" to the Windows
taskbar.
- Measures one or two (indoor
and outdoor) temperatures.
- Simple design, no microcontrollers
- No calibration needed
- No batteries, no external
power supply needed
- It connects to PC serial
port
- Ideal for beginners
- Full source code in Visual
Basic.
- Expandable up to 8 sensors.
Study the code and learn
how to control IIC bus devices from high level languages!
This one of the most popular designs of this web site.
Go
to pcTHERM page
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 A compact monitoring station controls up to 20 tiny transmitters placed inside mousetraps - or anything you need to keep under observation!
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up to 20 transmitters per system
- ultra low power, transmitter batteries last for years
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reports sensor activation, transmitter battery level and lost transmitters
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C source code for the free Metrowerks compiler
This design awarded the Motorola "Flash Innovations Distinctive Excellence Prize"
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Displays temperatures on your TV, with crisp, high quality pictures. You can add animations and CD-quality audio too!
This design awarded the Motorola "Flash Innovations Distinctive Excellence Prize"
Go to DVD-therm page
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 A
digital volt meter that displays voltages on your TV screen,
with both giant digits and an analogue bar display. Maximum and minimum
peaks are displayed, too. Serial output for use as a data logger
in conjunction with your PC.
- Try doing better with
only 512 words of assembler!
This design awarded the
third international prize at the Elektor Electronics 1997 microprocessor
& microcontrollers design contest.
Go to Video
DVM page
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 A
thermometer with a computer built-in. It can be programmed in
a basic-ish language (the editor is built in, too).
- very simple, surprisingly
few parts
- graphic LCD, serial comm
to PC
- simple and powerful language
interpreter
- C source code
- scripts for making a graphing
thermometer and a GSM cell-phone connected vending machine
are provided
This design awarded the
"application of the day" international prize at the National
Semiconductor's COP8FLASH design contest.
Go
to Scriptherm page
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Differently from the usual
combination locks, this circuit replaces RF remote controls. Enter the
correct combination to transmit a code compatible with the popular remotes
based on the MM53200, UM3750 and UM86409 - and, of course, Nutchips.
- professional design
- battery operated
- key-bleep
- customizable keys,
codes and combinations
- full 'C' source
code provided
- rf & serial
outputs
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Go
to RF pad page
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 A bingo or lottery
generator.
Besides drawings numbers randomly, it displays them on your TV
screen.
- last number drawn diplayed
with big. easy-to-read characters
- full number table always
on-screen
- numbers taken are in white,
remaining in green
- internal eeprom memory
keep the numbers just in case of black out.
- dirt but effective assembly
programming, uses all the tricks to squeeze out all the power from
the AVR micro (AT90S1200)
Go to
Bingo!!! page
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 Another
variation around the theme of video generators based on the Atmel AT90S1200.
This triple TV-chronograph is triggered by photocells: gives
you a "ready - set -go" sequence through red and green semaphore
lights (with impartial random timing), reveals jump starts, takes
times with one hundreth of a second precision, and finally -surprise
surprise- send those times to a computer (not required) via a serial
link, just in case you want to write a tournament/timing program.
Go
to Video Cronograph page
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 Control
your home automation system, switch the burglar alarm or any
other equipment with your cellphone.
Be alerted with an SMS when the input triggers.
Cheap: just one IC and a transistor.
A joint design with AVR guru Claudio
Lanconelli - and another popular Circuit Cellar article!
Go to
Tiny Planet page
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 An
ultrasonic sonar that shows distances from obstacles with both
a LED bar graph display and an alarm buzzer. It was one of my first
designs, and does NOT use special components nor microcontrollers, since
the "good old" name.
Go to
Parking Sonar page
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 A
simple, yet effective alarm system.
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Control
it at the touch of a remote control
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Wireless
immediate and delayed sensors
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Customizable
without knowing how to program: just modify its truth table to change
its behaviour
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Compatible
with RFpad combination lock
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 The
relay switches on as long as the correct card is in. Converts pirate-smartcards
to pacific and legal use
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Very few
parts, no programming skills required
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Truth-table
driven, you can cange the truth table to suit your needs.
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Card codes
can be reprogrammed in-circuit (in case a card gets lost or stolen)
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 An handheld data logger that uses a Casio Graphing Calculator as its main display, calculus and backup unit, connected to the external world thanks to a PIC16F84 and a 12 bit A/D converter!
- "see" your data while sampling
- apply all that powerful statistical and math functions of the Casio calculator.
- run it from batteries (runs for month from a 9V battery)
- costs 20 times less of any PC based solution of comparable power
This design awarded the best overall prize at the Circuit Cellar's Design '98 international design contest. I'm very proud of it: with all these top-quality international entries, I feel like winning the Designer's Olympic Games!
Go to Casio page |
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 Hands-on tutorial for making printed circuit boards at home, using magazine paper to replace expensive toner-transfer paper.
Fast and easy: you can start with a great idea at 11:00 pm and have your prototype working by midnight!
Go to PCB how-to page |
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