Rapid Development of Hardware Prototype Concepts using an AI LLM and a Renesas EK-RA2E1 Kit

Developing a hardware prototype proof of concept (PoC) does not require a major investment in electronic components and test equipment. Such electronic components and test equipment include active integrated circuits, electromechanical tactile switches, LEDs, oscilloscopes, and function generators. Several prototype PoCs can be built quite rapidly using an embedded hardware development board or kit, one to three electronic modules, and an AI LLM.

Another item that can aid in providing design focus when engineering a PoC is the use of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs model. The model has five characteristic levels that can identify the customers’ requirements. With such a model, a needs analysis can be included within the hardware PoC development process.

This talk will illustrate the application of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs model with an AI LLM to create a 3-bit binary counter for a PoC controller. The Renesas EK-RA3E1 kit will serve as the rapid hardware development platform for the project demonstrator.

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Aggregating Data and Sensor Programming With The Arduino Nano 33BLE Sense Board

Aggregating data from industrial or environmental systems can require costly data logging or acquisition devices. With micro-miniaturization or MEMs technologies, sensors can be populated on small form factor Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Included on these PCBs are System on Chip (SoC) microcontrollers. Combining sensors and SoC microcontrollers, PCBs can provide an approach to aggregating data from industrial and environmental systems.

This online conference talk will present an approach to obtaining data from industrial and environmental systems using an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense board, Communication Terminal software, and sensor programming techniques.
Topics to be presented for this online talk are listed next.

• Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Overview
• Accessing On-board Sensors
1. temperature
2. relative humidity
3. microphone
4. gesture
• Logging sensor data with Communication Terminal Software
1. Tera Term
2. PuTTY
• Lab: Light Sensor OLED Demonstrator (Bricolage)

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Live Q&A - Aggregating Data and Sensor Programming With The Arduino Nano 33BLE Sense Board

Live Q&A with Dr. Don Wilcher for the talk titled Aggregating Data and Sensor Programming With The Arduino Nano 33BLE Sense Board

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ESP32 I/O Primer

The ESP32 is a low-cost microcontroller System-on-a-Chip (SoC). An SoC is a microcontroller that integrates a computer's or device's components into a single chip. The ESP32 includes a microprocessor, memory, various interfaces and peripherals, and integrated WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities. To use the ESP32 microcontroller in various industrial products and applications like temperature controllers, motor controls, object sensing/detection, and visual alarm indicators, an understanding of basic input/output electronic circuit interfaces is required. A basic I/O primer will allow the development and testing of control application code to be created by the software developer. This talk will explain basic I/O interfacing circuit techniques using electrical and electronic components like tactile pushbutton switches, transistors, and sensors. The talk will include operating electromechanical and solid state relays (SSR) using an ESP32 microcontroller. Circuit diagrams and basic microcontroller code will be presented in this talk.

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Live Q&A - ESP32 I/O Primer

Live Q&A with Dr. Don Wilcher for the talk titled ESP32 I/O Primer

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Exploring the ESP32 based M5Stack Core WiFi Applications

This talk will discuss the ESP32 with WiFi from the perspective of the M5Stack Core. The ESP32 WiFi architecture will be explained in the presentation. The following talking points for the discussion will consist of the following topics.

1. Seminal Research Perspective on Communication Systems. 
2. ESP32 with WiFi Introduction 
3. M5Stack Core WiFi Setup 
4. Build a basic M5Stack Core WiFi Scanner 
5. Build a M5Stack Core Access Point and Web Server Controller

The two build projects will align with the ESP32 with WiFi discussion and provide physical examples participants can explore on the bench.

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OpenPLC: A Unique Approach to Programming Microchip Atmega328 microcontrollers

The traditional approach to programming a microcontroller has been with high-level languages like C or C++. Programmer Tools like compilers are used to take the high-level language code and disassemble it to a machine code format. A no-code approach can now be used to program a microcontroller using a ladder diagram programming language. In this talk, an open-source ladder diagram programming platform called OpenPLC will be discussed. OpenPLC is based on the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61131-1 Functional Programming Languages standard. Participants will learn the basics of a programmable logic controller ladder diagram and how to implement control function tasks using the OpenPLC Editor. The OpenPLC Runtime environment for programming and monitoring the control functions embedded on the microcontroller will be presented in the talk discussion. The Arduino Uno -Microchip ATMega328 based platform will be the development tool for implementing specific OpenPLC control function tasks.

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Exploring Node-RED IoT Widgets With The Raspberry Pi

In this conference talk, information will be presented to participants on creating embedded IoT concepts using Node-RED Widgets. The conference talk Agenda will consist of the following topics.

This conference talk is for participants exploring development tools and approaches to developing interactive IoT dashboards for Industry 4.0 applications using off the shelf components.

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Enabling Rapid Prototype for Physical Interaction Design Using A M5Stack Core

The M5Stack Core is an ESP32 microcontroller-based controller that allows a variety of wearable, Human Machine Interface (HMI) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) devices to be developed quickly. This microtalk will discuss enabling rapid prototyping for physical interaction design using the M5Stack Core. A set of prototyping, software tools, and circuits will be provided in this microtalk.

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Prototyping Industrial Control Concept Applications Using MicroPython and the BBC micro:bit.

Automation is being impacted by smaller more efficient programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and programmable automation controllers. With such controllers, mechanical based systems, like conveyors, transfer stations, hydraulic, and pneumatic machines are able to operate at higher efficiency and quality performance. Therefore, how can innovative industrial controllers be implemented to ensure manufacturing processing and methods can be adjusted properly with reliability and accuracy? In this virtual talk, industrial control application concepts using MicroPython and the BBC micro:bit will be explored. The big ideas to be learned in this talk are prototyping methods in the development and validating sensing, detection, and control applications using MicroPython and the BBC micro:bit.

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Live Q&A - Prototyping Industrial Control Concept Applications Using MicroPython and the BBC micro:bit.

Live Q&A with Don Wilcher for the talk titled Prototyping Industrial Control Concept Applications Using MicroPython and the BBC micro:bit.

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Building an Interactive IoT Dashboard With Speech Synthesis Using Node-RED

Hardware devices, Application Programming Interface (API), and online services can be wired together using a data flow-based programming tool called Node-RED. Node-RED allows developers to build IoT devices using a web browser editor quickly. A developer can create an IoT device using a variety of Node-RED widgets provided with the data flow-based programming tool. In this talk, the participant will learn the essential visual programming environment by building an IoT interactive flow dashboard with a speech synthesis demonstrator.

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How to Train the Future IoT Workforce Remotely? (2020)

With Covid19 impacting hands-on learning at higher education and postsecondary institutions, undergraduates and postsecondary learners have no to limited access to engineering and technical instructional labs. How can instructional training in IoT be implemented remotely? In this Virtual Talk (VT), the spending cost of IoT products and the demand for a technology- oriented workforce needed will be presented. To meet this workforce demand, instructional strategies for learning IoT technologies remotely with low cost hardware development platforms will be discussed. Also, open source software tools to aid in creating IoT applications will be presented. Further, WiFi and Bluetooth (BT) development approaches will be compared along with alignment of hardware platforms. The specific hardware platforms to be discussed in this VT will include ESP32, ESP8266, the Raspberry Pi, Arduino Nano 33 BLE/Nano 33 BLE Sense, and the BBC micro:bit. In addition, WiFi and BT application concepts for sensing and control will be presented.

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