I could NOT get the Open-Source Thermal Simulation of PCBs technique to work with my 4-layer PCB board at all, even after spending some days on it. To make things worse, I was NOT able to get useful debugging feedback from the involved patchy toolchain. Getting access to the TRM software by ADAM Research turned out to be a sort of very bureaucratic and slow process - I never ended up using it. ...
Avoid Gazon ISP: A Frustrating Experience for Developers If you're a developer, engineer, or even a moderately technical user, internet reliability is not optional - it's foundational. Unfortunately, my experience with Gazon ISP has been consistently frustrating, to the point where I would strongly advise others to avoid it. Critical Sites Simply Don't Work One of the most alarming issues is that even essential websites like kernel.org and lwn.net fail to load reliably. This isn't some obscure or niche service - kernel.org is a cornerstone of the open-source ecosystem, hosting the Linux kernel and related resources. ...
Why This Post Exists I wanted to learn practical voltage fault injection on low-cost MCUs like WCH CH32V003 and Puya PY32. What is Voltage Glitching? Voltage glitching is a form of hardware fault injection where very short disturbances are introduced into a device's power supply. These disturbances can cause the CPU to skip instructions, misread memory, or bypass security checks. Researchers commonly use voltage glitching to study the robustness of microcontrollers and secure boot implementations. ...
We are working on reversing the Huidu HD-R712 LED Display Full Color Receiving Card - a very cost-effective (~1000 INR) and widely available FPGA board. We draw inspiration from the https://github.com/q3k/chubby75 work. FPGA Blink Project Files 1 Random brain dump $ sudo openFPGALoader --cable dirtyJtag --freq 10000 --detect Jtag frequency : requested 10000Hz -> real 10000Hz index 0: idcode 0x4014c35 manufacturer anlogic family eagle d20 model EG4D20EG176 irlength 8 $ sudo openFPGALoader --cable dirtyJtag --detect Jtag frequency : requested 6000000Hz -> real 6000000Hz index 0: idcode 0x4014c35 manufacturer anlogic family eagle d20 model EG4D20EG176 irlength 8 JTAG pinout: V ┌───────────────────┐ │ 1 3 5 7 9 │ │ 2 4 6 8 10 │ └───────────────────┘ 9 => TCK 7 => TDO 5 => TMS 3 => NC (Not Connected) 1 => TDI The pin mapping work was done using a DMM, the datasheet, and an optical magnifier. ...
Polar Modulation for Everyone We have been working on SSB generation using polar modulation. Hardware stack: RP2350-Zero MCU board + Fast Si5351 module + AP63301 buck regulator (for 5W mode). See https://github.com/kholia/PolarModulationSSB for details. Audio fidelity is acceptable at the moment and should improve further. We still need to hook up the amplitude ("envelope") restoration stage. Motivation Why should Guido, Hans, and FlexRadio folks have all the fun? ;) ...
I recently worked on a redesign of the PA0FRI active antenna using high-speed BFR93A, BFR106, and BFR193 transistors. As a fallback in case of issues, we planned to use NXP MMBT2222A,215 transistors. Design 3D render: Schematic: Previous Next / [pdf] View the PDF file here. Simulation Results ...
Description We have built the simplest, power-efficient and 'ready-for-solar' APRS Digipeater and iGate on an MCU (RPi Pico 2 W)! Our existing KISSLink v1 BLE KISS TNC device is capable of running in standalone mode with an alternate firmware! Goal(s): Our design prioritizes low power, reliability, and unattended deployment over flexibility. And yes, we want to do this with cheap, widely available BaoFeng radios. This means a couple of things: ...
Description We have built a Bluetooth-enabled and APRSdroid-compatible digital interface (KISS TNC) for less than 15 USD (for the fully-loaded make including cables). We call it the KISSLink v1. This digital interface can be powered from the USB 5V or the inbuilt battery. Schematic Previous Next / [pdf] View the PDF file here. RX path simulation (AF front-end) ...
Design Here is a "safe" APRS interface for BaoFeng and other radios. Sample schematic: Previous Next / [pdf] View the PDF file here. Render ...
Idea Ismo recently shared the https://github.com/CoolNamesAllTaken/adsbee project, which is very interesting. Challenges The ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) system uses a data rate of 1 Mbit/s (1 megabit per second) for aircraft position and identification transmissions on 1090 MHz. Unfortunately, this is too fast for HOPERF CMT2300A and related transceiver chips. This led us to consider the following VFM ADS-B RX chain. Architecture Here is a simple ADS-B receiver chain. Antenna (a simple dipole / ground-plane antenna / PCB antenna) ➔ Zeenko LNA ➔ ADS-B Bandpass SAW Filter ➔ 100 pF (DC block) ➔ (Optional digitally controlled RF attenuator for AGC loop) ➔ Fast Schottky detector diode (BAT68 SOT-23) ➔ RC filter (10 kΩ, 10-33 pF) ➔ MCP6567 SOIC-8 comparator with output pull-up ➔ MCU GPIO (RP2350 PIO controlled). ...