GPS Disciplined 100Mhz clock source. I've got the QRP Labs "fake" temperature controlled synthesizer, an Icebreaker FPGA board, and an Adafruit ultimate GPS with 1PPS output.
Reminder/message board which is two parts, a server that monitors a file for messages and puts the top 8 on an LED sign in my office/lab. A set of transponders that generate messages for the file. And a 'grooming' process that looks at the available messages and prioritizes them for the sign.
Moving my iBitsy LED clock over to a nice 64 x 64 LED panel. This is mostly 3D printing a case, and updating software on the ESP2866 controller using Micro/Circuit Python.
Building a NAND driver for an embedded system that is currently booting off internal flash. The NAND option lets you encrypt the firmware which is a handy feature and you can have larger boot images.
Debating ideas for future Pandemic prep with friends over zoom.
Working out aspects of DSP that I have code that implements but I don't feel I really understand as completely as I should. The goal here is just learning, especially about polyphase channelizers.
Building kits that I've bought but haven't assembled. (The "big" one is the replica IMSAI 8080)
Noodling on design ideas for 3D printing custom spacers so that I can stack test equipment without have to rack it. Vendors design their gear so when you have multiple instruments from them you can stack them on your bench, but when you mix vendors that falls apart. My thought is that you can 3D print pieces that adapt from one vendor to another.
Drilling down a rabbit hole while making a 3.3V -> 5V push-pull driver with 100mA sink and source current, at 50MHz. Ideally I'll end up with a design and layout that I can replicate 'n' times on a board to create an 'n' wide driver board. For bonus points I'd like to figure out if I could make it bi-directional so I've been looking at the circuit diagrams of FPGA and SoC pin circuits to get ideas of how they do that.
Polyphase DSP is some fun stuff. I helped a coworker implement a polyphase lowpass filter in Verilog a few years ago. Would like to get back to learning about it one of these days. (Hopefully an impending layoff doesn't give me the time I need to do that!)
Why'd you choose 50MHz for push/pull capability? What does application does that high of a drive frequency unlock?
Re: the 50MHz, it lets me drive a number of LED panels directly with fairly long ribbon cable runs. The goal is to run displays at 161 Hz refresh rate (23 * 7 which are both prime factors that aren't in 60 or 50 so the refresh rate won't "beat" with local illumination).
This frequency determines how many panels I can run from a single "port" which ultimately determines the maximum resolution I can use for a display.
GPS Disciplined 100Mhz clock source. I've got the QRP Labs "fake" temperature controlled synthesizer, an Icebreaker FPGA board, and an Adafruit ultimate GPS with 1PPS output.
Reminder/message board which is two parts, a server that monitors a file for messages and puts the top 8 on an LED sign in my office/lab. A set of transponders that generate messages for the file. And a 'grooming' process that looks at the available messages and prioritizes them for the sign.
Moving my iBitsy LED clock over to a nice 64 x 64 LED panel. This is mostly 3D printing a case, and updating software on the ESP2866 controller using Micro/Circuit Python.
Building a NAND driver for an embedded system that is currently booting off internal flash. The NAND option lets you encrypt the firmware which is a handy feature and you can have larger boot images.
Debating ideas for future Pandemic prep with friends over zoom.
Working out aspects of DSP that I have code that implements but I don't feel I really understand as completely as I should. The goal here is just learning, especially about polyphase channelizers.
Building kits that I've bought but haven't assembled. (The "big" one is the replica IMSAI 8080)
Noodling on design ideas for 3D printing custom spacers so that I can stack test equipment without have to rack it. Vendors design their gear so when you have multiple instruments from them you can stack them on your bench, but when you mix vendors that falls apart. My thought is that you can 3D print pieces that adapt from one vendor to another.
Drilling down a rabbit hole while making a 3.3V -> 5V push-pull driver with 100mA sink and source current, at 50MHz. Ideally I'll end up with a design and layout that I can replicate 'n' times on a board to create an 'n' wide driver board. For bonus points I'd like to figure out if I could make it bi-directional so I've been looking at the circuit diagrams of FPGA and SoC pin circuits to get ideas of how they do that.