Digital Laboratory Master Kit

    The company Master Kit has released the third set in the line "Alphabet Electronics." This kit is called NR05 - "Digital Laboratory" and is dedicated to the study of programmable microcontrollers.



    In modern technology and electronics, microcontrollers are used very widely: in your coffee maker or microwave, flashing multi-colored LEDs and counting the cooking time, this or that microcontroller is most likely used. Not without the help of microcontrollers, children's toys come to life, quadrocopters and supersonic fighters fly, cars are assembled and operated, etc. Therefore, the study of the principles of work, the possibilities and methods of using microcontrollers is an absolutely necessary component of the training of every electronic engineer, both amateur and professional.

    Microcontrollers take their origin from microprocessors - small-sized single-chip computing devices that process digital information. Only a microcontroller in one chip has a calculator, and memory for computing and storing programs, and communication devices with the outside world - analog and digital inputs and outputs.



    There are many types of microcontrollers that differ in functionality, but one of them served as the basis for the creation of the Arduino project. Arduino is a hardware and software platform for ultrafast electronic device development. On a small board there is a microcontroller with the elements necessary for its operation, a USB connector and a conversion circuit for connecting to a computer, several indicator LEDs and a whole set of contacts for connecting external sensors and actuators - from ordinary switches and relays to wireless Internet connection modules. The board comes with a free computer program - the Arduino IDE development environment.

    The enormous popularity of Arduino is largely due to the simplicity and "friendliness" when working with the platform. A special simplified programming language, the presence of countless additional modules with appropriate software libraries provide solutions to many problems associated with the creation of electronic devices for various purposes. It can be both autonomously working devices and devices that interact with a computer, which infinitely expands the scope of their application.

    From the whole set of necessary and useful solutions on Arduino, we selected several examples for our new set illustrating the capabilities of the microcontroller, different input and output modes, and interacting with additional modules via various protocols. Having studied all these examples, you will learn the principles of work and programming Arduino, you can build a home weather station with two points of temperature measurement, measuring pressure and humidity and displaying data on a two-line liquid crystal display, as well as other devices.

    As with all Master Kit training kits, the Digital Laboratory kit includes a colorful brochure with a detailed description of all the projects, as well as the necessary amount of theory related to Arduino, an expansion board and additional modules. All materials are presented in an accessible language, so that young and inexperienced readers will not have problems understanding the text. The traditional “Test Yourself” section with questions on the topics being studied is not forgotten.

    To connect the modules with Arduino, Master Kit has developed an original expansion board, which makes it very convenient to connect additional modules. To do this, just connect the connectors signed on the board with the appropriate module. The board also has a display and five buttons that serve as a kind of keyboard for sending commands to the microcontroller. The size of the expansion board is 12x13.5 cm. The





    board has optimal sizes for training purposes. The connectors are located quite freely and marked with the designation of the contact function of the plug-in connector and the number corresponding to the Arduino output, which makes it easy to compare the conclusions with their designation in the program.



    Based on the board, you can also assemble the finished device by placing it in a suitable case.

    In normal mode, power is supplied through the USB connector through which the microcontroller is programmed, but the board also provides power from an external 12-12 V unit, which is necessary if external modules that consume relatively high current, such as servo drives or electromechanical relays, are used.



    Also on the board there is a current amplifier on the transistor and a connector for connecting an external speaker or a powerful LED.



    Of course, not only those modules whose designations are printed on the board and which are included in the kit can be connected to the connectors located on the board. Having mastered all the examples proposed in the training manual, an inquisitive researcher will be able to connect many other modules, thus creating his own projects. A large number of modules compatible with Arduino can be purchased on our website.

    In the near future, we plan to start publishing a series of articles and video materials on the possibilities of the Digital Laboratory kit. In these articles, in addition to a visual description of the projects included in the training brochure and using the modules available in the kit, projects will be reviewed on the basis of additional modules that are not part of the kit but implement interesting and useful functions: FM radio, device control using a smartphone over wireless channels, the use of servos, ultrasonic radar and more.

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