Week Overview¶
This week’s individual assignment involves soldering and testing a XIAO micro controller, a device that provides a way to control electrical components and functions like an Arduino. It was designed by previous fab academy students. It is similar to the Raspberry Pi Pico, but it is much more energy efficient. We are building it from scratch, using a pre-milled board and soldering different components on to it.
We also had to do 4 hours of video tutorial in a different CAD software named Eagle in Fusion 360, similar to KiCAD. It is used to design circuits and make micro controllers.
There are a lot of files that Mr. Dubick gave us, including ones that explain the workings of Eagle, and example designs for us to analyze.
Notes¶
Here are some notes that I took from Dr. Gershenfield’s lecture:
- There are P and N mosfets that provide current control.
- The N mosfet only allows DC current.
- The P mosfet allows AC current.
- Essentially, the P mosfet acts as a switch to turn on and off the current.
- Side note: I will be including the mosfet in my circuit in
- There is a type of super capacitor that has the capacitance of 1 Farad. This has 10 million times more capacitance than the standard type.
- It acts as a mini lithium ion battery that could be charged very quickly.
- Dr. Gershenfield also went through the workings of KiCAD and Eagle.
- He showed us the different ways to incorporate components into the software, setting user parameters and adjusting them. It is essentially a 2D render of Fusion 360.
- An op-amp amplifies the difference in voltage between two inputs, it is used to perform mathematical calculations.
As summarized on the Fab Academy website, here are the assignments for the group project:
Use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation
of a microcontroller circuit board
send a PCB out to a board house.