Dilshan R Jayakody’s Web Log

When it comes to automation and control systems, there's often a need for multiple digitally controlled output terminals with high-voltage handling capabilities. Many existing modules are bulky, expensive, or require numerous additional components to function. To address this gap, I've developed a fully open-source, USB-controlled 24-channel high-voltage driver. This device provides precise, flexible control in a compact and user-friendly package. The project is open hardware, released under the CERN-OHL-W license, ensuring transparency from hardware schematics to firmware code. The driver module communicates via USB using a simple virtual COM port, eliminating the need for special drivers and complex setups. Prototype version of the module. At the core of the system are three TPIC6B595 shift registers, each supplying eight open-drain outputs that can handle up to 50V and sink currents of up to 150mA per channel. These registers are daisy-chained to achieve a total of 24 ...

Pink noise is an essential tool in audio testing, widely used for analyzing speaker systems, room acoustics, and crossover networks. Unlike white noise, which has equal energy across all frequencies, pink noise features equal energy per octave, making it ideal for audio response testing. This characteristic ensures that pink noise offers a flat frequency response when analyzed on a logarithmic scale, providing a more accurate representation of audio systems. Assembled pink noise generator kit. We developed a this pink noise generator to meet various audio testing requirements. This device combines simplicity and performance, featuring a minimal component count for ease of assembly without compromising accuracy and usability. This pink noise generator design uses a reverse-biased emitter-base junction of a 2SC945 transistor as the noise source. In this configuration, the transistor behaves like a noisy zener diode, producing a broad spectrum of white noise. In this design the NJM...

This project is about a single-channel microphone echo generator circuit. This circuit builds around the Holtek HT8970 echo effect generator IC. It offers complete control of the echo effect by providing delay, mix, and output level adjustments.  HT8970 is an echo/surround sound effect generator IC with 20Kb SRAM. It also contains the built-in VCO stage, AD, and DA converters. The chip costs less than 0.5 US$ and is commonly available in the market. Prototype build of the echo effect generator circuit. The given schematic offers a maximum of 320ms time delay and works with a single-rail 9V DC power supply.  In addition to the HT8970 integrated circuit, this circuit uses an NJM4558 op-amp to amplify the input and output audio signals. HT7150 voltage regulator uses in this design to power up the HT8970 IC. The HT7150 is a low-power 5V regulator IC from Holtek, the same maker of the HT8970 IC. Top view of the prototype build. The circuit designs to work with 500Ω dynamic mic...

YALI ( Yet Another LCD Interface ) is an open-source project to provide a universal interface to drive the popular Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller. This module supports 3.3V and 5V MCUs and hardware development platforms, including Arduino, STM32, PIC, and ESP8266. YALI hardware module. The hardware module of this project consists of a 74HCT08 CMOS AND gate and a 74HC595 8-bit serial-in, parallel-out shift register. This module uses the MP1540 step-up converter to power the LCD unit connected to the system. The module has the jumper to select 3.3V or 5V DC power input.  Bottom side of the YALI hardware module. The YALI library is developed using C and is designed to be easily integrated with any C/C++ embedded toolchain. At the initial design stages, this library was successfully tested with all Arduino development boards, NodeMCU , STM32 Blue Pill , etc. The target system must have three digital output lines with 5V or 3.3V logic levels to interface with the YALI module. As m...

At the beginning of 2018, we developed the first version of the 6-channel speaker selector using PIC16F88 MCU and ULN2803 Darlington transistor array. In this new design, we redesign it with low-cost MCU and Darlington transistor arrays. This design also provides the same functionality as the 6-channel speaker selector switch we designed earlier. This new speaker selector uses STC15W201 MCU. This MCU is a low-cost 8051 MCU designed by STC micro . At the time of this writing, the STC15W201 can obtain for less than US$ 0.8. To drive the seven segments and to control the relays, this design uses the popular 74HC595 8-bit shift register ICs. PCB of the 6-channel speaker selector. To select each speaker channel, we use pair of 12V DPDT relays. These relays interface to 74HC595 through a ULN2001D 3-channel Darlington transistor array IC. This 3-channel Darlington driver IC is functionally equivalent to the famous 8-channel ULN2003 IC. This ULN2001D version is an 8-pin IC and is av...

In this project, we developed a 5.1-channel analog audio processor using PT2322 IC. PT2322 is an inexpensive analog audio processor introduced by Princeton Technology Corporation . It contains 6-channel individual channel attenuators, a 3-way tone control system for front-end speakers, and a 3D audio simulation system.  Assembled 5.1-channel audio processing board. In this design, we combine PT2322 with Arduino Nano and interface it with PC/embedded computing boards through a USB port. Native GTK UI application provides to control all functions of the PT2322 IC. The Arduino Nano can directly plugin to the PT2322 module. There are three push buttons on the panel itself to control the volume and mute the audio. To reduce the cost and minimize the PCB size, we use both SMD and through-hole-type components in this PCB. The dimension of the PCB is 59mm × 60mm. The PCB of this module can directly order from the PCBWay project page . Using the PCBWay service, you can order high-...

StarPointer is a virtual electronic finderscope for astronomical telescopes. This device works with Stellarium and helps the observer identify objects in the sky.  Prototype version of the StarPointer sensor kit. This unit can be attached to the telescope without modifications and connects with the computer through the USB port. The StarPointer uses a few onboard sensors to determine its angle and position. After obtaining that information, the unit calculates the RA (right ascension ) and DEC (declination) coordinates of the telescope and transfers those details to the Stellarium. The StarPointer builds around the STM32F103C8 microcontroller, ADXL345 3-axis accelerometer , and HMC5883L 3-axis magnetometer . This unit communicates with the PC using the inbuilt USB peripheral of the STM32F103C8 microcontroller. The firmware of the StarPointer is developed using the LibOpenCM3 library and built using GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain . This unit can attach to any astronomical telescope o...

This project is about MC3362 and ADF4351 based modularized, 2-meter narrow band FM receiver. In this design, the receiver splits into three modules as RF preamplifier, MC3362 tuner, and ADF4351 oscillator. The RF preamplifier builts around BF900 dual-gate MOSFET. The tuner stage builts using the popular MC3362 , low power narrowband FM receiver IC. For the oscillator, we use the ADF4351 DDS RF signal generator module. The core component of this receiver is MC3362 IC. This IC was designed by Motorola and is no longer in production, but this IC is still available to purchase in many online stores . The chip we used in this receiver was purchased from a local electronic component store for LKR 75 (USD 0.2). The RF preamplifier used in this receiver extracts from the N.Ganesan's (VU3GEK) LRR200, 2-meter band FM receiver project . Prototype version of the RF preamplifier. In this prototype, the above preamplifier was built as a module using a Manhattan construction technique. Th...

This project introduces a digitally controlled 5.1 channel audio preamplifier system. This amplifier is specifically designed to increase the gain of the multi-channel PC sound cards. The main reason for building this amplifier is the limited gain received from the ASUS Xonar AE sound card with the Creative Inspire T6300 , 5.1 surround speaker system. Before switching to this soundcard, we had a Creative Sound Blaster Z card which provided good audio output with the above-mention speaker system. The key motivation of building this amplifier is to solve these gaining problems. The assembled 5.1 preamplifier PCB. This preamplifier consists of six TL074 / TL072 preamplifier stages and PT2258 electronic volume control. The input stage of this preamplifier consists of six TL074 / TL072 buffer stages. The PIC16F886 microcontroller manages the PT2258 electronic volume control IC. All the volume levels and menu options are displayed on HD44780 , 16x2 character LCD screen . All the ...

AVR-HV2 is Arduino based high voltage parallel programmer for AVR microcontrollers. This programmer can read, write, and erase both flash memory and EEPROM. Also, this can use to set fuse bits of AVR MCUs. Compare with the previous version of AVR HVPP , this design is based on commonly available components with a simple schematic. In this release driver software is also rewritten to provide cross-platform support. AVR-HV2 shield with Arduino Mega 2560 board. AVR-HV2 programmer is designed as an Arduino Mega shield. Dimensions of the AVR-HV2 are similar to the Arduino Mega board. It can be powered using a power source connected to the Arduino Mega board. The suggested power source for this programmer is a 12V 1A DC power adapter. The control software of this programmer is design to work on both Windows and Linux operating systems. It supports the import and export of memory data in the Intel hex file format. The communication link between the programmer and the control s...