Some great tutorials have been put out there for building infrared thermometers with the MLX90614 Infrared Thermometer sensor from Melexis.  Most of the projects we’ve seen use the Arduino.  In one of our current sensor projects, we wanted to adapt the MLX90614 for use with an Atmega48.  We programmed this project in AVR Studio 5 as a stepping-stone for...

A compilation of tools that we love and use a lot at Dexter Industries. 4DSystems PEBBLE:  A virtual breadboard for diagramming out circuits as we make them.  This is a really cool application that lets you draw out circuits to share with others. Saleae Logic Analyzer:  INDISPENSABLE when working on an embedded electronics project.  If you have anything communicating...

TWI, I2C, SMBus, 2-Wire . . . it’s an invaluable way to reach sensors in microcontroller projects.  While there are many examples of how to use I2C and other 2-wire protocols on Atmel chip’s designated pins, how do you develop an I2C master on non-standard pins? Peter Fleury has written a great I2C Master Library here.  The library can...

Here we’ll provide some examples of AVR programming. AVR is a great way to program Atmel microcontrollers.  For background, microcontrollers are small computers usually in a single microchip.  They can be programmed in C, Java, and many other languages.  The Mindstorm NXT is itself a microcontroller you program each time you upload a new program. Our favorite AVR programming...