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How to build a hybrid solar/wind energy harvester?

Archives for April 2013

The energy harvester is ready for iteration 2

Iteration 1 overview Iteration 1 was mainly about extending our software platform which we call Simple Platform Abstraction. This platform enables us to easily experiment with new hardware (sensors, mosfets etc.) and will be the fundament of our energy harvester application. See the pictures for some recent hardware hacking! The software platform evolved quite a bit. We […]

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PMD1 sensor board: our first hardware component

We are pleased to announce the creation of our very first hardware component: the PMD1 sensor board. We won’t let you wait, here is a beautiful image: Now, let us start with the global picture. The sensor board is part of Power Management Decision 1 (see Figure on the right). PMD1 decides whether the power […]

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Reverse engineering the bug of my Opel Zafira’s volume knob (with movie!)

The bug Some articles ago we proudly introduced the Opel Zafira’s electronic handbrake in order to explain de-bounced buttons. We now have some more bad news for the guys from Opel: the volume knob of the car has a bug. We admit… it is a very minor bug, but still, it is a bug. And […]

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System safety: hazard analysis

Introduction The goal of each system is to perform its intended function. Easier said than done in an imperfect world, and that is what this article is about: how to design a system in such a way that the probability of hazard exposure is acceptably low. The presented techniques are well-known in the world of […]

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