USB flash drives provide a handy way to store any type of information in a small package. The drives, also known as thumb drives and USB keys, seem ideal for use in data loggers and other microcontroller-based projects. But to access files in a flash drive, a microcontroller must have USB host hardware and support for a file system. Microcontroller-based
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devices often lack these elements. To the rescue is the USBwiz chip from GHI Electronics. With the USBwiz, just about any microcontroller can read and write to files in flash drives. The microcontroller can access the USBwiz via an asynchronous serial (UART) port or an SPI or I2C port. Most microcontrollers support one or more of these ports. The USBwiz can also access USB hard drives and flash-memory cards such as MultimediaCards (MMCs) and Secure Digital (SD) Cards. In this article, I`ll show how to use the USBwiz to create a file in a flash drive, write to the file, and read the file`s contents. I`ll also show how to control the USBwiz from a PC using a terminal utility or Visual Basic. When you have working code on the PC, you can port the code to your microcontroller of choice. Every USB communication is between a host and a device. The host contains host-controller hardware and manages communications on the bus. The device contains device-controller hardware and responds to communications from the host. Host hardware and code are more complex than device hardware and code. PCs contain host controllers and thus can communicate with USB devices, including flash drives. Most microcontrollers with USB support contain device controllers. A microcontroller that wants to access flash drives or other USB devices must have a host controller embedded in the microcontroller or accessed on a separate chip. This is where the...
This project fits more for custom made battery casing that can have more space to hide things inside. This switch with few alterations can be used for any other project as well but is designed based on e-bike needs! This project use a clever functionality of....
The circuit described here uses ultrasonic oscillations and operates based on the propagation velocity of these oscillations in the air. Thus, we can easily determine the distance of two points if the time within which the wave travels this distance is....
Sometimes the precious metals are hidden too deep and are not detected except with complicated devices. In many cases, however, small pieces of precious metal buried near the surface can be detected by relatively simple means. Everyone is very attractive to....
Many times for various reasons we forget or can not water the plants that we have in our homes. And many humidity sensors units just notify us with a beeping sound or with a flashing light, that the pot needs watering. But what if we are away from home? This....
The principle behind a metal detector is really very simple. Proof of this is the circuit that follows, in which it proves that the construction of a metal detector can be done in the minute, with few components that we find very easily everywhere. With the....
The sub-harmonic bass generator is a sound producing unit for guitars. The sound it produces looks very much like that of the bass guitar. The octave generator is sometimes quite unusual since it does not produce any of the usual ways of coloring the sound,....
In the past the sounding (sea bottom measurement) was done with the "bullet", that is, with a heavy lead object that the seamen plucked into the sea hung from a calibrated rope. As soon as the "bullet" reached the bottom, the depth appeared directly from the....
This Amplifier was designed to have the following specifications: Distortion less than 0.1% at full power of 100W even at 20KHz. Power has to be attributed to an extended bandwidth. The output transistors must be protected against short circuits. The power....
A series of LEDs serve to alert the gardener when plants need water. Using two conventional digital integrated LEDs and a series of LEDs, we make a very useful device for gardening. The device detects the amount of water in the pot and alerts the grower.....
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