Mike Fikes normally works on software, focusing on Clojure Script and other high level language implementations. Mike joins Chris to talk about bringing similar methodologies to the world of hardware, and how he learned how to work on hardware.

Elen from Fully Automated Technologies joins Chris to talk about building high current battery controllers. She also describes an exciting new site called EDeA, for offering circuit schematic and layout blocks in KiCad. That site will allow users to pull in open source, proven design blocks to their designs. All electronics designed at Fully Automated Technologies is open source.

Today we're talking with, Erik Larson, who is a firmware engineer with some interesting background! He joins Chris to review the Advanced BLE-Cell (ABC) board, which is also a new course on Contextual Electronics.

Erik has worked at places like Honeywell Aerospace, Apriva and Hologram (where he and Chris met). Erik is now a full time consultant for his own company, Statropy Software LLC.

Erik was the firmware engineer on the Hologram Dash, which was an embedded module that Hologram used to make for people to get started making cellular connected devices.

During his career, he had to learn how to code remotely on a VAX! This meant being very careful with code check-ins

Erik and Chris review some of the "Must check" sections of schematics, in order to get firmware and hardware talking properly:

Pin selection on a microcontroller

Programming elements, including the bootloader

Understanding the peripherals of the specific chip you're using

The board we're reviewing is the Advanced BLE-CELL (ABC) board, which is designed as part of a Contextual Electronics course. You can follow along and watch the entire design of this board if you're a member of Contextual Electronics.

Here is the schematic, as shown in the video (has since been updated for the course, as has the layout)

Check out the nRF52840 Product Specification (datasheet)

Erik recommends getting a development board and breakout boards before the hardware arrives.

You can hire Erik to help with your next firmware project on his website, Statropy Software, LLC

 

That's our third episode, which is the last in our initial release of shows!

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Video version of the podcast:

Audio version of the podcast:

Today we're talking with, Stephen Hawes, an electronics engineer and maker who is building his own Pick and Place machine and sharing about the process on YouTube

Stephen works at Formlabs during the day, and films videos at night!

Controlling 30 feeders

Using OpenPnP

Adding vision to the PnP

PnP Controller build

The glowtie (which he did a crowdfunding campaign on)

Video version of the podcast:

Audio version of the podcast:

Sophy Wong is a designer and maker who combines 3D printing, soft goods, electronics and software to make a wide range of projects online. She also shares as she is learning, and creates tutorials so others may follow in her footsteps.

I started Contextual Electronics (CE) in 2014 to teach electronics by pairing theory and practice. We sometimes refer to this as "the online electronics apprenticeship", since our members follow along with electronics builds. Since then, hundreds have participated in project based education to improve their skills. In 2020, we're looking to feature people using electronics in their everyday work. This is a new podcast called, The Contextual Electronics Podcast. Listeners/viewers will gain a better grasp of required knowledge for their personal projects and how to work towards it. This will bring more context to your practice.

How did we get here?

Podcasting isn't new for me. Contextual Electronics started as the direct result of another podcast, The Amp Hour. Feedback from Amp Hour listeners helped me realized there was a need for a program such as CE. I designed a project based course that pairs theory and practice.

Over time, the course and this site have changed. CE started as a 10 week course teaching electronics; then it split out into two 8 week courses instead. Then we released all of our KiCad videos online and kept releasing new ones to the public for teaching people how to use an open source EDA program. Then we moved on to doing smaller boards for more rapid feedback on designs. Then we did a larger project to pull in firmware and build up a system. Then we developed a shortcourse that highlights swappable design. Then we started a public forum to complement the coursework. Most recently, we have been designing an advanced course that shows how to design a board that has bluetooth and cellular capabilities.

We hope that the podcast is the next iteration. A free weekly podcast, highlighting guests who pair electronics theory and practice every day. We hope this will help more people discover the world of electronics.

What will the show be like?

The Contextual Electronics Podcast (CEP) will invite guests on from all parts of the industry. We are looking to feature people at different points in their careers, and with very different backgrounds. Ultimately we want to add context to the world of electronics. Hearing or watching people with different backgrounds than your own, and those who are struggling or have struggled with electronics concepts, should help you realize you're not alone in your learning.

This podcast will include video, which is new for me on podcasts (The Amp Hour is audio only). Electronics and the education surrounding it is visual by nature; that's why Contextual Electronics is primarily a video course. We hope that a video podcast will help to give a better view into our guests' experiences. We will always try to make sure we describe what is on screen so that it's possible to listen to the podcast, if that's your preferred way of tuning in.

How can you tune in?

The best away to make sure you don't miss any episodes is to subscribe! Here are some places you can find the podcast, either video or audio:

YouTube (video)

iTunes (audio)

Spotify (audio)

Stitcher (audio)

Overcast (audio)

RSS

Email (sign up in the form below)

Most of the podcast aggregators pull from the marketplaces above. If you can't find CEP in your favorite one, please let us know in the forum post, linked below.

On with the show!

We are releasing 3 episodes right off the bat, and they turned out great! Here are links to the show notes and the video and audio versions of the podcast. The videos will be released on YouTube publicly over the next few days (to save peoples' notifications), but you can access all of the content right now using the links below.

CEP001 - Design Methodologies with Sophy Wong

CEP002 - A DIY Pick and Place with Stephen Hawes

CEP003 - A Hardware Design Review with Erik Larson