Engineers Use Raspberry Pi for Finding Holes in Railway Tunnel Construction

An IoT system recently developed by Chinese engineers for monitoring railway tunnels is quite innovative. This Raspberry Pi-Based IoT System for Grouting Void Detection in Tunnel Construction is an innovative solution designed to ensure the structural integrity of tunnels during the grouting process.

The system uses a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, embedded electrical wires, and a cloud platform for data storage and access.

With this, Chinese engineers have found a novel use for the Raspberry Pi: detecting voids/holes in the linings of railway tunnels. This innovative approach was detailed in a paper published in the journal Buildings.

The system aims to detect voids in the secondary lining of railway tunnels, which can compromise structural integrity.

The proposed grouting void detection system

Engineers embedded wires in the secondary lining of a 600-meter tunnel and connected them to the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins. The Raspberry Pi measures the conductivity of concrete, with dips indicating possible voids or holes.

Unlike traditional methods like ground penetrating radar, the Raspberry Pi system provides continuous monitoring. Readings from the sensors are uploaded to Alibaba Cloud over a 5G connection and stored in a MySQL database for real-time monitoring and historical analysis.

Data is uploaded to a cloud platform, allowing engineers to access it via smartphones.

System Components:

• Raspberry Pi: The core of the system, connected to GPIO pins to measure the conductivity of concrete.
• Sensors: Embedded wires in the tunnel lining act as sensors to detect changes in conductivity.
• Data Transmission: Data from the sensors is uploaded to Alibaba Cloud over a 5G connection.
• Database: The data is stored in a MySQL database for real-time monitoring and historical analysis.

For an uninitiated, the Raspberry Pi is a small, affordable computer that has gained widespread popularity in recent years due to its versatility and ease of use. Initially developed as an educational tool, the Raspberry Pi has since been adopted for a variety of industrial applications, including environmental monitoring, home automation, and IoT systems.

One of the Raspberry Pi's key strengths is its general-purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins, which allow it to interface with sensors, motors, and other devices, making it an ideal platform for real- time monitoring system. 

StarBerrySense, A Raspberry-Pi based Low-Cost Space Instrument Made By IIAstrophysics Launched by ISRO On-Board PSLV C-55

For any space mission, it is crucial to know where the satellite is being pointed to, at any given time. While there are several ways to do this, a star sensor provides the most accurate information about a spacecraft’s orientation.

A new low-cost star sensor developed by Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAstrophysics) astronomers' group, from off-the-shelf components was recently launched by ISRO on board PSLV C-55.

StarBerrySense is capable of finding its pointing direction in space by identifying the stars in its field of view.

In its first-ever space test, StarBerrySense is mounted on the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), and is performing well. The initial data has now validated its design as well as its function.

StarBerrySense, an indigenously developed small space Instrument can calculate where it is pointing to. The space instrument is a creation of Space Payloads Group at IIAstrophysics, Bengaluru. This group builds low cost space payloads for Astronomy and perform in-house design, integration, validation and calibration of space instruments.

StarBerrySense's hardware design is based on Raspberry Pi, a tiny, affordable and open-source credit-card sized computer initially used by hobbyists and now for various IoT and business applications. 

StarBerrySense not only withstood the harsh conditions in space and is functioning as expected, the initial data shows that it is able to calculate the pointing direction.

“This payload is built around the well-known minicomputer RaspberryPi, and the electronics and software were designed in-house,” said Bharat Chandra, the technical lead of the project and a Ph.D. student at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. “The advantage of this payload is that it is cost-effective, simple to build, and can be deployed on a wide variety of satellites,” he added.

“StarBerrySense was mounted on ISRO's PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), which provides a stable platform for our payload to operate from. POEM is a unique initiative by ISRO that utilises the spent 4th stage of the PSLV as an orbital platform for carrying out scientific experiments. It is an excellent opportunity to conduct short-term scientific experiments in space,” said Rekhesh Mohan, the Principal Investigator of the StarBerrySense project.

POEM

The primary objective was to assess its survivability and performance in space. “The flight qualification tests were done at the MGK Menon Laboratory for Space Sciences, located in the CREST campus of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics at Hosakote. Sky imaging tests were conducted at our Vainu Bappu Observatory”, said Binukumar, former visiting scientist at IIA and a member of the StarBerrySense team. “During the days following the launch, we have verified that StarBerrySense is performing as expected in space,” said Shubham Ghatul, a Ph.D. student in the team.

The main function of StarBerrySense is to image the field of view, correctly identify the stars it sees, and calculate the pointing direction. Shubhangi Jain, a Ph.D. student in the team, said, “Analysis of the preliminary data has confirmed that the imaging equipment works as expected, and the onboard software is able to calculate the pointing direction."

Mahesh Babu, an electronics engineer with the team, added,"Using the images received from the payload, we are verifying its accuracy by comparing with data from international databases."

“Working with the PSLV team was a great learning experience for the whole team. Guidance and support from IN-SPACe was also invaluable in this successful venture,” added Rekhesh Mohan.

The team also consisted of Margarita Safonova (DST Woman-Scientist) and Jayant Murthy (Visiting Professor).The primary objective was to assess its survivability and performance in space. “The flight qualification tests were done at the MGK Menon Laboratory for Space Sciences, located in the CREST campus of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics at Hosakote. Sky imaging tests were conducted at our Vainu Bappu Observatory”, said Binukumar, former visiting scientist at IIA and a member of the StarBerrySense team. “During the days following the launch, we have verified that StarBerrySense is performing as expected in space,” said Shubham Ghatul, a Ph.D. student in the team.

The main function of StarBerrySense is to image the field of view, correctly identify the stars it sees, and calculate the pointing direction. Shubhangi Jain, a Ph.D. student in the team, said, “Analysis of the preliminary data has confirmed that the imaging equipment works as expected, and the onboard software is able to calculate the pointing direction.” “Using the images received from the payload, we are verifying its accuracy by comparing with data from international databases,” Mahesh Babu, an electronics engineer with the team, added.

“Working with the PSLV team was a great learning experience for the whole team. Guidance and support from IN-SPACe was also invaluable in this successful venture,” added Rekhesh Mohan. The team also consisted of Margarita Safonova (DST Woman-Scientist) and Jayant Murthy (Visiting Professor).

PSLV-C55 is a Dedicated Commercial PSLV mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), for the international satellite customer from Singapore. In this mission, TeLEOS-2 a Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite will be the primary satellite and Lumelite-4 an Technology Demonstration nano-satellite will be co-passenger satellite. This is the 57th flight of PSLV and  16th mission using the PSLV Core Alone configuration (PSLV-CA). PSLV-C55 adopted “Integrate, Transfer and Launch (ITL)” concept using PSLV Integration Facility (PIF).

Breakthrough: Microsoft's Labs Including Bangalore's Puts Artificial Intelligence Into $10 Raspberry Pi

In a breakthrough achievement, Microsoft's Labs has successfully integrated Artificial Intelligence into Raspberry Pi. With this, Microsoft has allowed AI to take big leap by putting deep learning algorithms onto a Raspberry Pi. The goals is to Squeeze AI into "dumb" devices like sprinklers, medical implants and soil sensors to make them more useful, even if there's no supercomputer or internet connection in sight.

The idea came about from Microsoft Labs teams in Redmond and Bangalore, India.

Ofer Dekel, who manages an AI optimization group at Microsoft's Redmond lab, got irritated by rodents like squirrels, who destroyed gardens by feeding on flower bulbs and seeds. He, then, programmed a computer sensor system to sense out these rodents. Once detected, the system would then instruct the sprinklers to go live, spreading water and chasing away the rodents. The programming was done on a Raspberry #Pi3 microcomputer. Now, it triggers the sprinkler system whenever the rodents pop up, chasing them away.

"Every hobbyist who owns a Raspberry Pi should be able to do that," said Dekel. "Today, very few of them can."

Dekel, an expert in machine learning, is aiming to solve that problem. He leads a multidisciplinary team of about 30 computer scientists, software engineers and research interns at Microsoft’s research labs in Redmond and Bangalore, India, that is developing a new class of machine-learning software and tools to embed artificial intelligence onto bread-crumb size computer processors. Early previews of the software called - Embedded Learning Library are available for download on GitHub.


The researchers at Microsoft’s India lab (in Bangalore) who are working on the project include -- Manik Varma, Praneeth Netrapalli, Chirag Gupta, Prateek Jain, Yeshwanth Cherapanamjeri, Rahul Sharma, Nagarajan Natarajan and Vivek Gupta.

[caption id="attachment_119600" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Microsoft researchers are working on systems that can run machine learning algorithms on microcontrollers as small as the one being held by Ofer Dekel, a lead researcher on the project. Photo by Dan DeLong.[/caption]

"The dominant paradigm is that these devices are dumb," said Manik Varma, a senior researcher with Microsoft Research India and a co-leader of the project. "They sense their environment and transmit their sensor readings to the cloud where all of the machine learning happens. Unfortunately, this paradigm does not address a number of critical scenarios that we think can transform the world."

Notably, Google, this year, with its AIY project has teamed up with the Raspberry Pi foundation to create a new hardware add-on for Raspberry Pi in order to put AI onto artificial intelligence onto small things but it does require additional hardware called the ‘Voice Kit’. Microsoft however did the same thing with few KB of codes.

Know more details here - https://blogs.microsoft.com/next/2017/06/29/ais-big-leap-tiny-devices-opens-world-possibilities/

Google Is Bringing AI To Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, here's something big coming your way this year. Tech giant Google is reportedly in the planning stages of bringing the gifts of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to the tiny in size but big on features Raspberry Pi in the year 2017.

According to The Raspberry Pi Foundation, "Google is going to arrive in style in 2017. The tech titan has exciting plans for the maker community."

The Foundation also added that the tech giant aims to make a range of smart tools available by the end of this year. Google's range of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology can enable the maker community to come up with more innovative and powerful projects than they were previously unable to do because of the limited features.

Google has reportedly developed a huge and diverse range of tools right for home automation, machine learning, Internet of Things, robotics, wearables, and it is now floating a survey amongst the Raspberry Pi fans in order to understand what tools they want them to provide.

Google's survey mentions natural language processing and sentiment analysis, as well as face- and emotion-recognition and speech-to-text translation. In addition to the aforementioned tools, the advertising-to-cloud-computing giant will also be providing Raspberry Pi with an extremely powerful technology for bots, predictive analytics, and navigation.

According to The Raspberry Pi Foundation, not only will the survey help Google in getting a feel for the Raspberry Pi community, but it'll also help the community in getting the kinds of services they need.

Selling over ten million units, this tiny, low-cost Raspberry Pi board has scripted an unexpected success story. It's developers had initially thought that they won't be able to sell more than 1,000 units, so the sales figures came as a pleasant surprise for them.

Raspberry Pi started its journey in February, 2012 with an initial aim of inspiring more and more UK students to take up computer science, but over the years, the Pi has been successful in having a far more wider impact than that.

[Image: Alphr.com]

Raspberry Pi Zero Now Comes Camera-Ready

Raspberry Pi has always been able to strike the right cord among people. The tiny computer and its various versions has been embraced by the public with open hands and has over the years established a reputation of its own. Adding more glory to its popularity, Raspberry Pi's more affordable and smaller version, Raspberry Pi zero, will now onwards come power packed with an onboard camera connector.

Raspberry Pi's founder credits the addition of the camera connector, to clever rearranging of the small computer board and some dumb luck. Apparently, the Raspberry team was successful in fitting the camera connector on the side of the tiny computer without any major obstacles and without making any changes to the computer's major attraction-- its $5 price tag.

The objective of the Raspberry Pi Foundation is to make the power of digital making accessible and understandable to more and more people all around the world, so that they're able to shape our increasingly digital world and solve the various problems related to it in a much more quick and progressive manner, and be stocked on skills that will be needed for jobs of the future.

With this particular camera connector addition, Raspberry Pi has once again made it clear that it is all about making it easier and cheaper to tinker with computers. The addition helps the computer in increasing its base-level functionality and thus making it much more well-equipped for the people trying their hand for the very first time, right from the beginning.

Further, the news that takes the cake, is that new camera connector is fully compatible with the upgraded Raspberry Pi camera module, which makes use of the 8-megapixel Sony IMX219 image sensor.

One  can buy Raspberry Pi Zero in Europe from - The Pi Hut and Pimoroni, and in India and US from Adafruit.

Time To Replace Raspberry Pi With 'VoCore', A $20 Coin-Sized Open Source Linux Computer

Developers always looking forward to try their hands at something new and interesting, here's a thing that might become your next obsession. Say hello to VoCore, a small in size but big in functionality low-cost open-source (both the hardware and software) computer.

So, if for a long time you were looking to put a small and cheap on pocket Linux-powered computer at the heart of your project or planning your own IoT or a custom router project, this is where your search ends.

If you're judging this wonderful computer for its cheap price tag of $20 (Rs.1,300 apprx.), we would advice you to not jump the gun and give VoCore a chance to prove its credentials.



The VoCore flaunts a 32MB of RAM, 360MHz MIPS CPU, 8MB of flash memory, and comes fully power packed with header pins for Ethernet, sound, Wi-Fi and USB 2.0.

If you simply shop for VoCore, you will have to spend a meagre and total worth it amount of $20, but if you want to buy a VoCore unit with dock, then you will have to shell out $45. Further, by spending an additional $40, people wanting a camera can fulfil their desire as the extra money spent would fetch them a 1080p unit complete with a built-in microphone capable of connecting directly to the VoCore.

The Operating System operating VoCore is OpenWrt (Linux 3.10.44). It is capable of making the system boot up in a mere 30 seconds.

The system can draw its juice from any power supply in the range of 3.2V to 6.0V. Further, in order to cut back on the mess that one creates when hooking up different connectors, VoCore comes with an optional extra dock that the user can utilise to clip the tiny computer to another board that has a USB 2.0 port, RJ45 micro SD card slot and a headphone jack.

So, developers let the fun inventions begin. You can buy the VoCore from their official website (http://vocore.io/store).

Time To Replace Raspberry Pi With 'VoCore', A $20 Coin-Sized Open Source Linux Computer

Developers always looking forward to try their hands at something new and interesting, here's a thing that might become your next obsession. Say hello to VoCore, a small in size but big in functionality low-cost open-source (both the hardware and software) computer.

So, if for a long time you were looking to put a small and cheap on pocket Linux-powered computer at the heart of your project or planning your own IoT or a custom router project, this is where your search ends.

If you're judging this wonderful computer for its cheap price tag of $20 (Rs.1,300 apprx.), we would advice you to not jump the gun and give VoCore a chance to prove its credentials.



The VoCore flaunts a 32MB of RAM, 360MHz MIPS CPU, 8MB of flash memory, and comes fully power packed with header pins for Ethernet, sound, Wi-Fi and USB 2.0.

If you simply shop for VoCore, you will have to spend a meagre and total worth it amount of $20, but if you want to buy a VoCore unit with dock, then you will have to shell out $45. Further, by spending an additional $40, people wanting a camera can fulfil their desire as the extra money spent would fetch them a 1080p unit complete with a built-in microphone capable of connecting directly to the VoCore.

The Operating System operating VoCore is OpenWrt (Linux 3.10.44). It is capable of making the system boot up in a mere 30 seconds.

The system can draw its juice from any power supply in the range of 3.2V to 6.0V. Further, in order to cut back on the mess that one creates when hooking up different connectors, VoCore comes with an optional extra dock that the user can utilise to clip the tiny computer to another board that has a USB 2.0 port, RJ45 micro SD card slot and a headphone jack.

So, developers let the fun inventions begin. You can buy the VoCore from their official website (http://vocore.io/store).

Swedish Student Builds Steam-Powered Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi, the famous microcomputer has recently been revamped by the hands of a Swedish student by the handle name "Alexzpro" on Svenska Elektronikforumet, a Swedish tech forum. The user shared his idea on the forum about how he can make use of an actual steam driven engine to supply power to the microcomputer.

According to the student, instead of plugging in the controls of the microcomputer directly into the electronic sockets, one can make use of steam machine that makes use of twin propane torches to heat water in a copper boiler to make the microcomputer function.During the process, steam is passed into the twin-cylinder shaped engines placed above a metal plate. After this, the steam is passed into more cylinders where the pressure drives pistons, results in powering a crankshaft. The crankshaft is connected to the flywheel which is ultimately powering a small DC motor.

SteamPi, as it is being famously called, is no doubt a great invention but it also faces a lot of challenges. The problem of Power cycling is consistent causing the computer to restart frequently. The Swedish inventor has already tried soldering on larger capacitors, but to no result.

Alexzpro invented the machine as a part of a school project and he has even shot a small video of the working engine and uploaded on the famous video sharing site YouTube.

Although SteamPi is an invention by a Swedish student, experts are calling it an invention on the lines of chindōgu, the famous Japanese art of useless inventions. A steam-powered computer completely fits the bill: it works no doubt, but it's largely an impractical but fantastic invention.

BBC Launches Raspberry Pi-like Computer and You Can Soon Buy One

It's finally here! After months of anticipation and delay regarding the fate of the project, the BBC finally launched its Micro:bit programmable computer.

Aimed at encouraging the children all around the world to become more creative with technology and learn coding, BBC has decided to jet start the project by delivering about a million of these programmable computers to every child in year 7 (around 12 years old) across Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England absolutely free of cost.



One can use your BBC micro:bit for all sorts of cool creations, from robots to musical instruments – the possibilities are endless. The micro:bit is a handheld, fully programmable computer being given free to every Year 7 or equivalent child across the UK. It’s 70 times smaller and 18 times faster than the original BBC Micro computers used in schools in the early 1980s.



Once the rollout is successfully done and each of the kids has received their own Micro:bit programmable computer, the kids will be allowed to keep them and use them through their entire remaining tenure at school.

To make it easier for the kids to understand and get them more interested in programming, BBC has complimented the computers with configurable buttons, 25 LEDs, an accelerometer, compass, Bluetooth, and connections so the computer can be easily hooked to more sensors. According to experts, the Micro Bit can be used with devices like Arduino, Kano and Raspberry Pi to create devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers etc.

BBC is determined to make the project a success and hence it will also be investing the money it earns from its commercial sales into project so as to encourage more and more people to come forward and learn the art of coding. The company has made a strategical decision to open-source the Micro Bit's hardware and also most of its software.

A price for the device hasn't been announced by the company yet but it is soon expected to be unveiled when the device is available at retailers after the free rollout to the kids is completed.

Pirate Bay Founder Builds 'Kopimashin', A Piracy Tool Using Raspberry Pi

Peter Sunde, the co-founder of The Pirate Bay, has been in trouble with the authorities before for his activities relating to The Pirate Bay and he was in fact arrested back in 2014. The Pirate Bay (commonly abbreviated TPB) is an online index of digital content of mostly entertainment media, founded in 2003, where visitors can search, download and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol.

He despises the media industry and disagrees with their ideas on piracy. He has a lot of qualms with the media industry. He thinks that the media industry stresses too much on piracy and copying when counting their losses and this frustrates him.

This vendetta has made him create an extraordinary machine. This new machine can presumably inflict a lot of damage to the music industry. Using just three ingredients he has come up with the "Kopimashin". He used Raspberry Pi, python codes and an LDC display to make this machine. This machine is capable of making 100 copies of the Gnarls Barkley track "Crazy" every second.

This miniature computer has already caused $150 million in "losses" to record labels, said Sunde.

Roughly estimated this comes out to eight million copies per day and a loss of 10 million dollars. The machine makes copies at a whooshing speed but these copies are not stores, they just go to null, but it generates numbers. His wants to show the industry that putting a price to a copy is futile and plans to use this machine to show them that their looses are in fact fictitious as the numbers generated by the machine.



Speaking to TorrentFreak, Sunde said that the industry when calculating the damage piracy incurs, often puts way too much value on pirated copies. "I want to show the absurdity on the process of putting a value to a copy," Sunde told TorrentFreak. "The machine is made to be very blunt and open about the fact that it's not a danger to any industry at all," Sunde said.

He plans to build 13 more machines to put up in exhibitions and then later sell them off. . He has certainly taken things to a new level with his new invention and plans to teach the people at the music industry a lesson once and for all.

Pirate Bay Founder Builds 'Kopimashin', A Piracy Tool Using Raspberry Pi

Peter Sunde, the co-founder of The Pirate Bay, has been in trouble with the authorities before for his activities relating to The Pirate Bay and he was in fact arrested back in 2014. The Pirate Bay (commonly abbreviated TPB) is an online index of digital content of mostly entertainment media, founded in 2003, where visitors can search, download and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol.

He despises the media industry and disagrees with their ideas on piracy. He has a lot of qualms with the media industry. He thinks that the media industry stresses too much on piracy and copying when counting their losses and this frustrates him.

This vendetta has made him create an extraordinary machine. This new machine can presumably inflict a lot of damage to the music industry. Using just three ingredients he has come up with the "Kopimashin". He used Raspberry Pi, python codes and an LDC display to make this machine. This machine is capable of making 100 copies of the Gnarls Barkley track "Crazy" every second.

This miniature computer has already caused $150 million in "losses" to record labels, said Sunde.

Roughly estimated this comes out to eight million copies per day and a loss of 10 million dollars. The machine makes copies at a whooshing speed but these copies are not stores, they just go to null, but it generates numbers. His wants to show the industry that putting a price to a copy is futile and plans to use this machine to show them that their looses are in fact fictitious as the numbers generated by the machine.



Speaking to TorrentFreak, Sunde said that the industry when calculating the damage piracy incurs, often puts way too much value on pirated copies. "I want to show the absurdity on the process of putting a value to a copy," Sunde told TorrentFreak. "The machine is made to be very blunt and open about the fact that it's not a danger to any industry at all," Sunde said.

He plans to build 13 more machines to put up in exhibitions and then later sell them off. . He has certainly taken things to a new level with his new invention and plans to teach the people at the music industry a lesson once and for all.

6 Internet Of Things Building Blocks

Internet of Things (IoT) will rule the world one day and all our avid readers might already be aware of it since we here at IndianWeb2 have time and again talked about the various dimensions of this new trend. Adding to that knowledge, today I'm going to talk about the platforms that make the process of getting started with embedded programming easier than ever. So, all those people wanting to invent an IoT prototype and are in need of an embedded system for the same, take out your writing pads and take notes!

1) Raspberry Pi 2 -

The one thing that comes to my mind instantly after I hear Raspberry Pi, is the size. The device makes every developers dream of building a Web server that fits in the palm of your hand come true. Based on Linux and an ARM processor, the latest version of the Pi packs a lot of punch. Having enough processing power, memory, and marketing weight, the latest version is powerful enough to run an embedded version of Windows 10. Further, the device can also serve as the brains of a network appliance or the controller for a network of simpler devices.

2) Arduino Uno -

According to industry experts, the history of the majority of the current generation of the makers in the embedded system arena can be traced back to Italian educators who can be credited for invention of the basic idea for a simple and inexpensive embedded controller. Arduino Uno is the device that is considered as a foundation for the group. Having 32 KB of memory for software and running on the ATmega328 processor, Arduino Uno is a low-power board. If you're one of those who has been scouting for a simple controller that can easily fit into an Altoids tin, then your search ends with Arduino Uno. Using Uno requires tight, efficient code with no unnecessary frills. Most developers find, though, that they need to move their project onto a more streamlined system for high-volume production, such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) etc.

3) BeagleBoard -

In layman terms, BeagleBoard can be considered as a slightly refined version of the Raspberry Pi. Developed by a foundation with support from Digi-Key and TI, BeagleBoard is a Linux-based, single-board computer using an ARM processor. Though BeagleBoard is more powerful than Raspberry Pi, it is also slightly more expensive than Pi. But, with a very active user and developer community and good support from TI, it makes up for everything.

4) Intel Galileo -

Intel is going great guns when it comes to the Internet of Things market. In fact, it is a little surprising to see all the efforts being put by the company to pursue the maker market. Intel Galileo is another step in this direction. The board is based on Intel Quark processor and is capable of running codes written for the Arduino with minimal changes. The board's hardware runs Linux, RTOS, Windows 10 Embedded and is compatible with many Arduino shields. It further has an available developer kit that makes programming sensors and controllers a much easier task. On the whole, Galileo can be considered as the perfect bridge between Arduino and Raspberry Pi worlds. So, if as a developer, you're comfortable using the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) but feel like your project needs a bit more power kick, then an Intel Galileo is the way to go.

5) Intel Edison -

Another winner from Intel. The company is surely very serious about the IoT market and that is being reflected in their range of products based on the concept. Based on a dual-core Intel Atom processor, this single board system is compatible with a number of other single-board embedded systems. The board is capable of taking codes from many of these systems, including the Arduino Uno and then lets it operate with minimal changes. In addition to all this, Edison's hardware is compatible with a number of different systems and shields as well as several Intel development kits. On the to of all this, their price point makes them more desirable than ever. Edison boards are available for as low as $50, though there are wide variations in price depending on your version of the board and accessories needs.

6) PicAxe -

At its core, the PicAxe controller is a microcontroller chip that has several varieties to offer. Available with different capabilities and in combination with many types of development systems and boards, the PicAxe has come as a boon to many who consider embedded systems are becoming way too complex to use. Not adopting the industry trend of rushing into adding features and functions to bring the capabilities of embedded systems closer to those of business-class workstations and servers, the PicAxe controller has managed to control its this urge and has remain rooted in the minimalist group, providing the users with just enough intelligence for completing the work at hand with no additional cost or complexity.
While developing a project with PicAxe does involve more hard work as one also has to develop the supporting board along with the software, there's a huge amount that you can save on cost. So, it isn't that bad an option for the ones with a tight pocket.

6 Internet Of Things Building Blocks

Internet of Things (IoT) will rule the world one day and all our avid readers might already be aware of it since we here at IndianWeb2 have time and again talked about the various dimensions of this new trend. Adding to that knowledge, today I'm going to talk about the platforms that make the process of getting started with embedded programming easier than ever. So, all those people wanting to invent an IoT prototype and are in need of an embedded system for the same, take out your writing pads and take notes!

1) Raspberry Pi 2 -

The one thing that comes to my mind instantly after I hear Raspberry Pi, is the size. The device makes every developers dream of building a Web server that fits in the palm of your hand come true. Based on Linux and an ARM processor, the latest version of the Pi packs a lot of punch. Having enough processing power, memory, and marketing weight, the latest version is powerful enough to run an embedded version of Windows 10. Further, the device can also serve as the brains of a network appliance or the controller for a network of simpler devices.

2) Arduino Uno -

According to industry experts, the history of the majority of the current generation of the makers in the embedded system arena can be traced back to Italian educators who can be credited for invention of the basic idea for a simple and inexpensive embedded controller. Arduino Uno is the device that is considered as a foundation for the group. Having 32 KB of memory for software and running on the ATmega328 processor, Arduino Uno is a low-power board. If you're one of those who has been scouting for a simple controller that can easily fit into an Altoids tin, then your search ends with Arduino Uno. Using Uno requires tight, efficient code with no unnecessary frills. Most developers find, though, that they need to move their project onto a more streamlined system for high-volume production, such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) etc.

3) BeagleBoard -

In layman terms, BeagleBoard can be considered as a slightly refined version of the Raspberry Pi. Developed by a foundation with support from Digi-Key and TI, BeagleBoard is a Linux-based, single-board computer using an ARM processor. Though BeagleBoard is more powerful than Raspberry Pi, it is also slightly more expensive than Pi. But, with a very active user and developer community and good support from TI, it makes up for everything.

4) Intel Galileo -

Intel is going great guns when it comes to the Internet of Things market. In fact, it is a little surprising to see all the efforts being put by the company to pursue the maker market. Intel Galileo is another step in this direction. The board is based on Intel Quark processor and is capable of running codes written for the Arduino with minimal changes. The board's hardware runs Linux, RTOS, Windows 10 Embedded and is compatible with many Arduino shields. It further has an available developer kit that makes programming sensors and controllers a much easier task. On the whole, Galileo can be considered as the perfect bridge between Arduino and Raspberry Pi worlds. So, if as a developer, you're comfortable using the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) but feel like your project needs a bit more power kick, then an Intel Galileo is the way to go.

5) Intel Edison -

Another winner from Intel. The company is surely very serious about the IoT market and that is being reflected in their range of products based on the concept. Based on a dual-core Intel Atom processor, this single board system is compatible with a number of other single-board embedded systems. The board is capable of taking codes from many of these systems, including the Arduino Uno and then lets it operate with minimal changes. In addition to all this, Edison's hardware is compatible with a number of different systems and shields as well as several Intel development kits. On the to of all this, their price point makes them more desirable than ever. Edison boards are available for as low as $50, though there are wide variations in price depending on your version of the board and accessories needs.

6) PicAxe -

At its core, the PicAxe controller is a microcontroller chip that has several varieties to offer. Available with different capabilities and in combination with many types of development systems and boards, the PicAxe has come as a boon to many who consider embedded systems are becoming way too complex to use. Not adopting the industry trend of rushing into adding features and functions to bring the capabilities of embedded systems closer to those of business-class workstations and servers, the PicAxe controller has managed to control its this urge and has remain rooted in the minimalist group, providing the users with just enough intelligence for completing the work at hand with no additional cost or complexity.
While developing a project with PicAxe does involve more hard work as one also has to develop the supporting board along with the software, there's a huge amount that you can save on cost. So, it isn't that bad an option for the ones with a tight pocket.

Raspberry Pi Powered FusePOS Offers Cloud Storage And POS Functionality

People on the lookout for an amazingly priced point-of-sale system, might have found the best match in a new hardware called the FusePOS. This new piece of hardware comes with optional cloud data storage and is powered by the wonderful Raspberry Pi, a low cost credit card sized microcomputer.

Point of sale systems/ softwares end up burning a huge hole in the pockets of small businesses as they are generally very expensive.  FusePOS can become a boon for all these small businesses as it will help them in keeping their startup costs low.  The FusePOS has the amazingly versatile Raspberry Pi as its foundation.  Raspberry Pi was recently in the news as it had sold an impressive five million units and that too within just three years of being launched in the market.

The FusePOS can be used in three different ways. Cloud, Stand alone, or Stand Alone plus Cloud Integration.

The device can be plugged in straight into a printer, touchscreen, barcode scanner, keyboard etc. and be used purely as a stand alone.

For the FusePOS Cloud, the makers have built a SaaS hosted platform. The new platform upon signup opens the software to the customer by allowing them the access to the system from anywhere, anytime with the help of an internet connection. This will be charged at a monthly subscription cost but won’t involve any lengthy contracts just a month long rolling plan. The makers have built the SaaS infrastructure from scratch.

Stand alone FusePOS can also be hooked upto the hosted cloud solution for a monthly subscription fee. The FusePOS boxes will be able to backup to the cloud. Further, the data is available instantly after backup. The customer can go online and access his/her hosted FusePOS and have up to data access to their sales data.

This new piece of hardware created by Niall Doherty and his team is currently under development and is looking to raise 3,500 Euros on Kickstarter website.

Along with launching a commercial FusePOS, the team also plans to release a community, feature delayed version available for free.

The FusePOS is a result of twelve months of hardwork put in by Niall Doherty and his small time who have worked on this project during their spare time in the midst of their day jobs.

Raspberry Pi Powered FusePOS Offers Cloud Storage And POS Functionality

People on the lookout for an amazingly priced point-of-sale system, might have found the best match in a new hardware called the FusePOS. This new piece of hardware comes with optional cloud data storage and is powered by the wonderful Raspberry Pi, a low cost credit card sized microcomputer.

Point of sale systems/ softwares end up burning a huge hole in the pockets of small businesses as they are generally very expensive.  FusePOS can become a boon for all these small businesses as it will help them in keeping their startup costs low.  The FusePOS has the amazingly versatile Raspberry Pi as its foundation.  Raspberry Pi was recently in the news as it had sold an impressive five million units and that too within just three years of being launched in the market.

The FusePOS can be used in three different ways. Cloud, Stand alone, or Stand Alone plus Cloud Integration.

The device can be plugged in straight into a printer, touchscreen, barcode scanner, keyboard etc. and be used purely as a stand alone.

For the FusePOS Cloud, the makers have built a SaaS hosted platform. The new platform upon signup opens the software to the customer by allowing them the access to the system from anywhere, anytime with the help of an internet connection. This will be charged at a monthly subscription cost but won’t involve any lengthy contracts just a month long rolling plan. The makers have built the SaaS infrastructure from scratch.

Stand alone FusePOS can also be hooked upto the hosted cloud solution for a monthly subscription fee. The FusePOS boxes will be able to backup to the cloud. Further, the data is available instantly after backup. The customer can go online and access his/her hosted FusePOS and have up to data access to their sales data.

This new piece of hardware created by Niall Doherty and his team is currently under development and is looking to raise 3,500 Euros on Kickstarter website.

Along with launching a commercial FusePOS, the team also plans to release a community, feature delayed version available for free.

The FusePOS is a result of twelve months of hardwork put in by Niall Doherty and his small time who have worked on this project during their spare time in the midst of their day jobs.

Raspberry Pi Sales Pass 5 Million

The makers of Raspberry Pi, a low cost credit card sized microcomputer, have a reason to celebrate. The tiny, electronic device has sold an impressive five million units and that too within just three years of being launched in the market. According to Eben Upton, the creator of Pi, the microcomputer was initially launched with a target of selling just “a few thousand” units over its entire lifetime. It seems the UK based makers had set an over-modest goal for their tiny wonder.

This wonderful product from the United Kingdom comes at an attractive price of $ 25 for Model A Pi and $35 for the Model B Pi. Its attractive price and amazing features have been successful in stirring interest in homebrew computing powered by the Pi. Nowadays, everything from robotics projects to DIY computers are being built with the credit card sized microcomputer at their core. The Pi has also found a huge liking and usage in the whole startup businesses.

The UK based makers launched Pi with an original mission of getting more and more United Kingdom school kids to coding and the microcomputer has been successful in making some real progress there. But, Pi’s impact has not been just restricted to the United Kingdom. According to Upton, the credit card sized microcomputer has gained significant popularity all around the world- especially in North America.

Seeing the success and popularity of the Raspberry Pi, the foundation has recently launched Pi 2, a fully fledged sequel to the Raspberry Pi, in the market. The Pi 2 is said to be six times faster than the original Pi and comes with double the memory space. Even though the Pi 2 is a marked improvement from the original Pi, the makers have still been able to retain the original price of $35.

The Raspberry Pi sequel makes a perfect entry level personal computer at $35. Even Microsoft is trying to capitalize on Pi’s success and has announced to offer its Windows 10 to Raspberry Pi’s users absolutely free of cost. The launch of Pi 2 will surely help the UK based credit card sized microcomputer bump way past its overall sales figure of 5 million units.

Tweeting about its new achievement, the Raspberry Pi Foundation mentioned that it has now become the biggest selling UK computer manufacturer ever.

Raspberry Pi Sales Pass 5 Million

The makers of Raspberry Pi, a low cost credit card sized microcomputer, have a reason to celebrate. The tiny, electronic device has sold an impressive five million units and that too within just three years of being launched in the market. According to Eben Upton, the creator of Pi, the microcomputer was initially launched with a target of selling just “a few thousand” units over its entire lifetime. It seems the UK based makers had set an over-modest goal for their tiny wonder.

This wonderful product from the United Kingdom comes at an attractive price of $ 25 for Model A Pi and $35 for the Model B Pi. Its attractive price and amazing features have been successful in stirring interest in homebrew computing powered by the Pi. Nowadays, everything from robotics projects to DIY computers are being built with the credit card sized microcomputer at their core. The Pi has also found a huge liking and usage in the whole startup businesses.

The UK based makers launched Pi with an original mission of getting more and more United Kingdom school kids to coding and the microcomputer has been successful in making some real progress there. But, Pi’s impact has not been just restricted to the United Kingdom. According to Upton, the credit card sized microcomputer has gained significant popularity all around the world- especially in North America.

Seeing the success and popularity of the Raspberry Pi, the foundation has recently launched Pi 2, a fully fledged sequel to the Raspberry Pi, in the market. The Pi 2 is said to be six times faster than the original Pi and comes with double the memory space. Even though the Pi 2 is a marked improvement from the original Pi, the makers have still been able to retain the original price of $35.

The Raspberry Pi sequel makes a perfect entry level personal computer at $35. Even Microsoft is trying to capitalize on Pi’s success and has announced to offer its Windows 10 to Raspberry Pi’s users absolutely free of cost. The launch of Pi 2 will surely help the UK based credit card sized microcomputer bump way past its overall sales figure of 5 million units.

Tweeting about its new achievement, the Raspberry Pi Foundation mentioned that it has now become the biggest selling UK computer manufacturer ever.

Spark Photon - A $19 Tiny Wi-Fi Development Kit For Creating Connected (IoT) Devices

Spark first came into limelight this summer when it was successful in raising more than $560,000 for its Arduino like Spark Core Wi-Fi connector kit on its Kickstarter Campaign. It then went on to raise a whopping $4.9 million in Series A round and even launched a cloud operating system so as to give the desired power to its Internet of Things enabling hardware. It is now back in the limelight with another blockbuster product called the Spark Photon.

The Spark Photon is a Wi-Fi development board used for building connected devices. The postage sized device comes packed in a matchbox and costs just $19. It has been especially designed to put together prototype devices. Once a user has chosen his/her prototype, Spark makes the Spark P0, which costs around $10 and Spark P1, which costs around $12, Wi-Fi enabled modules available for direct integration into a product.

According to Zach Supalla, founder and CEO, Spark, the Spark Photon has the capability to become the next 'Raspberry Pi'. The main idea behind developing the Spark Photon is provide everyone and anyone an entry point into building connected devices and at the same point keep the kind of options that enterprise customers need open.



Spark has been successful in shipping more than forty thousand units of the $39 Spark Core kits since July this year. The company has also grown to a total of nineteen employees since its Series A funding round. Supalla hopes that the company will be able to sell more of its Spark Core units and achieve greater heights because of the low price point of its product.

Both the Spark P0 and Spark P1 modules are powered by Spar's own open source cloud based operating system. The Spark Operating system works by connecting the microcontrollers to the Web with a set of open standards. Spark Photon can be pre-ordered at cost of $19 here and for India it cost $29.10 in which $10.10 is shipping cost.

"We want to make the path from prototype to production quicker and smoother. What started as a simple hacker toolkit is turning into an enterprise grade solution that’s used by engineers at multinational companies to develop their new connected products", said Supalla in a statement given to thenextweb.com.

Spark has also collaborated with Broadcom in order to integrate its WICED platform into the Spark Photon. The WICED platform has the capability to simplify the implementation of Wi-Fi connectivity.

The projects/devices that can be build using Photon kit is endless, till now these connected devices has already been developed using photo kit - Wireless motion detector, solar-powered security camera, Twitter Fridge magnet, a Wi-Fi outlet or an automated cocktail dispenser.

Don't miss to watch this interesting video -

Spark Photon - A $19 Tiny Wi-Fi Development Kit For Creating Connected (IoT) Devices

Spark first came into limelight this summer when it was successful in raising more than $560,000 for its Arduino like Spark Core Wi-Fi connector kit on its Kickstarter Campaign. It then went on to raise a whopping $4.9 million in Series A round and even launched a cloud operating system so as to give the desired power to its Internet of Things enabling hardware. It is now back in the limelight with another blockbuster product called the Spark Photon.

The Spark Photon is a Wi-Fi development board used for building connected devices. The postage sized device comes packed in a matchbox and costs just $19. It has been especially designed to put together prototype devices. Once a user has chosen his/her prototype, Spark makes the Spark P0, which costs around $10 and Spark P1, which costs around $12, Wi-Fi enabled modules available for direct integration into a product.

According to Zach Supalla, founder and CEO, Spark, the Spark Photon has the capability to become the next 'Raspberry Pi'. The main idea behind developing the Spark Photon is provide everyone and anyone an entry point into building connected devices and at the same point keep the kind of options that enterprise customers need open.



Spark has been successful in shipping more than forty thousand units of the $39 Spark Core kits since July this year. The company has also grown to a total of nineteen employees since its Series A funding round. Supalla hopes that the company will be able to sell more of its Spark Core units and achieve greater heights because of the low price point of its product.

Both the Spark P0 and Spark P1 modules are powered by Spar's own open source cloud based operating system. The Spark Operating system works by connecting the microcontrollers to the Web with a set of open standards. Spark Photon can be pre-ordered at cost of $19 here and for India it cost $29.10 in which $10.10 is shipping cost.

"We want to make the path from prototype to production quicker and smoother. What started as a simple hacker toolkit is turning into an enterprise grade solution that’s used by engineers at multinational companies to develop their new connected products", said Supalla in a statement given to thenextweb.com.

Spark has also collaborated with Broadcom in order to integrate its WICED platform into the Spark Photon. The WICED platform has the capability to simplify the implementation of Wi-Fi connectivity.

The projects/devices that can be build using Photon kit is endless, till now these connected devices has already been developed using photo kit - Wireless motion detector, solar-powered security camera, Twitter Fridge magnet, a Wi-Fi outlet or an automated cocktail dispenser.

Don't miss to watch this interesting video -

Indian Techie built a wearable Smart Cap, a raw clone of Google Glass

A lot of wearable devices are being developed this year right from Google glass, Smart Watches to even Smart Shoes , this time an Indian techie has built a smart cap, although its raw and not fully developed nevertheless needs words of appreciation.

Arvind Sanjeev a techie from India is surely a genius man. This techie from India has invented a raw clone of the much famous Google Glass by making use of Linux and some amount of voice recognition software. The device is powered by Raspberry Pi and is called the Smart Cap.

The Smart Cap is almost similar to Google Glass except the fact that it’s connected to a hat. Sanjeev has been successful in creating this device by making used of off the shelf, commodity components and very little software, which is commendable.

The Smart Cap is clumsy looking and isn’t attractive initially. It is also certainly not the best of all the possible AR headsets too but what makes it different from others is the fact that every component used in the Smart Cap can be cobbled together by hand by anyone and everyone and that too at a very little cost. The power provided by Raspberry Pi to the Smart Cap gives it the strength to work as a wearable computer.

Head mounted displays like this are becoming more and more the flavor of the town these days. These are primarily put to use for navigation, sharing videos, checking notifications etc. Some people still debate on the quintessential use of these head mounted displays. But, nonetheless if you wish to own such displays but are not willing to pay a hefty $1500 just to experience its functionality, then this Smart Cap by Arvin is the way ahead for you.

[caption id="attachment_93940" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Working of the DIY Head Mounted Display[/caption]

The Smart Cap consists of one miniature LCD display in front of one eye and hence can also be called monocular head mounted display. Sanjeev has used an aspheric magnifier lens having 5X magnification in the system in order to cope with the least distance of distinct vision of about 15-25 cm. This makes it possible for the user or wearer to see the screen impeccably at about 5-6 cm from his or her eye. The system has been completely enclosed and insulated from outside light. The next part of the system consists of a normal USB webcam which has been cannibalized just to keep its camera and microphone.

Anyone and everyone can make this Smart Cap by using some easy to find components and a lilt bit of focus.



Stuff required to do this project -

Hardware:

1. Raspberry Pi model B


2. A USB webcam with an inbuilt mic, I am using one from Iball.


3. A 2.5″ NTSC/PAL LCD display.


4. A headphone with mic.


5. A loupe magnifier with aspheric lens.


6. Sun board sheets or cardboard sheets.


7. Fevicol SR glue or equivalent.

Software:

1. Rasbi OS image with Voice Recognition Software.