Throughout 2015, the development of driverless cars has dominated technology headlines across the UK. Between the futuristic predictions of Elon Musk and the real life road tests of Google’s SDCs (Self-Driving Cars), driverless vehicles are quickly moving from a work of science fiction to a genuine commercial reality.

A series of three-phase brushless fan motor controllers from ROHM are available at Farnell element14. The controllers – part of the BD6201x and BM620x families of products – synthesise the optimal driving signal from hall sensor signals and output the synthesised signal to control the external level shifter and power transistor.

CodeBug, a £12.50 crowdfunded nano-board designed to teach beginners the fundamentals of programming and electronics in a friendly non-intimidating way is now on sale at element14. First announced on Kickstarter in March 2015, following 3 years of development, CodeBug has subsequently raised more than £18,000 in independent funding. Making the leap into mainstream development, CodeBug is now being launched on a global scale with the h...

Improved picking procedures in its Maybrook warehouse that support a new market leading product label and despatch note have been introduced by Farnell element14. The picking procedure will further enhance a pick accuracy of 99.75% resulting in even fewer incorrect orders for customers. Farnell element14 will be attending DSEI 2015 at Excel, London (Sept 15-18) in the Tri-Service Zone.

A 7-inch Touchscreen Display for the Raspberry Pi, expanding the ecosystem of accessories, to enable users to create all-in-one integrated projects such as turning their Pi into a tablet, infotainment system or embedded project is available from element14. Compatible with Raspberry Pi 2, and Raspberry Pi 1 models B+ and A+*, the screen can be used to make ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) devices with a visual display.

The C2000 Delfino F28377S LaunchPad development kit from Texas Instruments is available from Farnell element14. The development kit delivers high-performance digital control for use in power conversion and motor control applications. The low-cost development board is based on the Delfino TMS320F28377S MCU, contains 1MB of on-board flash and includes highly differentiated peripherals such as 12bit ADCs, comparators, DACs, delta-sigma sinc filters,...

Looking to promote its proposition for the defence and security markets Farnell element14 is attending DSEI exhibition in London’s ExCel Centre (September 15-18) for the first time this year. At the event the distributor will showcase products selected from its range of 600,000 available products from leading suppliers including Harwin, Amphenol, Tektronix, and many more.

The ecosystem of Raspberry Pi accessories has been extended. element14 has launched the Raspberry Pi Sense HAT, as featured in the ‘Astro Pi’ space mission. The Sense HAT will enable enthusiasts to control the same hardware used in space. The Sense HAT attaches to the Raspberry Pi board, and can be used for many different types of experiments, applications and games, including those due to be carried out on the International Space Sta...

The SP06 range of pluggable spring clamp connectors from METZ CONNECT that allow users to make rapid and reliable wiring installations is on sale at Farnell element14.The METZ CONNECT “Push In” technology allows solid core cables and stranded cables with ferrules to be inserted directly into the connector without the need for any tools. 

Despite the hype around wearable tech at the start of 2015, six months in to the year, mainstream adoption of wearable tech remains slow. Smartwatches, whilst widely available on the market, continue to be viewed as a smartphone peripheral, rather than a product in their own right. Meanwhile, Google’s high-profile Glass project has actually taken a step back, ending all sales of devices to the public.

Ben and Max are arguing over which system is better, the Super Nintendo or the Sega Genesis. In this episode Ben will take both consoles apart and then look at the main processor, the co-processors, the audio, the video and see how much ram is in each console.

The Curiosity development board from Microchip has been launched by Farnell element14.  On board programming and debug via MPLAB X IDE and code generation via Microchip’s MCC will appeal to those new to microcontrollers such as hobbyists, makers and students. The board’s use of pdip components and access to most pins simplifies actual development for all users.

The MATLAB and Simulink Student Suite – Raspberry Pi Bundle which includes the Raspberry Pi Starter Kit and the MATLAB and Simulink Student Suite from MathWorks is on sale at Farnell element14. It allows a student or self learner to conveniently start their project with model-based block diagrams on the Raspberry Pi 2 using the same tools commercial engineers and scientists use every day.

Ever wondered how to create Raspberry Pi Jam? In this short video Alexander Dabell Managing Director from Vectis Ventures, describes some of the projects he has undertaken with Dr Lucy Rogers, including using the Raspberry Pi and Node Red to bring to life a group of animatronic dinosaurs at the Blackgang Chine theme park.

The Molex Ditto range of wire-to-wire interconnects and pre-assembled harnesses are in stock at Farnell element14. The harnesses halve the tooling and operational costs of plug-and-receptacle power connector systems. This enables increased cost savings and operational efficiency of low-amperage consumer and lighting applications. 

The U5850 Series TrueIR thermal imagers from Keysight Technologies provide clear and sharp thermal images with 4x fine resolution capability, enabling 320x240 pixels at the cost of a 160x120 pixels device. The imagers are on sale at distributor element14. Two new models in the range, the U5856A and U5857A, can perform temperature measurements up to 650°C and 1200°C respectively. 

Farnell element14 has introduced LOCTITE GC 10, the first-ever temperature stable solder paste, from Henkel. The paste is stable at 26.5°C for one year and at temperatures of up to 40°C for one month, providing benefits from shipping and receiving as well as printing and reflow.

The 4DPi-24-HAT, a 2.4in, 320x240 pixel fully HAT standard compliant primary display with resistive touch that plugs directly on top of a Raspberry Pi has been launched by 4D Systems and element14. It displays the primary output of the Raspberry Pi, which is normally sent to the HDMI or Composite output.

Take a big bow, Manjuprasad Basangi! He has been voted the winner of element14’s global DreamBoard initiative to find the ultimate development kit. His creation, the PC64, designed to be a learning tool for students, was voted the winner by element14 Community members from a shortlist of 16 finalists. The design captured 67 per cent of the vote in the head-to-head final and beat more than 3,000+ brand new dev kit creations to be named the u...

In this episode, Ben and Felix work together to build a Raspberry Pi media streamer that can be used with a television and a server.