Tiny Arduino perfect for Rocketry!

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TinyCircuits

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Hi All,

It's great to be a member of these forums - I've been in to model rocketry since I first got introduced over 20 years ago, although I admit it's been a while since I've been out to launch one. I really need to change that, it's so much fun.

I've just launched a new project on Kickstarter called the TinyDuino and TinyLily. This is a family of boards that shrink the size of the Arduino to a new low, but without giving up the signals, processor power / memory, and expansion capabilities (via shields) that make the Arduino so powerful.

The TinyDuino is just 20mmx20mm (Smaller than a US Quarter)!, but still has stackable shield support and all the Arduino shield signals available! And it uses the same Atmel microcontroller as used on the Arduino Uno.

The TinyLily Mini is 14mm in diameter (Smaller than a US dime)! This board has large sewtabs for easy soldering to, and also uses the same ATmega328p as used on an Uno.

One of the main thoughts I had for these when designing them was about how cool it would be to embed them into model rockets. I'm interested in any feedback you have on this project, and look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kenburns/tinyduino-the-tiny-arduino-compatible-platform-w-s

Thanks!

Ken @ TinyCircuits (https://Tiny-Circuits.com)
 
I would love to see some altimeter project using this technology. Very impressive project. Thanks for sharing.

Hmm. Are you into rocketry or is this spam?
 
I actually am into rocketry, I got started back in the late 80's in boy scouts and was pretty hardcore in it for 10+years and a NAR member all that time, I also read Harry Stine's books like the bible at that time. I still have a bunch of old copies of American Spacemodeling that I came across when I moved last year :) Mostly into Estes, but I also did a few custom jobs and special orders out of the back of magazines, including an 8' rocket that I still have in my basement and only flown once.

I have to admit it's also somewhat spam, as I'm trying to get the word out on this TinyDuino project. But that being said, I really do think these boards are a perfect fit for rocketry and would love to see them used in these sorts of projects.

Thanks!

Ken
 
It's stuff like this that makes me wish I was born 20 years later. (think-Pong, Atari 800, Betamax...)

Even after doing some research, I am still clueless on what Arduinos are capable of, it may as well be written in Japanese. :blush:

I hate to assume, but can these run multiple LED's (3, 5, 10mm?) , in a programmable pattern? How many LED's can it run, and how complex could the pattern be, or is that just all in the programming?

Too many questions....:confused2:


Yes, very impressive.
 
The capabilities of an Arduino go much beyond blinking LED's, though that is something that they can do well. They can read input from sensors of almost any kind, make decisions based upon this input (is the button being pressed, or is the barometric pressure sensor reading lower than a certain value :wink:), and then perform output through most any electrical device (blinking an LED, moving a servo, displaying something on a screen, flipping a relay attached to an ignitor...). They allow you to quickly build and test electrical devices.
 
I would love to see leo do a build threat. His altimeter is really good.
 
Ken, I just registered on your TinyCircuits Forum. I will probably lurk for quite a while before I start asking too many questions.

I would really like to be able to do something with these, I just don't know what it is yet. :wink:


The more research I do, the more confused I get...

Any other Arduino fans in here that can point me in the right direction on where to learn more? Links would be great!
 
I think it is a great concept. I wish I had more time to dive and tinker with it.
 
Ken, I just registered on your TinyCircuits Forum. I will probably lurk for quite a while before I start asking too many questions.

I would really like to be able to do something with these, I just don't know what it is yet. :wink:


The more research I do, the more confused I get...

Any other Arduino fans in here that can point me in the right direction on where to learn more? Links would be great!

Well, for starters you could make an altimeter!:wink: Like Leo has...Little itty bitty jewel..He flew it a number of times in low power rockets..Pretty cool seeing an LPR recover dual deploy!:clap:

Oh, and did I say it was small? Small enough to comfortably fit in a BT50!:eyepop:
 
Ken, I just registered on your TinyCircuits Forum. I will probably lurk for quite a while before I start asking too many questions.

I would really like to be able to do something with these, I just don't know what it is yet. :wink:


The more research I do, the more confused I get...

Any other Arduino fans in here that can point me in the right direction on where to learn more? Links would be great!

One of the easiest ways would be to get one of the many starter kits and a book. Unless you have already some electronic parts laying around, that you want to use, I'd avoid the cheapest starter kits. They are often limited to LEDs and Buttons, so you will have explored everything very quickly. Here is one that looks quite nice to me:
https://www.adafruit.com/products/170
Besides having more parts to play with, it also has some neat cards with examples.

Here are more examples:
https://www.adafruit.com/category/17_64
https://www.makershed.com/Arduinos_Accessories_s/43.htm

Regarding books, I'd suggest exploring Amazon, searching for "Arduino" in the books section and reading the reviews. For example, the official book (Getting started with Arduino) gets some mixed reviews for being shallow. This is probably not a bad thing for a novice and maybe even advantageous, but it depends on your personal situation if it is the right thing for you.

Finally, there is also Google. Just look for "Arduino Tutorial" and you will find more than enough results.

The TinyDuino looks great too, but it is optimized for small size. The regular Arduino makes imho for a little better learning platform because you can connect it more easily to a breadboard with jumper wires. There is, of course, nothing wrong with getting both. :)

Reinhard
 
Reinhard, thanks for the links!

I had no idea. :jaw:

Pantherjon, I've got a plan!

I'm thinking a logging altimeter, that would pop the drouge, and light up a bunch of LED's at apogee? Then deploy the main, start a different pattern on the LED's, and send my Smartphone the gps? Oh, then, using the proximity sensor and Wave shield, start playing Van Halen just before touch down, as the logging data comes up on the LCD screen? All while recording video of the flight with the camera module? I could power it up with the fingerprint sensor, and charge the onboard batteries with the solar panel.

Yea, that's what I'll make first:eyeroll:


I'm really liking the TinyDuino, and that TinyLily is just ridiculously small. Can you imagine, a BT20 dual deploy?

Are parts interchangeable? I.e., can I use sensors from say, Adafruit with the TinyDuino?


I'm sorry to hijack your thread, Ken, maybe I should start a new one...
 
Reinhard, thanks for the links!

I had no idea. :jaw:

Pantherjon, I've got a plan!

I'm thinking a logging altimeter, that would pop the drouge, and light up a bunch of LED's at apogee? Then deploy the main, start a different pattern on the LED's, and send my Smartphone the gps? Oh, then, using the proximity sensor and Wave shield, start playing Van Halen just before touch down, as the logging data comes up on the LCD screen? All while recording video of the flight with the camera module? I could power it up with the fingerprint sensor, and charge the onboard batteries with the solar panel.

Yea, that's what I'll make first:eyeroll:


I'm really liking the TinyDuino, and that TinyLily is just ridiculously small. Can you imagine, a BT20 dual deploy?

Are parts interchangeable? I.e., can I use sensors from say, Adafruit with the TinyDuino?


I'm sorry to hijack your thread, Ken, maybe I should start a new one...

Goober! You still going to MWP?
 
One of the easiest ways would be to get one of the many starter kits and a book. Unless you have already some electronic parts laying around, that you want to use, I'd avoid the cheapest starter kits. They are often limited to LEDs and Buttons, so you will have explored everything very quickly. Here is one that looks quite nice to me:
https://www.adafruit.com/products/170
Besides having more parts to play with, it also has some neat cards with examples.

Here are more examples:
https://www.adafruit.com/category/17_64
https://www.makershed.com/Arduinos_Accessories_s/43.htm

Regarding books, I'd suggest exploring Amazon, searching for "Arduino" in the books section and reading the reviews. For example, the official book (Getting started with Arduino) gets some mixed reviews for being shallow. This is probably not a bad thing for a novice and maybe even advantageous, but it depends on your personal situation if it is the right thing for you.

Finally, there is also Google. Just look for "Arduino Tutorial" and you will find more than enough results.

The TinyDuino looks great too, but it is optimized for small size. The regular Arduino makes imho for a little better learning platform because you can connect it more easily to a breadboard with jumper wires. There is, of course, nothing wrong with getting both. :)

Reinhard



Also check out Sparkfun.com. I started out a year and a half ago with their Inventors Kit which is an Arduino learning kit. They have just updated it and it looks really good. I you really want to have some stuff to play with they have a sensor kit that's a bit pricy but has a wide selection of breakout boards you can play with with the Arduino. I don't have the sensor kit but I have purchased some individual sensors both on breakout boards and raw chips to play with. Finally, I recommend the Arduino Cookbook put out by O'reilly. Each chapter addresses a task you want to do and then gives code examples and a discussion. It is very good and pretty comprehensive reference. You should check with your local libraries online book subscriptions. I can access some of the Make books and many O'reilly texts as well as many other electronics and programming books online through my library.

Both Sparkfun and Adafruit have great tutorials and free downloads of educational material, code, etc. Open source hardware and software makes learning very accessible.

Here are some links:

Sparkfun Inventor's Kit https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11227
New manual and code examples for Inventor's Kit - works with any Arduino; free download, scroll down to the documentation section on the above link.

Sparkfun Tutorials https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial

Sparkfun Sensor Kit https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11283

Adafruit Tutorials https://www.adafruit.com/tutorials
 
I posted this in the Altduino thread but thought it might be helpful here as well.

For the absolute smallest size here is a fully pinout compatible Arduino clone 20.7x15.2mm. It uses the Atmega328P with all Arduino pins broken out and is available now.

Order page: https://www.femtoduino.com/2012/04/sm...no-femtoduino/
Project page: https://www.varesano.net/projects/hardware/Femtoduino

I had looked at these when they were first designed but never checked back to see that they had made multiple batches of them.
 
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