Category Archives: Microcontrollers

SPL vs HAL: which one should you use (and Low Layer Library) — part 2

Leave a reply

stmcube_import_step1

Some time ago I have written SPL vs HAL: which one should you use where I have focused on differences between two main frameworks for STM32 — Standard Peripheral Library (SPL) and Hardware Abstraction Layer commonly known as HAL. Since the recent post only focuses on those two sets of libraries I have decided to write some examples which can tip the scale. What is more, at the end of previous article I have asked an important question for a developer — does the STM is going to introduce us to a brand new library. Answer to this and other questions are further in this post.

Continue reading →

Mechanical filter for UAV — damping IMU vibrations

1 Reply

01_data_foam1

Good quality estimation of tilt angles such as roll and pitch is desired when it comes to an UAV control. Without good quality signal a proper work of flight controller is nearly impossible. However, the task of filtering is not an easy task, especially when it comes to DSP (digital signal processing). It is even harder when digital filter is inadequate. In this post a mechanical filter is presented that allows to significantly improve attitude estimation in terms of roll, pitch and yaw.

Continue reading →

STM32 HAL driver for I2C OLED display with U8glib

11 Replies

oled_display_ssd1603

Recently, I have come to a conclusion that it would be good to print the state of my quadrocopter on a display. The question was what kind of display should I use. I decided to give a try to a small 0.96″ OLED display with I2C interface. It is based on SSD1603 driver. You can see this display on the image above. However, there was an issue regarding the screen controller. But it was soon solved. I have come across the U8glib which is a graphic library, quite popular among Arduino users. As soon as I started to read about the library I realized that it does not support STM32, not mentioning the HAL library.

Well, I have solved that 😉

Continue reading →

Using FatFS with HAL

53 Replies

Recently I have written a short post about the HAL library created by STM32. The HAL is gaining popularity among hobbyists and is more and more frequently used. However, when you would like to use it for something else than just basic stuff like generating PWM on digital output you have to write it by yourself. Not so long ago I had to use SD card in one of my projects. It turned out that there is no driver for FatFS based on HAL – at least there was not. I decided to write the driver and here you can read about it…

Continue reading →

SPL vs HAL: which one should you use

10 Replies

STM32CubeMx_front

There is an unending dispute about which library should you use when writing an application for STM32 microcontroller. Actually, there are at least three choices which you should consider. In this post I will highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each approach which can be considered when writing software for ST microcontrollers.

Continue reading →

A small operating system

1 Reply

There are many operating systems: Linux, Windows, iOS,… But there are a few which can work in real time like Linux Xenomai. However, there are very little which can fit a microcontroller. One of them is a FreeRTOS. There are some variations of the FreeRTOS which can handle different conditions and requirements.
This blog post is not about such operating system, however…

Continue reading →

Simple Dual Thermometer

Leave a reply

I have done a few project based on AVR microcontrollers. Recently, I have given myself a chance to try out Arduino. After my home thermometer broke down I decided to make a new one. Also it had a few drawback which required fixing. After some time I decided to use Arduino and design a shield for it which would enable this board to measure the temperature and display it. So here it is:

Simple Dual Thermometer

Continue reading →