Let bygones be bygones

Idiom of  the year... Many "things" happened to me this year, most of them sucks but I like it. You know me, I love things when they blew up or not working. After finishing so many PHAILED product, what do you expect? I had became a work addict, those who are in a team with me should know well, I drive them crazy XD... Never look back is what I do, I do not give a shit to my past, I just keep looking forward.

I had lost someone almost important to me but luckily I have found true love this year.... 

He is handsome, charming, caring, ambitious and awesome... wth... I just described myself !! ??!!  

Just finished playing the 101 piano songs book... Had to admit the last few songs are a bit rushy, too hungry and inpatient... Next year will be a turning point and I am here to curse it. I love challenges and bad luck. I ain't a big believer of luck and charm or bla bla bla stuff, I only believe in one thing and it is ma AWESOMEness. I truly believe that ma awesomeness can radiates through the harbor and shines light where it is pitch dark. 

*If you feel like throwing up, it is normal, most of them do after reading my blog =D

Moreover, I had also completed my final PIC programming... stupid ADC potentiometer controlled LED blinking thingy... This is the first tiny step of the next big thing. I had successfully compiled it but haven't burn it into the chip... I do not want to face reality too soon and spoil my new year eve's mood =S ... for now, just assume it is perfect ^^

New Year's resolution? I keep telling Nazzy my resolution....

!!!!! haha.... Too much One Piece =x

Reality: I do not have any resolutions... yet... 船到桥头自然直 <3

Kinda miss my flower... had nobody to sms with... 

Flower when r chiuu coming back? =(

This shitty year is gonna end soon... Here I wish/hope you a Happy New Year =D

*oopx almost forgot to upload some new year picture.....

*okay okay okay... here is a proper one...

Love you guys =D hope you enjoy my last post of year 2010 ~<3

The Tokens - The lion sleeps tonight 2008

Pseudo-3d Image Capture using Webcam & Adaptive Focus Depths

This is what I found on YouTube last night... cool right?

Instead of using two cameras, one is enough... 

sigh... 

Stereovision - 越做越简单

Hi there, here is ma another update on ma mini project

The title is in Chinese and boohoo for those who don't know

*Try use Google Translate =D

It is really ridiculous, all we did were wasted efforts.

True, we learnt a lot in the process but... tehee....

Fore-note: Contents below are just what I think and they are only 10% true 

The first theory was we only need a single calibration file to manure through all the baseline.

After some calibrations, we got frustrated and resolve into not doing calibration at all.

The result is shocking ~~

It seems that most of the webcams in the market has already calibrated.

Calibration is only used in RAW camera which is not controlled by any integrated system.

We tried in many baselines and as long as it is manually row aligned, the result is...

HOT HOT

I mean, who wants to calibrate a webcam anyways?

It is not distorted and even after rectification, the outputs are also not row aligned...

Maybe there are problems with my codes but... 

As a newbie, I have no idea on how to check ;)

So the direction of this project has changed, it has turned from programming heavy into mechanically heavy...

As long as we can make a perfect rack, then everything will be okay

At least this is what we belief.....

Merry Christmas 2010

YES, IT'S CHRISTMAS ALREADY !

Please do not whine time flies and you are getting old... I hear too much of these nonsense.

It's Christmas, so just shut up and enjoy it =D

I am fierce right? Picked this attitude up from "someone"

Need to blog something right? I mean to celebrate this festive season?

Stole this from Chyi's blog XD

Here are some pictures I stole from google image:

Still not feeling Christmas enough? 

Let's heat it up a notch shall we?

XD

What am I doing for during the holidays? Of course projects.... 

... and catching mice :3

Big fat claw mouse... XD

Well, it can be said as the longest facebook game that I ever played...

 Have to admit, I heart all the mousehunt events ~<3

It's Christmas eve and I m rotting at home...

I prefer spending time like this at home than going through some hectic jam and celebrate with others

No matter where you are or what activities you had in plans, you are awesome and...

Merry Christmas + Happy New Year *winks*

Stereovision - It's one thing after another

SIMPLE Directmedia Layer, SDL, it should be simple right?

Ever imagine of doing a program with OpenCV + SDL + assembly language? Dam this project is heavy in all sections... Going to kill myself very soon... The worse part is, I have to rush it during holiday season.... =(

All 3 components, mechanical, electronics and even programming failed and need to be redone...

Below are some of ma failed collections, some are dismantled due to frustration so no pictures for you ;p

Checkerboard

Any stereovision do-er knows that a big checkerboard is needed if a accurate calibrated fundamental matrix bla bla bla is demanded...

Well, instead of printing I came out with a cute idea, cut papers and paste in mahjong paper..

I swear, I will never attempt these stupid stuff again.... 

Look nice right? 

*see next pic*

!!! DAMMIT... the paper is not aligned perfectly and the program could not detect the edges consistantly...

so... verdict = REDO !!!!!

Effing mad seriuosly, I cut the paper for like more than 2 hours then ... bla bla bla !^@#$!@#^!@#

Enough whining.... I think gonna use A3 and print it out....

Programming

SDL SDL SDL SDL SDL SDL SDL 

no balls on what is SDL but I do know STD.....

Back to the research mood... I have no idea how am I going to deliver the whole result by year end...

It would be a miracle... maybe Santa would help... 

Well, I think I just get different heatmap as result, bout the SDL, do after that bahs.... 

Mechanical

FAILED !!!!!

It is a DISASTER !!!! We redo the rack like for... 2 times... this is the 3rd time,,,

Next Monday will revisit the shops for supplies... 

Ehs, boy, you again?  

LOL !!!!!!!!!

fyi, regular customer, have been visiting those stores often this month...

Electronics

I would not comment on this first, it is still pending...

On what I know is that it should be okay, the only problem is the battery... 

We go funding issues and do not know wanna buy the battery onot... 

Charger costs $$$ ~.~

The programming of the motors is completed.. pfft... assembly... peanut... right? XD

1HKO tml plz ~

I think will complete it tomorrow bahs... stay tuned ;)

Well, have to stop whining now... later manager caught me spending time blogging...

Make a better schedule for next week bah... hate to work during holiday season =(

cya~

End of Y2S3

It's official, end of Y2S3, damn time pass fast.... I am still in the "after Chinese New Year" mood...

Project Management was fun, learnt a lot of neatty stuff. Critical Thinking was... what was it again? LOL

What I am glad here is ma manager, he improved a lot and thank goodness, I have no longer the need to solo assignments XD

To conclude this, the "Anti Solo Project" is a success !!!

Busy with stereovision project, got choked up really badly. As promised I will make it quick and painless as always, manager, please have faith in me =(

You must like some of the snap shots taken in this sem because you are forced to!!!

*It's a pity I do not have the IEEE STUDENT 2010 conference picture.... darn it... ~.~

Some pictures of da PM Presentation 

We had a blast and it was very fun, first time hear me say that right?

"Hello handsome" ;p

Picture from Freescale Smartcar 2010

Stay tune for more ~ Hopefully...

Smartcar 2010

Crap... I typed a large essay about this event but I closed it accidentally... so now I will just briefly go through

This even reminds me of ma primary colouring competition. I got nothing to complain but I got consultation prize. The top 5 winners' product is... quite speechless. They add in trees, birds and even rainbow... Gosh.... There I thought I was supposed to only colour and can't add in things.

Here, in this competition, I experienced the same. Some team add in motor encoder, some have excessive capacitors and some even use none freescale motor board... Worse thing is, participants are allowed to push the car if it stops... Come on.... -_- my jaw really dropped today...

For those who is reading this and evaluating me, yes, I have a bad attitude ;)
When a project or a task which involved team work does not meet my expectation, half way I will give up and do not give it a damn... I mean... well... you know... << Alvin taught me this... thanks bro ^^

If there is a bad seed in a team, I will be the worst seed you ever seen in your life =D

Have no more mood to continue.... Stupid blog... cant auto save or put in draft automatically... maybe it will and I m the problem...

Anyways, thx for spending your time reading my complains  ^^

Stereovision - Cam Whore *winks*

As this project progresses... I came out with many difference names and this is the best one..
 " Da Cam Whore "

Sorry for not blogging, I am very busy with my schedules till I am very darn lazy to update my blog.

Now what I have to say here is that I had finally completed the first phase of this project and now what is left is documentation and some minor tweaks and optimization.

The hardest thing about this project is the calibration and rectification.

 You have to make the cameras row aligned.

When it does, everything will go well. 

I spent days on adjusting the BMSTATE parameters and it turned out to be calibration failure....

So... tons of calibrations have to be done...

This is the disparity map.

When an object is near to the camera, it is brighter than those which is further.

Strangely enough, what I got here is opposite... heck care... 

as long as I have a correct output...

*bad engineering attitude ~.~*

Eventhough the disparity map is inverse, all I have to do is to change red to blue and vice versa..

simple right? 

As you can see in the picture, the 3 cat dolls have different colour value which 

indicates how far they.

Not too shabby for a beginner right?

The effective depth is 30cm to 250cm anything nearer or further is not that clear.. This is where phase 2 comes into action...

Above are some pictures of the rack which ma team has produced.

I stucked the cams with super glue after manually row align it.

 This is very important in order to get a good depth map..

So... please take a good look at it, we are going to dismantle it and move on to phase 2

A little briefing on phase 2, it is called "multiple baseline awesome stereovision"

 (for now)

Well, I will not update more on this topic due to some....

some.... ... ...

Dude... I need privacy and secrecy.... 

Everything from now onwards are my team's secret. 

Ma manager has a strict policy on this =x

Before I end, I need to thank my supervisor mr.T and dr.T for giving us guidance and support...

Take care~

HOW TO MAKE A TRACK DOLLY ~ LOW-BUDGET FILMMAKING (UK)

Status Report

What a semester... It has been... how long izzit? gosh I Can't even tell which week is this... cause I don't care XD

I am only taking two subjects this semester and it is smooth sailing right? WRONG !!! Busy Busy Busy semester... haha

Just taken Project Management Mid term... It is nothing but a memorizing game... *yawn* but who to blame? Actually it is not bad... When I ask you what you know about ... for example, functional matrix... I know you know what is it, but can you elaborate more? What about it's advantage and disadvantage? Can you answer it instantly without giving you a day to think of the answer? This is what I realize... It is to improve your ... soft skill and knowledge? Well, I don't know... Just do what the subject wants us to do and try not to think much... Regarding the exam... it is swell.. .got a feeling this sub is damn hard to fail but easy to score sub... haha

Remember the video I post? If you missed it, here's the link :

http://mr-awesomer.blogspot.com/2010/11/dice-design-outside-box.html

I am soooo going to rock the project management presentation with my teammate Heng. We are damn motivated by the presenter in the video <3

I am busy with the Student Conference 2010 which is going to be rocking @ 20 and 21 November (this sat and sun). It must be awesome or else I would not be in it... My role? well, cleaning.. and chair session, nothing much. I've been told to read from a paper *laugh* Let's hope my nervousness would not get me this time... Imma be rocking @ Project Management awesome presentation... so this should be my time to practice... Appreciate it ---

We are doing vigorous preparation @ PJ campus.. I heard my boss that we may even camp out there... Hope there aren't any "good friends" there -_-

Another thing I wanna mention... Smart car competition... wow... the due date is nearing, the car? It is not finishing -_- I am also being invited to join the second phase of this project.. Hell now... I am not going to be dragged into such a project...

Gosh... I sure hope I could tell you how frustrated I am now... Desire kills... This is what I will have to say... But with no desire, there is no motivation... Right now, I have no more directions... I screwed my life and finding ways to straighten it... maybe a bent life is better?

Btw, just watched Bolt from Disney Channel <3 This little character really resembles me XD

Rhino The Hamster !!

Dude, he is AWEsome XD

This is all I have to say for the being, check in regularly for more updates =D

DICE: Design Outside the Box

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2011 - Guitar Hero 5

What a beautiful day ~

Pictures really speak for themselves don't they? Woke up, attacked some boobies @ backyard monster bla bla bla same daily routine.... The moment I start ma car engine and hit on reverse... HOLLY !!! How come my car won't move? Then I switched to Drive... and again... WTF !!! Then I knew something was wrong.... well... I had this little experience last few weeks... something stucked on my engine or something like that and I can's start ma engine and I got down and checked.... 

But this time, I am really shocked.... Getting your tyres flatten @TBR is common scene.. but this is really holy shit.... Two of my cute tyres went missing.... Immediately the first person I call... is John, ma manager <3 after that is my mum to fix my car XD

I ain't a big fan to the term "karma" I mean... As long as I am awesome, no matter what I do, I will be forgiven right? Well, now I have no way to argue back.... Ma friend kept say this year for my zodiac is "犯太岁" year... Which means whatever you do, it won't go smoothly... hmm.. maybe attacked too much backyards and they curse me .... haha...

Here is a brief list of what happened to me this year:

Broke up with someone that I do not want to mention ( a good thing)

tyres flatten 2 times (common)

A column come and bang my car in someone's holy shit condo

Clammed by that holy shit condo... 

Piano became chibi (sustain pedal not installed properly)... and the tuner do not want to fix it....

bla bla bla... (forgot... )

and this shit.....

Gosh I really had a busy year, by analyzing the trend of stuff happened to me chronologically, it all started after she left me... maybe she is my lucky star or something? I mean, it is smooth sailing when I was with her... I even nailed the stupid piano grade 8 exam which is impossible for me... Or... maybe... I am not allowed to stay single for too long ?

Academically... I am not doing that well, as you know, I got myself involves in too many projects... The student conference is next week, woots.. dunid to be a driver, call me MC Effing AWESOME... *cough*

Smart car... I have no idea what's going on... personally I feel that the circuit ain't robust enough.. let's left it to mr kock to settle. Seriously I have no kick in participating this anymore... Wonder whies....

Stereovision is doing fine... but.. variabe baseline? It only exist in fairy tale (for me)... 

Project Management is doing swell, thanks to my imba teammate and my pro manager <3 Will be having a small exam next week which I may neglect =x

Critical thinking... wow.. this subject is really something... for the first time I am not very clear who is in my team... maybe course or generation gap.... well... as long as they work... then that's fine... I will try my best to give them my fullest support or... aid... if they ever seek me for any.... ~.~

Heck cares... As long as I stay awesome, I can breeze through any difficulties just like that =D

I mean... It will only be aweso without me right?...

*chills......*

Stereovision - Ma Legend lives on

 Had a little meeting with ma supervisor, he said that our progress ain't bad, thanks to my incredible skills + awesome looks <3

We fixed the baseline (distance between 2 cams) and hopefully the calibration and the output will be better...

Below is an image of the tempo prototype fixed baseline stereovision hardware setup.

***I didn't build this... credits go to my teammates which are incredible =D

Ignore the messy background please.... too busy (lazy ;P) to tidy up... 

I am totally hooked up wif ma lappy and my butt sticked to the chair ~.~

 

The rectified image... I can't tell if the images are really rectified... What I heard from ma supervisor is that they are rectified.... 

Seeign the image far far far away... It seems that they aren't aligned, however when I place a chessboard in front, it is clearly rectified... well... If anyone can tell what am I doing, do tell me.... 

I just applied the formulas blindly XD

Ignore the menu name... It is actually the disparity map, It is not very clear and noisy... I am actually able to craete a 3D image however it is in gray image... What ma supervisor wants is to have a temperature/heat map.....

*I am lazy to print screen the 3d map... maybe I will directly put in the heat map when it is done? =p

I go through almost all of the sources and can't find a function in OpenCV that could map out a depth based heatmap... I will be truthfully appreciative if anyone can provide me with such a function... 

Genius old me came out with a plan... Theoretically, stuff that is nearer to the cams tends to be brighter ( in gray scale) I could extract pixel by pixel on the gray scale level, then by using super imba colour threshold histogram thingy, I can convert it to RGB or something which is near to a heat map.... Well.. This involves a little dedication and time... which I am lack of (lazy).....

Another thing... The 3d map seems to be a little... noisy... Some OpenCV such as pyramid thingy and image filtering can be used to smoothen out the 3d image..... 

Well... what I can say is.... stay tuned and do comment if you have any ideas  =D

3D stereo digital image processing with rectification and depth map calc...

Stereovision - Rack Completed

yea, finally the rack done... I know it is structurally poor, but as long as it serves our purpose, heck care... this is to save cost XD....

Meanwhile back home, I am still struggling to complete the stereovision program...

The stupid cvRemap() got problem... it can't process the data I sent in... Still working on it >< 

Stereovision - Calibration

Well.. try to go through the guide... but got bored and planned to go straight to the point... the sample code was a bogus... well mainly it's my problem for not going through all the details... luckily I found some other codes online =x 

http://dasl.mem.drexel.edu/~noahKuntz/openCVTut10.html

It's like a one stop station XD and of course... 

Spent nearly 2 hours doing calibration... luckily,

it worked....

Above picture is the calibration of the camera... well... CV provides the functions and I have no balls on what is going on.... Maybe engineers do not need to know so details and just apply? LOL digest the codes later 

-_- now effing bored....

Before calibration

After calibration (undistorted image)

A comparism of before and after calibration... well... the undistorted image seems pretty distorted to me.... but... need more studies... doncha agree ?

Stereovision - Shopping Spree

Bought 2 Logitech Webcam cost about RM200.

Can't say it is a good purchase yet... haven't tried them, still in my teammate's house. What I got from him is that it is working fine and can work 2 cams using a single pc... provided he used some freeware... However the freeware can't fully unlock the cams' full potential... Let's hope that this purchase was wise.. ~.~

Logitech C300

Gosh they really creep me out... like peeking me all the time ~.~ hate cams.... 

Moreover, we bought material for the frame frame. After some discussion and quarrel bla bla bla, we came out with a frame model... Will start work next week... 

See this? XD you do not need any software to operate 2 same brand webcams simultaneously... All you need is some good lookin' and a functioning brain... DAM I am hawt ~.~

Looking at this I smell trouble.... the cam head can rotate 360 degree... the light intensity is a bit off... and the clippers... well... no idea... mechanical team really need to work hard to solve these problems... 

Let's be a bit more optimistic shall we? What I can see here is that we may do not need to calibrate... I think... coz the image does not curve... maybe they had already been auto-calibrated.... less work for mee ^^

Will start work tomorrow... that's all for today.. I am effing exhausted... Just celebrated my friend's bday... Had you ever seen a zombie go bowling? That's me!! *Proud* so tired that I almost go wrong lane and help ppl "longkang".... 

Stay tuned for more updates on this field ^^ due date is end of November, hope I am able to make it =(

OpenCV + Visual Studio 2010 C++ Express

The first step is always the hardest.... First it's Visual Basics, then it's Code Warrior... now is... OpenCV... gosh... I sure hope there is someone who can teach me... nah... I heart self learning shiokness XD



NOTE* I got this from http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/VisualC%2B%2B_VS2010

Configure Project Directories

• In 2008
  • Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions -> VC++ Directories
• In 2010
  • Project -> OpenCV_Helloworld Properties...Configuration Properties -> VC++ Directories
• Include Directories... add: 'C:\OpenCV2.1\include\opencv;'
• Library Directories... add: 'C:\OpenCV2.1\lib;'
• Source Directories... add: 'C:\OpenCV2.1\src\cv; C:\OpenCV2.1\src\cvaux; C:\OpenCV2.1\src\cxcore; C:\OpenCV2.1\src\highgui; C:\OpenCV2.1\src\ml;'
• Linker -> Input -> Additional Dependencies...
• For Debug Builds.. add: 'cv210d.lib; cxcore210d.lib; highgui210d.lib;'
• For Release Builds.. add: 'cv210.lib; cxcore210.lib; highgui210.lib;'

The linker I include only the Debug builds... however when i compile.. i got an error.... 

"The program can't start because libcxcore200d.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."


Hahaha... solving it now... ~.~


WOHOO !!!! It worked... so... I only used the release builds... deleted the Debug builds and restarted computer.. high five !! =D

WOHOoo !!! MY virgin program XD

This calls for a celebration ~~ go down have a snack then continue XD effing happy now #@%!^!# HAHAHAHAHAHA

See this? Told ya after done linking the library thingy then everything would be completed...

yah... it may not be convincing but it is a video XD wohoo.. finally... mission 1 accomplish... come on John, can throw me a harder task? haha.... 

Whine: I am half dead

I am here to tell you guys, I am not in a good condition. Another way to see it... I am on zombie mode now...

This semester, i plan to work my self to death... well it's week 2 now... and I am half dead... below is a list of projects/event i participate:

Smartcar Competition  -  Report due on 19 Nov    Competition at 5 Dec << not sure the date but roughly

Variable Baseline Stereovision RnD - phase 1 due at end of November

Student 2010 IEEE Conference - 20 ~ 21 Nov

and some regular assignments.... 

To be honest... I am not doing that well in the smartcar competition... well, I got serious attitude problem and can't work with the people in half of this planet. I will still perform, but not to the extend overlapping others work. I learnt how to respect others work no matter how much I like it. So what I do now is what my teammates told me to do. One command, one action... I do not want to over exert myself in this project. This is how I role, I prioritize my stuff... About this project... I can't share any detail for now due to some group regulation =( but I will leak out all my part... after the competition ^^

Variable baseline stereovision... an interesting topic... will update some summary by stage once completed the research. Stay tuned =D

Student 2010 conference... going to be held in PB Utar in PJ... my role? Driver, ahmad... whatever you call it... gosh... I am damn nervous... One, I do not know the road there and oways jam jam jam... Two... Maybe I need to chat with the participants when driving them to designated destination... You know me... *shy* ~.~

Currently rushing Project Management assignment1 which is a proposal... Our topic is Earthship... 85% finish left some part to clean up... Learnt a lot on green technology.. The world is just awesome eh? 

Well... This is all the time I have, might not be blogging soon but will try to update as much as I can... Remember, do not ever...  I MEAN NEVER disturb me when I am on zombie mode... someone might just get hurt.... =3=

Cee Lo Green - FUCK YOU (Official Video)

PM assignment - Earthship

Project Management assignment.....
Thought of this topic out of the blue... Instead of doing the cute window thingy, why don't we do something which is more meaningful?

Dear Teammates, here are some head starts ^^ good luck =D


Head start intro of Earthship =D brilliant concept by Micheal Reynolds... <33






Details of Earthship... maybe need to add this into the project implementation and technology used?

Day 02 FINAL Youtube02

MH - Another Trip to FREESCALE

Went to Freescale factory... again... 

Reason: Busted the main board XD

Kock is the driver for the day, damn shiok, can sleep during whole journey... Can't say it is very enjoyable coz SOMEONE keep complains about his cute hand. Well, got used to it... XD

I expect the trip to be a little long. In the end, it turned out to be just a mere minute. 

Summary: successfully changed the mainboard + free x2 64 bit chip  and Kock has found his new target XD

See? I told ya, I will keep my bloggy short and sweet ^^

After that, went back UTAR meet Dr. Tan... A busy man he is, we waited for an hour... John got impatient and keep saying that he wanna go home ~.~ We picked up a project the title is xxxxx.... I am not going to say more about it here cause I am keeping it a secret (in case can't finish) LOL

The due date is end of November... the first task is an easy one... buy 2 xxxxxx << secret

Saw someone today... wow.. she is hawt^2 + mature...
same primary, secondary and uni with her but ironically, never spoke to her after PTS in primary 3 ~.~ shy*

LOL... Dam a lot to do this semester, a good news for me.. I can work till I puke WOHOOoo !!!!

Eric Clapton

Dam he is sexy, Nana's friend is to be blamed... he posted Sir Eric Clapton's song in Facebook ~.~
MUST CLICK AND HEAR !!!! <3 guarantee you will like it ^^

Snake Robot

Another project from IEEE Spectrum, amphibious + smooth operations... damn... it makes all our current projects look like RUBBISH XD

MH - My First Day of School

My first day went a little like this o0o and twist... LOL

This sem I had resolved on boycotting mr kock for no reason XD

YAWN... first day.... First class is Project Management, lecturer let us watch some video. The first video was like... a little too long, even himself keep look at the player countdown see left how long... X)

Then there is a 2 hour break... Had nothing to do after finish emailing Dr. Tan, we went DSA play some chinese chess and ping pong. Damn sweaty we are... XD

sorry for the misalignment... apparently, need to set this size to make the gif work.. ~.~

Off to Critical Thinking class... This subject is a bit interesting in the sense that there is no quiz and exam ~.~ However, I am still horny to join professional ethic class =(....

Miss let us have some activity and separated us into groups. Maybe it is a good thing that we do not have to work together all the time, can meet some new friends... Most of them are very passionate about this subject, but not me.... Miss gave us some "cute" activities... I sit there like a zombie waiting to go home. Bad study attitude right? Who cares XD

LMFAO - Shots ft. Lil Jon

LOL drunk tard song... XD

MH - start of Y2S3

-_- It's like I never been through a semester break... whole break doing projects. I am starting my own project now, kinda excited...

Next week gonna meet Dr Tan for project briefing and EAC ~.~ nervous + excited....hehe << LOL X)

Time table... not much subject though...

My result for previous semester ain't good and unsatisfying, well, seen it coming. What I hope now is that I could maintain my result at my satisfactory level, let's not be greedy =D project is still my first priority ^^

EEVblog #63 - Microchip PIC vs Atmel AVR

Watch 10 minute the fell asleep LOL, learnt a lot from this dude... thanks =D
quote:"A Professional Engineer always keeps a open mind and keeps his/her option wide..."

MH - Some basic info bout Caps

It is very sad for future engineers going to electronics shop and being teased. The dealer tends to ask some basic questions that most of the young engineers could not answer... Among them is the type of capacitors. There are plenty material and types of capacitors, but which 1 suits your need? I had summarized some common ones below and I took the info from :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor

Paper

·        Used in older devices

·        High voltage performance

·        Susceptible to water absorption

·        Replaced by film capacitors

Plastics

·        Offer better stability and aging performance

·        Useful in timer circuits

·        Limited to low operating temperatures and frequency

Ceramic

·        Small, cheap and useful for high frequency applications

·        Capacitance varies strongly with voltage

·        Poor performance when aged

·        Classified as:

·        Class 1 dielectrics (predictable variation of capacitance with temperature)

·        Class 2 dielectrics (can operate at higher voltage)

·        Often used in:

·        often used in resonators

Glass and mica

·        Extremely reliable, stable and tolerant to high temperatures and voltages

·        Expensive for mainstream applications

Electrolytic and supercapacitors

·        Used to store small and larger amounts of energy

·        Material: aluminum or tantalum

·        Offer high capacitance

·        Suffer from poor tolerances, high instability, gradual loss of capacitance when subjected to heat and high leakage current.

·        Poor quality may leak electrolyte which is harmful to PCB

·        Conductivity drops at low temperatures (increases equivalent series resistance)

·        Widely used for power supply conditioning

·        Poor high frequency characteristic (unsuitable for many applications)

·        Will self-degrade if unused for around a year

·        When full power is applied, may short circuit/damage capacitor and usually blowing a fuse or causing arcing in rectifier tubes.

Tantalum vs Aluminum

Tantalum offers better frequency and temperature characteristic but higher dielectric absorption and leakage than of Aluminum caps.

OS-CON

·        Polymerized organic semiconductor solid-electrolyte

·        Offers longer life at higher cost than standard electrolytic caps

Supercapacitors

·        Offer extremely high capacitance (5kF)

·        May replace rechargeable batteries

Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor for more info ^^