Projects

This has been a long-running project for me, and its latest evolution is a Xilinx Zynq Z2 based system which utilizes the dual Cortex-A9 processors and FPGA logic to create an ultra-responsive electronic drum-kit that also has all the bells and whistles of reverb and spatial acoustic simulation, as well as tempo detection and (WIP) live AI beat generation. This is designed to be a culmination of my many firmware, DSP, PCB design and FPGA lessons so far, as well as my love for drumming.

In a team of four we developed a mini electric vehicle. Using a pre-bought RC car as a starting for DC motors and a chassis (electronics were binned), we developed a PCB from scratch containing a main controller MCU (ATMEGA328P), a telemetry controller (ESP8266), and two H-bridge drivers for steering and driving. I primarily focused on PID tuning for the drive motor, as well as developed a web-based telemetry with full NodeJS backend and React UI, developing firmware for the ESP8266.

For the final assessment of an embedded systems subject, a partner and I implemented a polyphase channelizer onto an Intel Cyclone IV FPGA, writing in VHDL. We also developed a SPI interface, and modified code for the HackRF One SDR to stream data live over SPI so we could perform channel analysis on RF data live.

As part of an advanced control systems subject I worked in a group of three to design a digital control scheme for a rotary inverted pendulum and implemented it in C for a Teensy 3.0 microcontroller (ARM Cortex-M4 based). Our code is used at UTS for demo purposes to this day.

As part of the Embedded Software subject a partner and I worked on the development of embedded C code for the NXP K70P256M150SF3RM Tower module (or K70 for short). A series of labs required us to research through a 2000 page manual to perform operations such as UART communication with a PC, flash memory access, and analog to digital conversions.

To fuse my passions for electrical and drumming I've started developing a low cost, high functionality electronic drum kit based on the popular Raspberry Pi platform. Acoustic design as well as analog and digital signal processing are combined to create a device which is extremely modular, and simplistic in construction.

Throughout the process of applying for web development jobs and internships, I developed a web app utilizing full stack JavaScript programming, with NodeJs and Express running in the backend, and AngularJS in the front end. The app acted as a user interface for users to browse random public Flickr photo feeds.

The GitHub repo can be found here.

Some university friends and I have started the journey of founding the UTS Electrical Society. We're working hard to create some great events for fellow students to learn, socialize, and share our passion for electrical engineering.

As a gift to my girlfriend I created a decorative 'H' which would light up whenever I thought of her. Using MQTT, an app on my phone can publish messages to the Magic H specifying the pattern type and colour parameters, which then activates a WS2812 addressable LED strip.

As part of the design and innovation fundamentals subject at university, I worked in a group to develop the business plan and feasibility studies for a WiFi controlled tap, culminating in the development of a semi-functional prototype for the final presentation. The product utilized an ESP8266 web server, as well as hydraulic solenoids and an LCD display.