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Travel Items/Docs

Reading Rotary Encoder Using Microcontroller

Rotary encoders are commonly used for measuring angular position or motion sensing. An optical encoder has a disc with a pattern of cutouts. As the disc rotated, an LED light that shines on photo detector is turned on and off accordingly to produce a digital waveform.

An optical encoder produced by VEX Robotics Design System

Gray code is normally used in encoders instead of ordinary binary code to prevent glitches. In Gray code, the number of changing bits between successive numbers is only 1. The following table shows 2 bit Gray code from 0 to 3.

Myanmar Astrological Calendar Days

A typical Myanmar calendar usually describes astrological days such as auspicious days and ill fated days. In this post, we will present about the following days and javascript code for them.

CAN bus

CAN bus (controller area network) is a vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other. CAN bus is a message-based protocol, designed specifically for automotive applications but now also used in other areas such as aerospace, industrial automation and medical equipment. The advantages of CAN bus compared to RS232 communication are as follows.

Personal Release Form for Interviewer

Useful Web Resources for Academic Writing

Using Analog to Digital Converter of AT89C51CC01 Microcontroller

Using AT89STK-06 starter kit, I have written a few C code to read an analog to digital converter (ADC) input of AT89C51CC01 which is an 8051 microcontroller. It has 8 multiplexed ADC inputs with 10 bit resolution. As an example, ADC input pin 7 which is connected to a variable resister is read.

GNU Octave as an Alternative to MatLab

GNU Octave, FreeMat and Scilab are free open source software for numerical calculations alternative to MATLAB. After reading reviews in the Internet, I chose GNU Octave to try. Installing GNU Octave on a Windows system is easy. Download the files from its Download page and extract them to a folder. Then, you can put the shortcut at a desired location and change the path and the icon in its properties. When you open GNU Octave by clicking the shortcut, a window will appear as shown in the following figure. You can key in MATLAB commands there directly.

Chord-changer Javascript

I have written a Javascript program to transpose the guitar chords for a song into a different key. In the lyrics of the song, the guitar chords are supposed to be between ^and. You can try it at Myanmar Lyrics by clicking the Key Up and Key Down buttons. The codes are shown below.

Algorithm, Program and Calculation of Myanmar Calendar

မြန်မာဘာသာ ဖြင့်ဖတ်ရန်

An easier and faster modern method to calculate a past, present or future date in the Myanmar calendar (the Burmese calendar) is presented. The constants, formulas and steps are clearly defined to derive all the essential elements of the Myanmar calendar such as Myanmar year, Myanmar month, waxing or waning moon and day. Unlike the existing methods, this method is easy even for a person who is not familiar with the Myanmar calendar and its terms.