Other Boards

RASPBERRY PI NOT INCLUDED(Neither the keys for those who wondered)

This cute little GPIO reference board from ModMyPi allows you to quickly and easily distinguish between the different pins of the Raspberry Pi Model B+, Raspberry Pi 2B and Pi 3B! It's even got a key chain hole, so you can carry it around and keep it handy - you'll never know when you need to hack a Pi!

The GPIO reference board features BCM numbering on one side and the pin names on the other. It can be soldered for permanent referencing, or slipped on and off when required.

The Sense HAT is an add-on board for Raspberry Pi, made especially for the Astro Pi mission! It’s going to the International Space Station in December 2015 – and is now available to buy from PiShop.

The Sense HAT has an 8×8 RGB LED matrix, a five-button joystick and includes the following sensors:

• 3D Gyroscope
• Accelerometer (Yaw, Pitch & Roll)
• Magnetometer
• Temperature
• Barometric Pressure
• Humidity

The Raspberry Pi Foundation have also created a Python library providing easy access to everything on the board.

Sensing Elements Technical Specification:

Pressure / Temperature (ST Micro LPS25H)
– 24-bit pressure measurement resolution (260hPa to 1260hPa)
– 16-bit temperature measurement resolution (0-125°C)
Datasheet

Humidity / Temperature (ST Micro HTS221)
– 16-bit humidity measurement resolution (0-100% relative humidity)
– 16-bit temperature measurement resolution (0-60°C)
Datasheet

Acceleration/Gyroscope/Magnetic field (ST Micro LSM9DS1)
– 9 degrees of freedom (X, Y, Z independent axes for all sensors)
– ±16 g acceleration measurement range
– ±16 gauss magnetometer measurement range
– ±2000 dps (degrees per second) gyroscope measurement range
Each of these measurement channels has 16 bits of resolution.
Datasheet

All of these sensors have features for periodic sampling of sensor values, complete with internal FIFO storage. The LPS25H and HTS221 have maximum sample rates of 25 per second, the LSM9DS1 has a maximum sample rate of 952Hz

LED Matrix
The LED matrix is driven by a combination of a constant-current LED driver and an Atmel ATTiny88 running a custom firmware that delivers an 8×8 display with 15-bit resolution RGB colour. If you want to get into the gory details, the AVR firmware is available on Github.

Joystick
The Atmel is responsible for sampling the joystick. We didn’t have enough pins left on the Atmel to dedicate the five that we needed to sample the joystick axes independently, so they’ve been spliced into the LED matrix row selects. The joystick gets updated at approximately 80Hz, which is the scan rate of the LED matrix.

All of the sensors (and the base firmware for the Atmel) are accessible from the Pi over I2C. As a fun bonus mode, the SPI peripheral on the Atmel has been hooked up to the Pi’s SPI interface – you can reprogram your HAT in the field! We use this method to get the firmware into the Atmel during production test – and we leave it unprotected so you can substitute the stock firmware to get it to do whatever you want. Seriously. First person to turn this sensor HAT into a quadcopter controller HAT wins a cookie from me.

Getting Started

Connect your Sense HAT to the Raspberry Pi via the 40 GPIO Pins.You will then need to install the software:

Open up a terminal and run the following command:

wget -O - http://www.raspberrypi.org/files/astro-pi/astro-pi-install.sh --no-check-certificate

When the install has finished you will need to reboot your Raspberry Pi!

The Raspberry Pi does not feature an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), so if you want to measure analogue singals, you'll need this 12-Bit ADC!

The Adafruit 4-Channel I2C 12-Bit ADC is a high-precision ADC and features the ADS1015 chip, which provides 12-bit precision at 3300 samples/second over I2C. The chip can be configured as 4 single-ended input channels, or two differential channels. As a nice bonus, it even includes a programmable gain amplifier,with up to x16, to help boost smaller single/differential signals to the full range. We like this ADC because it can run from 2V to 5V power/logic, can measure a large range of signals and its super easy to use. It is a great general purpose 12 bit converter. 

• Wide Supply Range: 2.0V to 5.5V
• Low Current Consumption: Continuous Mode: Only 150µA Single-Shot Mode: Auto Shut-Down
• Programmable Data Rate: 128SPS to 3.3kSPS
• Internal Low-Drift Voltage Reference
• Internal Oscillator
• Internal PGA
• I2C Interface: Pin-Selectable Addresses
• Can run from 2V to 5V power/logic
• Measures a large range of signals and is super easy to use.
• 12-bit precision at 3300 samples/second over I2C.
• Configurable as 4 single-ended input channels, or two differential channels.
• Includes a programmable gain amplifier, up to x16, to help boost up smaller single/differential signals to the full range.
• Breakout Board equipped with ferrites to keep the AVDD and AGND quiet

Tutorials

Four Channel ADC Breakout

Example Code for the Raspberry Pi

This is a Raspberry GPS HAT expansion board designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi B+, A+ and Raspberry Pi 2 Model B!  It's a simple to install and use GPS module, that utilises the Raspberry Pi the serial ports (UART) for communication. The board is compliant with Raspberry Pi HAT specification, and includes a 2x20 way header and stand-offs to provide a robust solution to Raspberry Pi GPS function.

We also have cases available for the Raspberry Pi and GPS HAT combination in Clear, and you'll probably need an external Antenna to get going!

It's great for accurate timing applications or general applications that require GPS information. It's equipped with the latest Ublox MAX-M8Q low power, high performance positioning module and features an RTC Crystal for timing applications, making it more than adequate for a Pi based NTP Server. Its worth noting the module can, with a serial command, be placed in “Stationary” dynamic mode which is the default mode for the much more expensive timing modules.To facilitate PPS, the time pulse output is connected to GPIO18, so you can utilise this board to give NTP PPS discipline. 

The board features an SMA Female connector for an active patch antenna power, PPS LED's, and an on board 6 hour supercap which can be used to retain any custom settings in the event of power loss.

Please Note. This board is NOT compatible with the original Raspberry Pi A and B boards.

Please Note. This board has firmware version 2.01 and is currently unable to receive Galileo signals.

Features:

• Raspberry Pi HAT Compliant GPS Module
• MAX-M8Q GPS Chipset
• Utlises Pi Serial UART Connection
• PPS connected to GPIO18 (Pin 12)
• RTC Crystal
• Navigation Sensitivity: –167 dBm 
• Position accuracy: 2.0m CEP
• Power Consumption: 25 mA @ 3.0 V (approx.)
• Connector: SMA Female
• Supercap for setting retention

Tutorials

Raspberry Pi GPS HAT & Python

Stratum 1 NTP Server Instructions

• GPS SMA to uFL Adaptor Cable
• Ultimate GPS Breakout Board
• GPS HAT Mini
• GPS Logger Shield
• 28dB Active External Antenna

• Gain 28 dB
• Operating Frequency 1575.42MHz ± 1.023MHz (T1)
• Output Impedance 50 ohms
• Bandwidth 10 MHz minute @ S11 ≤ -10dB
• Output VSWR 2.0 Max
• Voltage 2.3~5.5V
• Dimensions: L 41.2xW38.5xH13.3 mm
• Mount: Magnetic Antenna
• Coaxial Cable: RG174 Length 5m
• Cable Connector: SMA MALE
• Operating Temperature: -30°C to +85°C

Let your robotic dreams come true with the new DC+Stepper Motor HAT from Adafruit. This Raspberry Pi add-on is perfect for any motion project as it can drive up to 4 DC or 2 Stepper motors with full PWM speed control.

Raspberry Pi and motors are not included.

Since the Raspberry Pi does not have a lot of PWM pins, we use a fully-dedicated PWM driver chip onboard to both control motor direction and speed. This chip handles all the motor and speed controls over I2C. Only two pins (SDA & SCL) are required to drive the multiple motors, and since it's I2C you can also connect any other I2C devices or HATs to the same pins.

In fact, you can even stack multiple Motor HATs, up to 32 of them, for controlling up to 64 stepper motors or 128 DC motors (or a mix of the two) - just remember to purchase and solder in a stacking header instead of the one we include.

Motors are controlled by TB6612 MOSFET drivers with 1.2A per channel and 3A peak current capability, a big improvement over L293D drivers and there are built-in flyback diodes as well.

We even had a little space so we added a polarity protection FET on the power pins and a bit of prototyping area. And the HAT is assembled and tested here at Adafruit so all you have to do is solder on the included 2x20 plain header and the terminal blocks.

Lets check out these specs again:

• 4 H-Bridges: TB6612 chipset provides 1.2A per bridge (3A peak) with thermal shutdown protection, internal kickback protection diodes. Can run motors on 4.5VDC to 13.5VDC.
• Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-bit speed selection (so, about 0.5% resolution)
• Up to 2 stepper motors (unipolar or bipolar) with single coil, double coil, interleaved or micro-stepping.
• Big terminal block connectors to easily hook up wires (18-26AWG) and power
• Polarity protected 2-pin terminal block and jumper to connect external 5-12VDC power
• Works best with Raspberry Pi model A+, B+, Pi 2 B or Pi 3 B.
• Install the easy-to-use Python library, check out the examples and you're ready to go!

Comes with an assembled & tested HAT, terminal blocks, and 2x20 plain header. Some soldering is required to assemble the headers on. Stacking header not included.

Raspberry Pi, motors, and battery pack are not included but we have lots of motors in the shop and all our DC motors, and stepper motors work great. Check out Adafruit's detailed tutorial for tons of info including schematics, wiring diagrams, python libraries and example walkthroughs.