Concepts

These are the various concepts that people may need to know while learning a technology tutorial and could be required to complete a ‘hookup’ tutorial. Concepts are most often a general building block that may be built upon other concepts. Concepts can generally be learned without physical objects but are reinforced with a hookup tutorial.

Understanding Thermal Resistance

May 14, 2020

Discussing what thermal resistance is, how it’s used for thermal management, and how to maximize the life of your project.

Logic Levels

June 3, 2013

Learn the difference between 3.3V and 5V devices and logic levels.

Accelerometer Basics

March 28, 2013

A quick introduction to accelerometers, how they work, and why they're used.

Gyroscope

February 1, 2013

Gyroscopes measure the speed of rotation around an axis and are an essential part in determines ones orientation in space.

Programming an FPGA

July 30, 2020

Come look at the basics of working with Field Programmable Gate Arrays.

External IO and Metastability

July 30, 2020

Why external signals can cause metastability and how to use constraint files to manage this

First FPGA Project - Getting Fancy with PWM

July 30, 2020

An initial project using Alchitry's onboard FPGA to manipulate PWM

How Does an FPGA Work?

July 30, 2020

The What, How, Why, and When of Field Programmable Gate Arrays, aka FPGAs

What is a Circuit?

February 6, 2013

Every electrical project starts with a circuit. Don't know what a circuit is? We're here to help.

Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law

February 6, 2013

Learn about Ohm's Law, one of the most fundamental equations in all electrical engineering.

Pulse Width Modulation

February 27, 2013

An introduction to the concept of Pulse Width Modulation.

Analog vs. Digital

July 18, 2013

This tutorial covers the concept of analog and digital signals, as they relate to electronics.

PCB Basics

December 14, 2012

What exactly IS a PCB? This tutorial will breakdown what makes up a PCB and some of the common terms used in the PCB world.

Connectivity of the Internet of Things

July 27, 2016

An overview of the different protocols that can be used for the development of Internet of Things (IoT)-based projects.

I2C

July 8, 2013

An introduction to I2C, one of the main embedded communications protocols in use today.

What is a Battery?

May 3, 2016

An overview of the inner workings of a battery and how it was invented.

Sending Sensor Data Over WiFi

January 16, 2022

This tutorial will show you how setup a simple peer-to-peer connection to send and receive sensor data between two ESP32 WiFi boards.

Introduction to DMX

November 14, 2018

DMX512 is an industry standard in lighting and stage design, whether it be controlling lights, motors, or lasers, DMX512 has many uses. In this tutorial we’ll cover DMX512 (Digital Multiplex with 512 pieces of information).

Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

January 14, 2013

SPI is commonly used to connect microcontrollers to peripherals such as sensors, shift registers, and SD cards.

Monitor Sensor Data from Anywhere

August 10, 2022

Using WiFi to send sensor data from an ESP32 to a WiFi network and be able to read it from an IoT Dashboard from anywhere in the world.

Introduction to MQTT

November 7, 2018

An introduction to MQTT, one of the main communication protocols used with the Internet of Things (IoT).

Python Programming Tutorial: Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi

June 27, 2018

This guide will show you how to write programs on your Raspberry Pi using Python to control hardware.

Raspberry gPIo

October 29, 2015

How to use either Python or C++ to drive the I/O lines on a Raspberry Pi.

Motors and Selecting the Right One

December 12, 2013

Learn all about different kinds of motors and how they operate.
Viewing 59 Concepts Tutorials. View All Tutorials.

Old Tutorials

Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the archived tutorials on the main SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer actively maintained.