PicoCompass

The goal of the project was to create a complete electronic device functioning as a digital compass, operating based on Earth's magnetic field measurements. A compact board with a display, battery, and additional sensors was to be enclosed in a handy case.

Assumptions

• Utilization of a board with a small circular display and an RP2040 microcontroller.
  
• Design of a PCB with additional sensors, an encoder, and a debug connector.
  
• Use of the C programming language.
  
• Indication of the north direction based on Earth's magnetic field measurements.
  
• Measurement of temperature and humidity.
  
• Displaying the compass and measurement data on the screen.
  
• Design and 3D printing of a durable enclosure.
  

Hardware

• Development Board: Waveshare RP2040-LCD-1.28 featuring the RP2040 microcontroller and a circular LCD display.
  
• Magnetometer: QST QMC5883L - a cost-effective chip that measures the magnetic field in three axes (x, y, z) and uses the I2C interface.
  
• Temperature and Humidity Sensor: Sensirion SHT20 (equivalent to HTU21D).
  
• Encoder: SMD Mitsumi Electric (push-button type).
  
• LDO: Shenzhen Fuman Elec 662K (5V to 3.3V voltage regulator).
  
• Passive SMD Components: Ceramic capacitors and thick-film resistors.
  
• Custom PCB: Designed specifically for the project.
  
• 3D Printed Enclosure: Made from durable PETG material.
  

Software

• The project utilized the recommended Pico C/C++ Toolchain, which includes:
  
• Visual Studio Code for Pico – as the main development environment.
  
• GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain – for compiling the code.
  
• Pico SDK – a software development kit provided by the manufacturer for programming the RP2040 microcontroller.
  
• CMake + Ninja – for build configuration and build automation.
  
• OpenOCD Server – for debugging and hardware interface.
  

Authors

• PCB Design and Component Assembly: Antoni Kijania
  
• User Interface Development: Piotr Podkówka & Jan Trojnar
  
• Development and Implementation of Sensor Libraries: Miłosz Janik & Piotr Podkówka & Jan Trojnar
  
• Encoder Handling, Final Testing, and Adjustments: Miłosz Janik & Piotr Podkówka
  
• Enclosure Design and 3D Printing: Miłosz Janik