Data Acquisition Using the Raspberry Pi Pico W

The Raspberry Pi Pico W provides Wi-Fi capability and is the latest upgrade to the Pico product family. Similar to the basic Pi Pico, both boards utilize the same footprint, pinout and RP2040 microcontroller. They both include the same key I/O features, such as support for digital I/O (GPIO pins), PWM outputs, analog (ADC) inputs, and digital communication interfaces (SPI, I2C and UART). The one exception is that the Pico W incorporates the Infineon CYW43439 single chip radio which supports both 802.11n (2.4 GHz Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth 5.2 compatibility. Thus, the Pico W can be used in a wide variety of wireless applications. Data acquisition is a common topic in courses that encompass both electrical and computer disciplines. The goal of this paper is to utilize the Pico W as an inexpensive alternative to the data acquisition hardware used for lab projects in electrical and computer engineering and engineering technology programs. First, lab projects are shown to introduce students to MicroPython (a small subset of the Python standard library), Thonny (the software development environment for writing Python code and downloading it to the Pico W), and API functions for peripheral control. Examples include LED control, analog input, OLED display, and a web server. Then, data acquisition projects are shown to illustrate the design of measurement systems. These include the design of a temperature measurement system and a digital voltmeter system. Projects contain engineering requirements, schematics, software code, and results. Then, an example of a student project utilizing data acquisition and Wi-Fi is provided.