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Electronics & Test Instruments for Embedded Developers

Level L2 · status alpha · 6 modules, 15 lessons · about 20 hours

This course closes the electronics and test-instrument gap. The Embedded Systems Engineering Roadmap marks these skills as required, and TPQI’s Embedded Systems Developer level 4 qualification has a hardware development unit (ICT-CSOS-107B). Every lesson ties to something measurable on the Eva Kit or TESAIoT Dev Kit: the knob as a voltage divider, the active-low button, the PWM-dimmed LED and the sensor I2C bus. The emulator cannot help here; this course needs a board and real instruments.

The lesson pages are Thai-first; English lesson pages are pending (translation: pending).

  • Students and developers who can program but have never used test instruments
  • Anyone who finished Explorer or AIoT in Action and wants to see what really happens on the board
  • You need a board, a multimeter, a low-cost sigrok-compatible logic analyzer and, if possible, a lab oscilloscope
  1. Compute voltage, current, resistance and power in basic circuits and design dividers and current-limiting resistors.
  2. Explain logic levels, pull-ups and pull-downs, and wire an active-low button correctly.
  3. Measure voltage, continuity and current safely with a multimeter.
  4. Capture and decode digital signals with a logic analyzer and measure signals with an oscilloscope.
  5. Breadboard, solder safely, read schematics, and explain basic PCB and EMC principles.

Module 1 — Circuits and electronics fundamentals (m01-circuits)

Lesson Topic Time
elec.m01.l01 Voltage, current and resistance 65 min
elec.m01.l02 Voltage dividers and analog sensors 65 min
elec.m01.l03 Basic components: resistors, capacitors, diodes and transistors 65 min

Module 2 — Digital logic (m02-digital-logic)

Lesson Topic Time
elec.m02.l01 Logic levels and basic gates 65 min
elec.m02.l02 Pull-ups, pull-downs and buttons 65 min

Module 3 — The multimeter (m03-multimeter)

Lesson Topic Time
elec.m03.l01 Measuring voltage and continuity 65 min
elec.m03.l02 Measuring current safely 65 min

Module 4 — Logic and protocol analyzers (m04-logic-analyzer)

Lesson Topic Time
elec.m04.l01 Capturing a first digital signal 65 min
elec.m04.l02 Decoding I2C and UART 65 min

Module 5 — The oscilloscope (m05-oscilloscope)

Lesson Topic Time
elec.m05.l01 Oscilloscope basics 65 min
elec.m05.l02 Measuring PWM 65 min

Module 6 — Breadboarding, soldering, schematics, PCB and EMC basics (m06-build-and-read)

Lesson Topic Time
elec.m06.l01 Breadboarding 65 min
elec.m06.l02 Soldering safely 65 min
elec.m06.l03 Reading schematics 65 min
elec.m06.l04 PCB and EMC basics 65 min

Most labs use the Developer Hub QWA309 examples as signal sources to measure. They run on the TESAIoT Dev Kit only; every lab also says what to do on an Eva Kit (usually a short program of your own that makes the same signal on a free pin).

Example Used in
QWA309 Potentiometer Monitor Voltage dividers and the ADC; reading schematics
QWA309 4-Channel ADC Scope Voltage dividers and the ADC
QWA309 Push Button Monitor Pull-ups, pull-downs and buttons
QWA309 Header I/O Test Logic levels, buttons, logic analyzer, I2C and UART decoding, oscilloscope, PWM, breadboarding
  • A TESAIoT Dev Kit (or Eva Kit) and a USB cable
  • A digital multimeter with a mA jack, and its manual
  • A low-cost logic analyzer that works with PulseView
  • An oscilloscope with a 10× probe (a lab bench scope or a USB scope)
  • A breadboard, jumper wires, a basic resistor kit, LEDs, a push button, a 100 µF capacitor
  • A temperature-controlled soldering iron, a practice board, safety glasses, an ESD wrist strap and fume extraction (module 6)

This course is alpha: every lesson has concepts with worked numeric examples, a complete worked example, exercises with answers, a lab and check-for-understanding questions. Lesson pages are in Thai; the English lesson pages are pending. All diagrams are this course’s own work (CC BY-NC 4.0). Report a wrong number or step as described in CONTRIBUTING.en.md.

Safety. Every lab uses low voltage from the board or a lab supply only. Never measure mains. Each lesson has its own safety notes (current measurement, probe grounding, the iron, flux fume, ESD); read them before each lab.

  • Content and diagrams: CC BY-NC 4.0
  • This course has no code files of its own yet; any added later will be Apache-2.0
  • MicroPython examples referenced belong to AIoT in Action (MIT); C examples belong to the Developer Hub and the TESAIoT Dev Kit SDK. All are linked, not copied into this repository

When you use, share or adapt this course, credit it as follows:

“Electronics & Test Instruments for Embedded Developers” from TESA Open Knowledge by the Thai Embedded Systems Association (TESA), https://github.com/tesaiot/tesa-qualification-program, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Add “(adapted)” at the end of the credit, with a short note of what you changed, when you change the material. Crediting TESA does not mean TESA endorses your work. Details and examples are in ATTRIBUTION.md.

TESA Open Knowledge · © 2026 สมาคมสมองกลฝังตัวไทย (TESA) · CC BY-NC 4.0

Content is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. Reuse it non-commercially and credit the Thai Embedded Systems Association (TESA) every time. · How to cite TESA