Crowd Supply is featuring a new interesting project named Quark. It is an open-source and wirelessly connected device which functions both as an electrical measurement probe and a debugging tool. Quark is based on ESP32 and works under the Arduino framework. It is a battery-powered, hand-held tool with a length of 120mm. It includes a full-color LCD for measurement reading and touch control for ease of use. The device has been created by independent maker Sergey Ismulin, who has released the design files and source code on GitHub, so that they can be available to all.

Features and Specifications

• Measures voltage from 0 to 26 V
• Current measurements from 0 to 3.2 A
• Resistance measurements from 0 to 2 MΩ
• Capacitance measurements from 2 pf to 1000 uF
• Measurement of inductance up to 1 H
• Oscilloscope with a sampling rate of 400 kHz
• UART logger
• UART plotter
• Signal generator
• Full-color LCD with 240 x 135 pixels resolution
• Touch-based control buttons
• Connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth
• Smartphone app supports iOS and Android
• Built-in 700 mA battery provides up to 5 hours of uninterrupted operation
• Charged via USB Type-C
• All functionality is fully available with or without a smartphone
• Length: 120mm
• Diameter: 20mm

As technical author Vishnu Mohanan emphasizes, “at the heart of QUARK is the ESP32-WROOM-32 module driving the LCD and sampling all measurements. At the one end of the device is a conical pin that serves as the positive probe. The negative/ground probe is connected to the USB Type-C port. There are no physical buttons on the device. Instead, all functions can be selected by simply swiping on the body of the device. This is accomplished by touch sensitive switches integrated into the device body. The internal 700mAh Li-Po battery allows operation up to 5 hours. The battery can be charged via the same USB”. There is a battery indicator on the LCD, showing the charging level at all times.

While measuring the voltage, Quark will show you if the voltage falls in the range of 1.8V, 3.3V or 5V logic levels. The current measurement shows both the instantaneous value and a graph. When you measure capacitance, resistance or inductance, Quark will show you the color codes or other codes corresponding to the measured value. This unique feature saves you a significant amount of time.

The UART debugging function can detect the baud rate automatically. The data coming through the UART can be logged for debugging. The oscilloscope has both an automatic and a manual scaling feature which shows the frequency and time period of the incoming signal. Quark can also be connected to an Android or iOS app that displays all information on your phone. ESP32’s Bluetooth capability is used to accomplish this. Additionally, ESP32’s 12-bit internal ADCs are used for all measurements.

To get all the information regarding Quark, you can check out its crowd-funding webpage.