Microphone on a PB Pico?

Feature Ideas + Requests
1

Hello !

I’ve been developing with the PB+ Sensor Board for a few weeks and I’m pretty much amazed by the simplicity and possibilities of this duo. Amazing !

However I’m working on a sound activated wearable application where size is key, particularly width (I need to stay under 25mm). Length can be longer: basically I’m putting the lithium battery (18650), the 5V boost/charge and the PB Pico all in a line.

I’ve been looking at the Pico, which is a fantastic piece of hardware, unfortunately it’s lacking a microphone, and the sensor board is too large, especially with the PB antenna…

Is there any solution you’d recommend in this case ? Maybe a Pico coming with sensors soon ? Or is it even possible to use a third party microphone like this one ? Electret Microphone Amplifier - MAX9814 with Auto Gain Control : ID 1713 : $7.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

Thank you !

1 Like
2

Crazy idea: buy a second Pico, port and load the sensor board code to it, and attach that microphone. Possible???

1 Like
3

You mean use a second pico as a microcontroller to drive the microphone and communicate with the first pico by using the sensor board code ???
This sounds absolutely way above my skill. I might have asked something pretty unrealistic.

4

Yes, basically turn the 2nd Pico into a “slim” sensor board with the limited functionality you need (just the mic input). Not sure if it’s feasible but the idea just popped into my head. Maybe someone who’s worked on the sensor code can chime in.

5

I think they use different microcontrollers so it’d be a pretty big lift. The current sensor board uses an STM32F0, and the Pico uses an ESP32.

Something that would technically work but is overkill and a lot of hardware to accomplish this - Have the Pico running LEDs where space is tight, and let it subscribe to audio data from another standard V3 + Sensor board nearby. This is now possible with the latest firmware’s sync feature.