Right out of the box, Red Pitaya is one of the most versatile data acquisition devices, however, the real fun starts when you start using extension modules. 

An extension module is any widget that connects to a Red Pitaya board that expands the possibilities of interaction between the board and the world around. This can be something as simple as voltage preconditioning or GPS signal reception. 

Extension modules by Red Pitaya

The easiest way to get started with extension modules is to head to our shop and see if our modules cover your needs. Each module also has an accompanying web-based application to make the whole experience truly plug & play.

Logic Analyzer

The logic analyzer extension module is available in the Pro and Basic variant. It is designed to help you analyze binary signals, such as GPIO outputs of the Raspberry Pi or Arduino board, as well as analyze different bus (I2C, SPI, and UART) and decode the transmitted data.

LCR meter

Whether you are an educator, student, maker, hobbyist or professional - the LCR Meter extension will, together with the application, turn your board into an affordable piece of equipment for measuring resistors, capacitors and inductors.

Sensor Extension Module

Whether you want to measure temperature, vibration, movement etc., the Sensor Extension Module will make your Red Pitaya compatible with Grove modules from Seeed®. All you need is to select the desired module, find the correct connector and get going with your project. We have also placed Arduino shields headers on the Extension module.

Extension Modules developed by Third Parties

From third parties, you can buy extension modules such as this laser board for Red Pitaya made by Koheron or this spectrometer by Lab-Tools which already includes the Red Pitaya board.

Make Your Own Module

To make creating your own modules as easy as possible, a detailed 3D model of the board with detailed schematics of all the pins is available in our documentation.

Ground-Penetrating Radar

An example of a custom made module is this ground-penetrating radar shield, made by a research group from the University of Maribor, which was attached to a hexacopter for landmine detection.

HDMI out shield

Another thing that can be made possible is adding HDMI connectivity so you can connect your Red Pitaya to a screen. This project was made by Primož Beltram, you can check out the code here as well as a video.

ECG Shield

Tony Bauer has made a shield to transform Red Pitaya into an electrocardiogram. The shield amplifies the heartbeat signal and filters out the noise to produce an ECG graph as the one you can see below.

The DIY ECG Shield is based on the AD8232 instrumentation amplifier frontend. It serves three independent biosignal channels which can be used to capture and amplify signals in lower millivolt ranges. Due to the narrow bandwidth of the amplifier, environmental noise sources such as 50/60Hz humming from the power lines are highly suppressed. An additional circuit will monitor channel one of the amplifier and convert the r-spike (from the typical ECG QRS-complex) into a heartbeat signal. This signal is visible on a flashing LED and connected to a GPIO of the Pitaya for interrupt-based heart rate measuring capabilities. Along with this basic functionality, a lead-off detection, a shutdown interface and a freely programmable RGB Status LED are implemented as well. The three analogue channels are available at the slow ADC inputs of the Red Pitaya.

This project is in an early state and will be refined with further hardware revisions.

Feel free to contact the developer at  tbeldev@gmail.com for more information.

Customization Services

If you need an extension module that does not exist yet, we also offer customization services. Contact us for more information.