Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
 uint16_t aux =0;
 uint8_t a=0;
uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    // Your logic here
    for (int i =0;i<=15;i++){
        if(i%2==0){
            if(val &(1<<a)){
            aux|=(1<<i);}
            a=a+1;}

    }
 return aux;
}

int main() {
    uint8_t val;
    scanf("%hhu", &val);

    uint16_t result = spread_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach