Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    // Your logic here
    uint8_t val_arr[8];
    uint16_t val_spy = 0x00, val_spy_arr[16];
    for(uint8_t i=0; i<8; i++){
        val_arr[i] = ((val>>i)&1);
    }
    for(uint8_t i=0; i<8; i++){
        // 11111 -> 101010101
        val_spy_arr[2*i] = val_arr[i];
    }
    for(uint8_t i=0; i<16; i++){
        if(val_spy_arr[i] == 1){
            val_spy |= (1<<i);
        }
    }
    return val_spy;
}

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

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

Solving Approach