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Lecture on Arduinos

Jul 12, 2024

Lecture on Arduinos

What is an Arduino?

  • Arduino is a company in Italy that designs and sells user-friendly circuit boards with microcontrollers.
  • Microcontrollers are tiny computers that run simple software programs, low-powered, and fast data processing.

Types of Arduino Boards:

  • Arduino Uno: Basic, affordable, suitable for most projects like controlling motors, lighting, cameras, or building simple robots.
  • Advanced Models: More powerful processors with additional features (WiFi, Ethernet).
  • 3rd Party Boards: Variants based on Arduino's open-source hardware designs.
  • Arduino Shields: Add-ons to extend functionality, e.g., motor control, turning Arduino into a phone or MP3 player.

Arduino Software Development Environment:

  • Simplifies programming microcontrollers (historically complex with binary coding and specialized hardware).
  • Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
  • Programming Language: Uniform for all Arduino products, not as simple as Python, but very beginner-friendly.

Setting Up Arduino Software:

  1. Download Arduino Software: From arduino.cc.
  2. Install Drivers: Say yes to all prompts during installation.
  3. Connect Arduino to PC: Via USB cable.
  4. Arduino IDE: Select the correct board (Arduino Uno) and serial port.
  5. Example Sketches: Starting with demo programs is recommended.

Understanding Arduino Uno Hardware:

Key Components:

  • Microcontroller: ATMEGA AVR by Atmel.
  • Crystal Resonator: Controls the running speed of the microcontroller.
  • Secondary Microcontroller: Manages USB connection and communication for programming and debugging.
  • Power Options: USB cable or external 9V DC power source with a voltage regulator (5V).
  • Reset Button: For rebooting the program.

Pin Connectors:

  • Power Pins: 5V or 3.3V for powering other circuits (limited to few milliamps).
  • TX and RX Pins: For serial data communication (GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi modules).
  • Digital I/O Pins (2-13): For binary input/output, capable of tristate logic (output 0V/5V or read voltage).
  • Analog Input Pins (A0-A5): Measure continuous voltages (0-5V).
  • PWM Pins: Marked with tilde (~), for outputting pulse-width modulated square waves.

Basic Arduino Projects:

Analog Voltage Measurement:

  1. Setup: Connect the center pin of a potentiometer to pin A0, and the outer pins to +5V and ground.
  2. Program: Use AnalogReadSerial example sketch to measure voltage and display it on the serial monitor as values from 0 to 1023.

Creating an LED Dimmer:

  1. Setup: Connect potentiometer as before. Connect an LED to pin 9 with a 1k resistor in series to ground.
  2. Program: Use AnalogInOutSerial example sketch to control LED brightness with the potentiometer.
  3. Observation: Output on pin 9 is a PWM signal, controllable and precise, used for more than just dimming LEDs.

Controlling Motors:

  • Replace LED with a motor and observe PWM control for precise motor speed.
  • Concept: analogWrite uses PWM to simulate analog output, practical for motor control, creating simple robots.

Additional Resources:

  • Extensive tutorials and code examples available online to extend Arduino projects.

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