Wednesday, July 27, 2016

INTRODUCTION TO ARDUINO


      
         Arduino is an open-source electronic platform based on easy-to-used hardware and software. It's intented for any one making interactive projects.Arduino senses the environment by receiving inputs from many sensor and affects its sorroundings by controlling lights,motors,and other actuators.


FOUNDERS:


MASSIMO/ ITALY
Massimo is an Interaction Designer, Educator and Open Source Hardware advocate. He currently teaches Interaction Design at SUPSI Lugano in the south of Switzerland, and is a visiting professor at CIID in Copenhagen. 



DAVID/USA
David is a PhD student in Mitchel Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.His research seeks to engage new audiences in using electronics in creative and do-it-yourself practices. 

                                                                                                             
DAVID/SPAIN
David is Assistant Professor in Interaction Design and head of the IOIO laboratory at Malmo University.David is head researcher for EU projects and designs new types of large scale educational experiences. 



TOM/USA
Tom is Associate Arts Professor at ITP/NYU, where he heads physical computing courses.At Arduino Tom advises on issues of user experience in software and hardware, API and documentation, and overall company strategy.




                                       PARTS OF ARDUINO (UNO)


1 USB PORT
 - Every Arduino board needs a way to be connected to a power source. The Arduino UNO can be powered from a USB cable coming from your computer.

2. POWER JACK - Act as a power input for arduino through which you can connect by means of DC voltage supply.

3.GROUND
- There are several GND pins on the Arduino, any of which can be used to ground your circuit.

4-5. 5V & 3.3V - The 5V pin supplies 5 volts of power, and the 3.3V pin supplies 3.3 volts of power. Most of the simple components used with the Arduino run happily off of 5 or 3.3 volts.


6. ANALOG PINS
- The area of pins under the ‘Analog In’ label (A0 through A5 on the UNO) are Analog In pins. These pins can read the signal from an analog sensor (like a temperature sensor) and convert it into a digital value that we can read.

7. DIGITAL PINS - Across from the analog pins are the digital pins (0 through 13 on the UNO). These pins can be used for both digital input (like telling if a button is pushed) and digital output (like powering an LED).

8. PULSE-WIDTH MODULATION - You may have noticed the tilde (~) next to some of the digital pins (3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 on the UNO). These pins act as normal digital pins, but can also be used for something called Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM).These pins being able to simulate analog output (like fading an LED in and out).

9. ANALOG REFERENCE (AREF) - Most of the time you can leave this pin alone. It is sometimes used to set an external reference voltage (between 0 and 5 Volts) as the upper limit for the analog input pins.

10. RESET BUTTON - Pushing it will temporarily connect the reset pin to ground and restart any code that is loaded on the Arduino.

11.Power LED Indicator - Just beneath and to the right of the word “UNO” on your circuit board, there’s a tiny LED next to the word ‘ON’. This LED should light up whenever you plug your Arduino into a power source. If this light doesn’t turn on, there’s a good chance something is wrong.

12.TX AND RX LEDs - TX is short for transmit, RX is short for receive.These LEDs will give us some nice visual indications whenever our Arduino is receiving or transmitting data (like when we’re loading a new program onto the board).

13. MICROCONTROLLER - This acts as the brain of Arduino. It is usually from the ATmega line of IC’s from the ATMEL company.

14. VOLTAGE REGULATOR - The voltage regulator controls the amount of voltage that is let into the Arduino board. It will turn away an extra voltage that might harm the circuit. It has its limits, so don’t hook up your Arduino to anything greater than 12 volts.




                           
                                     .. SOME ARDUINO BOARDS..            



ARDUINO UNO (R3)
The Uno is a great choice for your first Arduino. It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a USB connection, a power jack, a reset button and more. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller.

LILYPAD ARDUINO
LilyPad is a wearable e-textile technology developed. It was creatively designed with large connecting pads and a flat back to allow them to be sewn into clothing with conductive thread.





REDBOARD

The RedBoard can be programmed over a USB Mini-B cable using the Arduino IDE. It’ll work on Windows 8 without having to change your security settings (we used signed drivers, unlike the UNO). It’s more stable due to the USB/FTDI chip.



ARDUINO MEGA (R3)
The Arduino Mega is like the UNO’s big brother. It has lots (54!) of digital input/output pins (14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, a USB connection, a power jack, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller.



ARDUINO LEONARDO
This is the first development board to use one microcontroller with built-in USB. This means that it can be cheaper and simpler. The board is handling USB directly, code libraries are available which allow the board to emulate a computer keyboard,      mouse, and more!








For more questions, kindly post your comments below!




32 comments:

  1. What is the difference between Arduino uno and Arduino mega? And what is their similar usage and their different usage?

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    1. Obviously, pins are the first thing you will notice. The Arduino Uno has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs)also it has 6 analog inputs while the Arduino Mega has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports). Aside from that, Arduino Uno is using ATmega328P while Arduino Mega is using ATmega1280 Microcontroller.Arduino boards also have their similarities wherein they are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message - and turn it into an output - activating a motor, turning on an LED and they are programmed through the Arduino IDE. This is the software that allows you to write and upload code. I hope you learn. Thankyou!

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  2. Why do you say that it is an easy-to-use hardware and software? What are its strengths that are not offered by othes MCU programmer?

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    1. Arduino is an easy-to-use hardware and software because it can interact with both hardware and software. There are many other microcontrollers and microcontroller platforms available.Arduino simplifies the process of working with microcontrollers, but it offers some advantage for teachers, students, and interested amateurs over other systems:

      Inexpensive - Arduino boards are relatively inexpensive compared to other microcontroller platforms. The least expensive version of the Arduino module can be assembled by hand, and even the pre-assembled Arduino modules cost less than $50
      Cross-platform - The Arduino Software (IDE) runs on Windows, Macintosh OSX, and Linux operating systems. Most microcontroller systems are limited to Windows.
      Simple, clear programming environment - The Arduino Software (IDE) is easy-to-use for beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to take advantage of as well. For teachers, it's conveniently based on the Processing programming environment, so students learning to program in that environment will be familiar with how the Arduino IDE works.
      Open source and extensible software - The Arduino software is published as open source tools, available for extension by experienced programmers. The language can be expanded through C++ libraries, and people wanting to understand the technical details can make the leap from Arduino to the AVR C programming language on which it's based. Similarly, you can add AVR-C code directly into your Arduino programs if you want to.
      Open source and extensible hardware - The plans of the Arduino boards are published under a Creative Commons license, so experienced circuit designers can make their own version of the module, extending it and improving it. Even relatively inexperienced users can build the breadboard version of the module in order to understand how it works and save money.

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  3. I have no idea how arduino works and it's language but i have a background knowledge about programming. Is it possible for me to learn using it through online tutorials or through in-person lessons? And how is Arduino different from C++ programming?

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    1. Hi Lourdes! Even if you're a begginner, it is still possible for you to learn Arduino by just visiting online tutorials in youtube,and other websites.One example is https://www.arduino.cc/ . For your second question,the Arduino language is C++, but it is very different from most C++ varieties. The Arduino language has a lot of abstraction built in, especially in the hardware interfaces, which makes it very simple to use. If you have a background in Java, C and C++ should be very similar.
      The main differences between Arduino and C++ are in the memory storage. Usually a modern computer has more than 2GB of RAM, while the Arduino Uno has 2kB (1 million times less). The Arduino also uses 8-bit instructions in stead of the 32 bit ones a computer uses. This will mainly affect the amount of information you can store in a variable.If you are very new to the Arduino world, you should look up a tutorial, as there are many good ones out there. I hope you learned. Thankyou!

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  4. In all Arduino boards you mentioned above, what are their similarities in Arduino Uno?

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    1. There are different kinds of Arduino boards out there and they have one thing in common: They are programmed through the Arduino IDE. This is the software that allows you to write and upload code.

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    2. I mean in the board itself? Is all Arduino boards have the same parts?

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    3. Yes, most of the Arduino boards have the same parts like PINS,USB PORT,POWER JACK,RESET BUTTON,BUILT-IN LEDs and more but they only differ in numbers. For example their pin numbers, arduino mega has greater number of pins than Arduino Uno. Another example is that Arduino Leonardo and Lilypad has built-in USB that other boards dont have.

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    4. Ahhh okay! Thank you ma'am.

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  5. what do you mean by open-source electronic platform?

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    1. Hi Hannah! Open-source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. Open source is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available.

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  6. Hi Ma'am Carmela, In your discussion about Arduino, What is the best Arduino Boards that i can used when im making interactive projects? Why?

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    1. Hello Genet! If you are a beginner and trying to get into the world of Arduino, the best option for you would be the Arduino Uno which is good enough for much of the beginner and intermediate level projects but, if you're going to create more complex projects that requires many pins, you can use Arduino Mega. It always depends on your projects.

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    2. Thanks Ma'am Carmela, One last question, what is the advantage of arduino Mega in Arduino Uno? Im just Curious in the name Arduino Mega!!! it very forceful.. hehehe XD

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    3. The advantage of arduino mega over arduino uno is that it has large number of pins which makes this board very handy for projects that require a bunch of digital inputs or outputs (like lots of LEDs or buttons).

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    4. Thanks a lot Ma'am Carmela, XD

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  7. maam, I am using a PIC micro-controller, can you give me some advantages of Arduino from my PIC.

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    1. PIC is just a chip, while an Arduino is a platform.The arduino is simpler for quick prototyping. The biggest advantage (as far as im concerned) of the arduino as a platform is that the system (the shields, the programming environment, the documentation) allows for fast and simple setups with minimal debugging of the processor circuits.

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  8. Ma'am Mela! Other than Arduino boards that you discussed, what other boards that I can use to make a drone or an interactive project?

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  9. Hi Christian! If you want to create interactive projects but you want to use other kind of arduino boards which are not included above, you can visit this site. There's a lot of boards there to choose :) I hope i can help !

    https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Boards

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    1. Ma'am! What board I should use in making a drone?

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    2. Hi Christian thank you for your follow up question, if you want to create a drone using arduino board, you can simply use Arduino Uno.If you also want to know the steps in creating a drone using arduino uno, you may visit the site given below. Thankyou!

      link: https://tlextrait.svbtle.com/building-a-drone-with-arduino

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    3. Thank you ma'am. Uhm! What if I use two boards, which board I will use as the main board? What is the preferred PIC should I use in the main board?

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    4. Of course, Arduino Uno will be your main board and the preferred microcontroller for that is Atmega328p

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    5. What about the secondary board? Thanks Ma'am Mela in advance.

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    6. For the second board you may use Arduino mini with ATmega168 microcontroller.

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  10. Does the Uno use a resonator or a crystal for the processor clock?

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    1. Quartz crystal resonators and ceramic resonators activate and work similarly as they both vibrate mechanically when an AC signal is applied to each respectively.

      The difference is that a quartz crystal resonator is made from a quartz crystal and a ceramic resonator is from ceramic components.

      What is a Quartz Crystal?

      Quartz Crystals are able to “oscillate” within the desired frequency with little power required to keep it activated. Crystals can be specified with a precise frequency stability and as the surrounding heat increases, the crystal oscillator is able to keep the frequency stability with minimal frequency change with a 10 PPM (parts Per Million or 0.001%) over -20 ~ +70°C. The tight stability makes crystal suitable for ZigBee/Bluetooth and other wireless applications.Crystal oscillators can be found in everything from televisions to children’s toys that have electrical components.

      What is a Ceramic Resonator?

      A Ceramic Resonator works similar to a crystal. The ceramic resonator utilizes a frequency within the electrical component but unlike the crystal which has a frequency tolerance of 10~30 PPM , a ceramic resonator carries a 0.5% or 5,000 PPM frequency tolerance which is generally used in microprocessor applications where absolute stability is not important.

      Here is an easy example to put this into perspective. The percentage difference is similar to an Olympic race. Milliseconds can be the difference between the gold or silver medals. But with an electronic component, the difference is more radical.

      Also, crystals utilize hermetically sealed package so they would always be recommended over the ceramic resonators which are environmentally sealed so the crystal is recommended for wide temperature range or harsh environments.

      I hope you learned thankyou!

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