Part 2 - The Christmas Schedule

This project will be broken into 2 stages, so I've decided on what I hope to have achieved by the end of the first stage. The last lab date on the college calender is December 13th, so I'll aim to have the first stage complete by then, including a full report of what I have done and achieved up until that point.

Fig 1) Block diagram

My plan is to use one of the Arduino Uno boards in conjunction with the Ultra Sonic Sensor, the LCD unit and the Sparkbrite LED that will detect an object and measure and display the distance from that object. This will include fully working software and will be built on a breadboard for display purposes only. Once again I've drawn a simple block diagram to demonstrate this(Fig 1).
The parts to complete this stage have been ordered. I will continue with my research until these parts arrive.


Researching the Arduino Uno

What I've started to do is to break up the project into the individual devices and I am trying to learn how these work and how to implement them. My first port of call is obviously the Arduino Uno, after all, this will be the microcontroller running the show. Most of the basic information regarding the Arduino can be got from the arduino website (www.arduino.cc). Information including the memory, clock speed, the number of pins available and the recommended input voltage. This I took note off, as the recommendation in 7-12Volts, so there is enough power to run the other devices connected to in. But there is lots of information and arduino projects available on the web.

Arduino Uno board

The software used with the Arduino is C based so I already have a basic understanding of the software. There are however, an abundance of libraries and functions. Some of which I'll need to know and understand how to use for my project. For example there's a liquid crystal library with lots of functions I'll need for the LCD unit. Another function I've notices is the Pulse( ) function that will be useful for the ultrasonic sensor.

Each individual software program is called a sketch. Each sketch has a setup function and a loop function to run the program. These have to be included in the file. The setup is used to initialise pin modes or to begin serial. The loop is the main part of the program, which loops continuously allowing and program to change and respond to various interactions, inputs and outputs.

There are lots of beginner programs and demonstrations available on the arduino website that I've been running on a virtual breadboard to familiarise myself with the programming in preparation for the actual real board.

The next part of the project is to familiarise myself with the other components I will be using and learn to interface them with the Uno board.