What is Arduino : Introduction to Arduino

What is Arduino? Arduino is a tool for making computers to sense and control more of the physical world than the computer. It's an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board. Arduino is an open source electronics platform accompanied with a hardware and software to design, develop and test complex electronics prototypes and products. The hardware consists of a microcontroller with other electronic components which can be programmed using the software to do almost any task. The hardware consists of a simple open hardware design for the Arduino board with an Atmel AVR processor and on-board I/O support. The software consists of a standard programming language compiler and the bootloader that runs on the board

Steps for getting started with Arduino

• Get an Arduino board and USB cable
• Download the Arduino environment
• Connect the board

• Install the drivers
• Launch the Arduino application
• Open the blink example
• Select your board
• Select your serial port
• Upload the program

Check out the latest Arduino Projects

PCB - an Overview

A PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is the base of any circuit that is used to provide mechanical support to components of the circuit and make electrical connections between them. It has tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also called as printed wiring board (PWB) or Etched wiring board

PCBs are inexpensive and more reliable than the bread boards. They provide the stability to the circuit. Although, they require much more layout efforts and higher initial costs than either wire wrap or point-to-point construction, but Printed Circuit Boards are much cheaper and faster for high-volume production. The production and soldering of PCBs can be done by totally automated equipment. Much of the electronics industry's PCB design, assembly, and quality control needs are set by standards that are published by the IPC organization

The Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing Process

The design process of a printed circuit board includes several steps. They are manufactured on home by hands as well as by automated machines in industries. On the large scale there are all automatic machines that do everything. But if you are an electronic hobbyist and need to design a PCB for your small project, you can do it yourself at home with just little stuff required.

These are the steps that need to follow while making a PCB:

    ·        Patterning | Etching

    ·        Photoengraving

    ·        Lamination

    ·        Drilling.

    ·        Solder Plating | Solder Resist

    ·        Silk Screen

    ·        Testing

Mechatronics - An Overview

Mechatronics is an integration of different engineering systems including mechanics, electronics and computer science. Mechatronics is widely applied in everyday life for solutions ranging from optical telecommunication to transportation and biomedical engineering.

Mechatronics-enabled systems are efficient and reliable, and have microcontrollers to ensure smooth functioning and higher dependability. These systems have sensors to absorb signals from the surroundings, and use appropriate processing to generate acquired output signals. The principles of mechatronics are regularly applied to robots, automated guided vehicles, digitally controlled combust engines, aircraft flight control and navigation systems, and smart home appliances.

A mechatronics system includes a measurement and actutation module, a communication module, a CPU, an output signal conditioning module, and a feedback module.

A measurement and actutation module comprises of actuators and sensors to receive and reply to signals.

A communication module comprises of circuits and bus communication in order to generate signals by measuring the relative position of actuators and sensors. These singals are then transferred to the CPU. 

The CPU recieves the signal and performs logical and arithmetic operations with a processor and software.

An output signal conditioning module includes amplifiers to drive plotter, audio-visual indicators, ADC/DAC’s and displays. The output signal is forwarded to feedback module. 

The feedback module generates signal proportional to the output signal which is finally forwarded to the measurement and actuation module. 

The main focus of research in the mechatronics domain is the application of electronics, controls, communications and computational intelligence to manufacturing systems and processes. A typical mechatronics system would a device designed to improve the physical interaction between humans and machines. This makes it easier for an operator to interact with the system with little physical effort. 

Currently, researchers are using mechatronics to improve quality of machines in the following spheres: body implants to improve physiological condition, robotics, military robotics, 3d manufacturing, and unmanned robots for oceanographic exploration.

PLCC Technology - Introduction

PLCC (Power Line Carrier Communication) is a network technology mostly used in Telecommunication.

It uses power lines (electricity network supply) as a carrier to transmit signal from one host to another. PLC networks are both electrical supply networks and communication channels at a time. So it has emerged as an economic solution for communication channel and strongly competing WLAN and other network technologies.

Basic principle behind Power Line Carrier Communication is amplitude modulation. At the transmission point a high-frequency (1.6 to 30mhz), low-amplitude signal is superimposed on a low-frequency (50hz), high amplitude AC signal. Power devices do not care about the added noise as filtering devices extract the high frequency signal without low frequency component at the receiver point. In Telecommunication, before transmission of audio signals through the technology audio signals are compressed in the 300 to 4khz range and then modulated with the electrical signals and then filtered and amplified.
These are the devices that used in PLCC Technology:-
1. modem
2. speech interface module
3. data interface unit
4. power supply unit
5. amplifier
6. line filter

An information channel is used in home same like electricity connections as it required one phase and neutral and we can use three different network channels with a three phase electricity infrastructure.. We can also connect these networks using a coupler.

In Brief, PLCC is a handy technique to create a network on an pre existing channel using the concept of amplitude modulation.

VLSI

VLSI chiefly comprises of Front End Design and Back End design these days. While front end design includes digital design using HDL, design verification through simulation and other verification techniques, the design from gates and design for testability, backend design comprises of CMOS library design and its characterization. It also covers the physical design and fault simulation. While Simple logic gates might be considered as SSI devices and multiplexers and parity encoders as MSI, the world of VLSI Technology is much more diverse. Generally, the entire design procedure follows a step by step approach in which each design step is followed by simulation before actually being put onto the hardware or moving on to the next step.

Where do we actually see VLSI in action? Everywhere, in personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras and any electronic gadget. There are certain key issues that serve as active areas of research and are constantly improving as the field continues to mature. The figures would easily show how Gordon Moore proved to be a visionary while the trend predicted by his law still continues to hold with little deviations and don’t show any signs of stopping in the near future. VLSI has come a far distance from the time when the chips were truly hand crafted. But as we near the limit of miniaturization of Silicon wafers, design issues have cropped up. 

What is FPGA

What is FPGA? Simulations and prototyping have been a very important part of the electronics industry since a very long time now. Before heading in for the actual fabrication of a dedicated hardware, everyone would want to be sure that what they are making will work the way they want it to. Over all these years while electronics companies offered dedicated hardware in their products, it was not possible for the end user to reconfigure them to his own needs. This need led to the growth of a new market segment of customer configurable Field Programmable integrated circuits called Field Programmable Gate Arrays or FPGA.

The FPGAs share a common history with most Programmable Logic Devices. The first of this kind of devices was the Programmable Read Only Memory. Further driven by need of specifically implementing logic circuits, Philips invented the Field-Programmable Logic Array (FPLA) in the 1970s. This consisted of two planes, a programmable wired AND-plane and the other as wired OR. It could implement functions in the Sum of Products form. 

Advanced RISC Machines

By now, there would be a very small segment of the mobile community that would not have heard anything about the Android OS by Google. This OS seems to be giving many proprietary vendors a run for their money and the owners many a sleepless nights. But did you know as to what is android depend on for its good performance apart from its robust code? What makes it run so smooth and yet amazingly fast without costing you a fortune? What drives the Android? The answer is ARM Processor, Advanced RISC Machines, previously known as Acorn RISC Machines.

Inspired by the making of 32 bit processors by some undergraduates at Berkeley and a one man design center Western Design Center, Phoenix, Steve Furber and Sophie Wilson of Acorn Ltd. set out to make their own processors. Sophie developed the instruction set and simulated it on the BBC Basic which convinced many in the company that it was not just anything half hearted shot aimed in darkness. With the support and permission of the then CEO Hermann Hauser, the ARM Processor project formally took off in 1983 with VLSI Technology as their silicon partner, to produce an ARM processor with latencies as low as that of the 6502. The first ARM Processor core dubbed as ARM1 was delivered by VLSI Technology in 1985. This processor used in conjunction with the BBC Micro helped in the development of the next generation called ARM2. 1987 saw the release of ARM Archimedes. 

Android

What is Android?

World is toning with the growth of mobile phone technology. As the no. of users is growing day by day, facilities are also increasing. Starting with simple regular handsets which were used just for making phone calls, mobiles have changed our lives and have turn into part of it. Now they are not used just for making calls but they have numerous uses and can be used as a Camera , Music player, Tablet PC, T.V. , Web browser etc . And with the new technologies, new software and operating systems are required.

Operating systems have developed a lot in last 15 years. Starting from black and white phones to current smart phones or mini computers, mobile OS has come far away. particularly for smart phones, Mobile OS has greatly evolved from Palm OS in 1996 to Windows pocket PC in 2000 then to Blackberry OS and Android.


Read more about What is Android

Humanoid Robots

A Humanoid may be defined as something that resembles or looks like a human and having characteristics like opposable thumb, ability to walk in upright position, etc. Nowadays the concept of humanoids is being widely implemented in robotics and these robots are called Humanoid Robots or may be simply “Humanoids”.

In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots may also have a 'face', with 'eyes' and 'mouth'. Androids are humanoid robots built to resemble a male human, and Gynoids are humanoid robots built to resemble a human female.

Robotics

What does one visualize while thinking of a Robot? Does a robot roll as R2D2 (from Star Wars) or walk upright as C3P0? Does it have expressionistic face or a mechanical one? Does it function as vacuum or picks objects for you? As there are many uses of Robotics, it is reasonable to think that there are various designs too. To know how these complex yet intelligent machines move, one needs to look at their engineering, physics closely.

Other than the sci-fi movies, the Robots can be seen around us assembling the cars, in bottling factory etc. The robots have been in the industry for last two decades because of their continuous working ability in an atmosphere, where humans are not even able to stand for minutes, without any supporting equipment, like space.

Read more on Robotics

Robotics

What does one visualize while thinking of a Robot? Does a robot roll as R2D2 (from Star Wars) or walk upright as C3P0? Does it have expressionistic face or a mechanical one? Does it function as vacuum or picks objects for you? As there are many uses of Robotics, it is reasonable to think that there are various designs too. To know how these complex yet intelligent machines move, one needs to look at their engineering, physics closely.

Other than the sci-fi movies, the Robots can be seen around us assembling the cars, in bottling factory etc. The robots have been in the industry for last two decades because of their continuous working ability in an atmosphere, where humans are not even able to stand for minutes, without any supporting equipment, like space.

Read more on Robotics

PIC Microcontroller

The microcontrollers played revolutionary role in embedded industry after the invention of Intel 8051. The steady and progressive research in this field gave the industry more efficient, high-performance and low-power consumption microcontrollers. The AVR, PIC and ARM are the prime examples. The new age microcontrollers are getting smarter and richer by including latest communication protocols like USB, I2C, SPI, Ethernet, CAN etc.   

PIC microcontrollers 

History:

The PIC microcontroller was developed by General Instruments in 1975. PIC was developed when Microelectronics Division of General Instruments was testing its 16-bit CPU CP1600. Although the CP1600 was a good CPU but it had low I/O performance. The PIC controller was used to offload the I/O the tasks from CPU to improve the overall performance of the system.

In 1985, General Instruments converted their Microelectronics Division to Microchip Technology. PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller. The General Instruments used the acronyms Programmable Interface Controller and Programmable Intelligent Computer for the initial PICs (PIC1640 and PIC1650). 

RFID

RFID is a tracking technology used to identify and authenticate tags that are applied to any product, individual or animal. Radio frequency Identification and Detection is a general term used for technologies that make use of radio waves in order to identify objects and people.

Purpose of Radio frequency Identification and Detection system is to facilitate data transmission through the portable device known as tag that is read with the help of RFID reader; and process it as per the needs of an application. Information transmitted with the help of tag offers location or identification along with other specifics of product tagged – purchase date, color, and price. Typical RFID tag includes microchip with radio antenna, mounted on substrate.

The RFID tags are configured to respond and receive signals from an RFID transceiver. This allows tags to be read from a distance, unlike other forms of authentication technology. The RFID system has gained wide acceptance in businesses, and is gradually replacing the barcode system. 

Projects using RFID & 8051 Microcontroller

RFID Interfacing

Interfacing RFID using Serial Interrupt

RFID based Toll Plaza

RFID Based Secured Access System

Projects using RFID & AVR Microcontroller

Interface RFID with AVR

Interface RFID with AVR using Interrupts

RFID based Toll Plaza

Electronic/automated toll collection systems are very popular these days. They do not require manual collection and operation of toll barriers. The details about the vehicles and payment are stored in an RFID based system.

This article explains the working of a simple toll plaza system interfaced with RFID. Each user holds a unique ID for his vehicle. When the user scans his tag while passing through the plaza, a certain amount is deducted from his account. A user may also recharge his account in case of insufficient balance. The project has been developed by interfacing RFID with AT89C51 Microcontroller. The relevant messages are also displayed on a 16x2 LCD. The free source code for the program is available in C.
also see these tutorials

RFID

8051

Microcontroller

Microcontroller Projects

AVR Microcontroller

Microcontroller can be termed as a single on chip computer which includes number of peripherals like RAM, EEPROM, Timers etc., required to perform some predefined task.

Does this mean that the microcontroller is another name for a computer…? The answer is NO!

The computer on one hand is designed to perform all the general purpose tasks on a single machine like you can use a computer to run a software to perform calculations or you can use a computer to store some multimedia file or to access internet through the browser, whereas the microcontrollers are meant to perform only the specific tasks, for e.g., switching the AC off automatically when room temperature drops to a certain defined limit and again turning it ON when temperature rises above the defined limit.

There are number of popular families of microcontrollers which are used in different applications as per their capability and feasibility to perform the desired task, most common of these are 8051, AVR and PIC microcontrollers. In this article we will introduce you with AVR family of microcontrollers.

Read architecture of AVR Microcontroller

AVR Projects

8051 Microcotroller

Microcontroller

Microcontroller Projects

Timers and 8051 Programming

Timer is a clock that controls the sequence of an event while counting in fixed intervals of time. A Timer in a Microcontroller is used for producing precise time delay. Secondly, it can be used to repeat or initiate an action after/at a known period of time which is a forehead application of the same. An example could be setting up an alarm which triggers at a point of time or after a period of time.

Timers in a controller: Why to use them

Most of the microcontrollers have inbuilt Timers. Timers in a controller not only generate time delays but they can also be used as counters. They are used to count an action or event. The value of counter increases by one, every time its corresponding action or event occurs. Timers in a controller are inbuilt chips that are controlled by special function registers (SFRs) assigned for Timer operations. These SFRs are used to configure Timers in different modes of operations.

8051 Timer Issues

While using 8051 Timers certain factors need to be considered, like whether the Timer is to be used for time keeping or for counting; whether the source for time generation is external clock or the controller itself; how many bits of Timer register are to be used or left unused.

read more on 8051 Timers and Programming

8051 Microcontroller

Microcontroller

Microcontroller Projects

Interfacing GPS with 8051

GPS has become an efficient tool in the field of scientific use, commerce, surveillance and tracking. This project presents a small application based on Global Positioning System. It depicts the use of GPS module/receiver to find latitude and longitude of its location. The data obtained from GPS receiver (GPGGA sentence) is processed by the microcontroller to extract its latitude and longitude values.
see circuit diagram and source code in C at Interface GPS with 8051
also see
How to extract details from GPS receiver

Microcontroller

Microcontroller is a small component which performs a specific task. Microcontroller can be purchased at cheap rates, uses CMOS technology and hence consumes less power, and CPU, RAM, ROM, and I/O ports are in-built. Microcontroller requires an input device and an output device. For example in Television, Remote control is the input device and TV screen is the output device.

The microcontroller controls various tasks performed by the remote control such as selecting channels, speaker volume, and adjusting picture. Architecture of a microcontroller comprises of CPU (Range: 4-bit to complex 64-bit processors), peripherals including timers, event counters, and watchdog, RAM to store data, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM or flash memory to store programs and operating parameters, Programming capability, Serial I/O ports, Clock Generator, Analog-digital convertor, Serial ports, and data bus. Recent microcontrollers are built using CISC technology where the user can use one macro like instruction. Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) is used for small amount of memory where the data is frequently changed. FLASH (EPROM) execute faster and allow more number of write/erase cycles. Widely used in products that work automatically such as Television, Computers, Fax machines, Security systems, Microwave oven, Telephones, etc. Microcontrollers are User friendly and available easily in the markets, High energy efficiency, More Integrated features including RF and USB, minor form factors, increased processing power.

8051, AVR, PIC etc are different families of microcontrollers.

8051	PIC	AVR
Older version of 8051 has 12 clocks per instruction which degrades its performance.	Older to 8051 but outshine due to small low pin count devices.	Loaded with C- compiler, Free IDE, and many more features.
Newer version of 8051 has 6 cycles per instructions to execute faster.	Great performance and reasonable.	Difficult for the beginners to handle.
Absence of in built memory and A/D converters	Not advised due to tedious programming part.

Microcontrollers will outshine in the fields of Energy management, touch screens, automobiles, LED lightings, medical equipments.

Microcontroller based Mini Projects

Hi friends!
These are some mini projects based on 8051 Microcontroller (AT89C51), available free with circuit, C code and working videos

Digital alarm clock

Electronic code lock

Digital Thermometer using 8051

Bidirectional Visitor Counter

Distance measurement using Infrared


LCD based voting machine

Simple Toll Plaza

RFID based Secured Access system

Liquid Level Alarm

8 Candidate Quiz Buzzer

Up down counter

Digital clap counter

Digital Dice

Servo motor control

GSM Module Interface

Humidity counter

hope these projects might be helpful for you

Robotics

Other than the sci-fi movies, the robots can be seen around us assembling the cars, in bottling factory etc. The robots have been in the industry
for last two decades because of their continuous working ability in an atmosphere, where humans are not even able to stand for minutes, without any supporting equipment, like space.
Read full article on Robotics at EngineersGarage

TV History

One of the most popular inventions of 21st century has been surrounded by controversies. Television, which has become an indispensible part of our lives, is a result of several discoveries. Read Invention story of Television.
TV History

PLC

Initially industries used relays to control the manufacturing processes. The relay control panels had to be regularly replaced, consumed lot of power and it was difficult to figure out the problems associated with it. To sort these issues, Programmable logic controller (PLC) was introduced.
Read Tutorial on PLC

Stepper Motors

Read article on working of Stepper Motors at EngineersGarage
Stepper Motors

Rocket History

How first rocket was invented? Read invention story of Rocket at EngineersGarage
Rocket History

Mechatronics

Read article on Mechatronics on EngineersGarage
Mechatronics

Radio History

Read History of Radio in Invention story section of EngineersGarage
Radio History

Gun History

Read Interesting Invention story of Gun at EngineersGarage
Gun History

Bluetooth Technology

New Article on Bluetooth Technology & its working is published at EngineersGarage
Bluetooth Technology

Biometrics

Engineers Garage published new article on Biometrics.
Biometrics

Electric Bulb History

EngineersGarage published invention story of Electric Bulb.
Electric Bulb History

Invention Story of Digital Camera

Read Invention story of Digital Camera on EngineersGarage
Invention Story of Digital Camera

Microcontroller

Nice article on Microcontroller by EngineersGarage
Microcontroller

Servo Motor

EngineersGarage published new article on Servo motor/ DC servo motor.
Servo Motor

Global Positioning System (GPS)

EngineersGarage published new article on Global Positioning System (GPS)
GPS

AVR Projects

Engineers Garage published new projects on AVR Microcontroller (ATmega16)
AVR Projects

AVR Tutorial

New Tutorial on AVR Microcontroller published on Engineers Garage
AVR Tutorial