Part 10 – Micro-controllers, input and output

Part 10 is where we learn to connect the hardware as both inputs and outputs using the code in the micro-controllers. This is the beginning of how to build bigger devices. The first part of Lab 10 is a primer on how to write some simple code to blink and LED connected to the Arduino. The Arduino setup looked like this….

20170126_092333-simpleled

The first part of the code includes some compiler directives, next is the single pass setup routine that defines the line we’ll use on the Arduino and finally the loop code is where we blink the light. The code to do this looks like this:
#define MYLED 7  // Our LED Pin
#define LONGDELAY 16000 // A long delay

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYLED,OUTPUT);  // Set LED pin for output
}
// Process our main LED blinking loop.

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
digitalWrite(MYLED,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(LONGDELAY); // Tried microseconds
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW);
delayMicroseconds(LONGDELAY);
}


The next part of Lab 10 includes learning about For loops and includes an example of first blinking the LED for a specific amount of time. The code to do that looks like this…
#define MYLED 7  // Set our LED pin.
#define LONGDELAY 1000 // Define a long delay
#define SHORTDELAY 200 // Define a short delay

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYLED,OUTPUT); // Initialize our LED pin

  // Blink that LED 15 times using the counter
  for (int counter=0;counter<15;counter++) {
digitalWrite(MYLED,HIGH);  // Turn on the LED
delay(SHORTDELAY);
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW);  // Turn off the LED
delay(SHORTDELAY);
}
}

// Use the longdelay in our main loop so we can see
//   The difference

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
digitalWrite(MYLED,HIGH); // Turn it on
delay(LONGDELAY);
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW);  // Turn if off
delay(LONGDELAY);
}
Next, we change the For loop characteristics to blink te LED in decreasing duration controlled by the For loop like this…
#define MYLED 7 // The pin my LED will be connected to
#define LONGDELAY 1000 // A long Delay
#define SHORTDELAY 100 // A short delay

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYLED,OUTPUT); // Setup the LED for output
// Process through our for loop, note that we
// Decrease our counter by 50 each time.
  for (int counter=1000;counter>49;counter=counter-50) {
digitalWrite(MYLED,HIGH);  // Turn on the LED
delay(counter);
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW);
delay(counter);
}
}
// Process our main program loop that will just blink
//   the LED

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
digitalWrite(MYLED,HIGH);
delay(LONGDELAY);
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW);
delay(LONGDELAY);
}


Next in the lab, since until this point we’ve only been controlling output, we attached a simple switch to our board and wired it to a pin to use as an input.
20170126_094109-Switch
#define MYLED 7  // Define LED Pin
#define MYBUTTON 10 // Define button pin
int buttonState = LOW;  // Create a global variable for the button state
// Using LOW for off and HIGH for on.

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYLED,OUTPUT); // Initialize the LED output
pinMode(MYBUTTON,INPUT); // Initialize the button for input
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW); // Make sure the LED is turned off
}

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
// First we need to read what the button is doing.
buttonState = digitalRead(MYBUTTON);
// Check if button pressed
if (buttonState == HIGH) {
digitalWrite(MYLED,HIGH);
}
else
// if (buttonState == LOW)
{
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW);
}
}
So now we have a button that is using software to control the LED. Lots of possibilities now that we can control input and output.

We learned a little more about comparison operators and code flow.

Next, the rest of the lab is showing how to use different types of inputs and outputs. We start by replacing the simple button switch we just used with a Light Detecting Resistor (LDR).

20170126_094649-LDR
#define MYLED 7
#define MYSENSOR A0
int sensorvalue = 0;

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYLED,OUTPUT); // Initialize the LED output
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW); // Make sure the LED is turned off
}

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
sensorvalue = analogRead(MYSENSOR); // Read the current sensor value
if (sensorvalue>750) {
digitalWrite(MYLED,HIGH); // Turn on the LED
delay(sensorvalue);
}
else
{
digitalWrite(MYLED,LOW); // Turn off the LED
delay(sensorvalue);
}
}

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Next, we control 2 different LED’s based on how much light is going into the LDR. Special note: At this point I used a bit of my past experience with coding to create a little bit of code that will automatically learn the min and max of the resistor that was connected. I figured this code would be useful for the rest of the lab, I was right. Here is the LDR.  The code below controls both the two LED’s and the motor.
#define MYLED1 7 // The first LED
#define MYLED2 8 // The second LED
#define MYSENSOR A0 // The LDR Sensor pin
#define MYMOTOR 11 // My motor pin

int sensorvalue = 0; // Global for sensor value.
float sensorvaluefloat = 0; // Sensor calculation
float sensormin = 1024; // Sensor mininum value
float sensormax = 0; // Sensor maximum value
float sensorrange = 0; // Total range for the sensor
float sensorpos = 0; // This will be our sensor position based on the range we learn
float sensoron1 = 0;
float sensoron2 = 0;
float sensoron3 = 0;
float motorcalc = 0;
int motorspeed = 0;
int lastmotorspeed = 0;

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYLED1,OUTPUT); // Initialize the LED output
pinMode(MYLED2,OUTPUT); // Initialize the second LED
digitalWrite(MYLED1,LOW); // Make sure the LED is turned off
digitalWrite(MYLED2,LOW); // Make sure the other LED is turned off
// Setup our debug ability
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

  // First we need to read from our sensor
sensorvalue = analogRead(MYSENSOR); // Read the current sensor value
Serial.print(sensorvalue);
Serial.print(” “);
// Serial.println(sensorvalue); // For debugging purposes
// Then we need to learn the upper and lower bounds of the sensor.

  // Create a float version of sensorvalue
sensorvaluefloat = float(sensorvalue);
if (sensorvalue<sensormin) sensormin = sensorvalue;
Serial.print(sensormin);
Serial.print(” “);

if (sensorvalue>sensormax) sensormax = sensorvalue;
Serial.print(sensormax);
Serial.print(” “);

// now we decide where in the sensor range we land.
sensorrange = sensormax – sensormin;
Serial.print(sensorrange);
Serial.print(” “);
// Max for range 1
sensoron1 = sensormin + (0.35 * sensorrange);
// Max for range 2
sensoron2 = sensormin + (0.60 * sensorrange);
// Max for range 3
sensoron3 = sensormin + (0.80 * sensorrange);

  motorspeed = 255;
// Light up the LED’s based on where we land.
if (sensorvalue<sensoron1) {
// Room is dark
digitalWrite(MYLED1,LOW); // Turn on the LED
digitalWrite(MYLED2,LOW);
motorspeed = 0;
} else if (sensorvalue<sensoron2) {
digitalWrite(MYLED1,HIGH); // Turn off the LED
digitalWrite(MYLED2,LOW);
motorspeed = 75;
} else if (sensorvalue<sensoron3) {
digitalWrite(MYLED1,LOW);
digitalWrite(MYLED2,HIGH);
motorspeed = 175;
} else {
digitalWrite(MYLED1,HIGH);
digitalWrite(MYLED2,HIGH);
motorspeed = 255;
}

  // Print the assigned motorspeed.
Serial.print(motorspeed);
Serial.print(” “);

  // Now we need to run the motor
motorcalc = ((sensorvalue – sensormin)/sensorrange) * 255;
Serial.print(motorcalc);
Serial.println(” “);
lastmotorspeed = motorcalc;

  // Cast the calculated float motorspeed to an int
motorspeed = int(motorcalc);
analogWrite(MYMOTOR,motorspeed);


delay(100);
}


Next we were ask to use the thermistor to control a motor. Note: The thermistor only returned a very small range of values so it didn’t give a lot of smooth control of the motor, that’s why I used the LDR. The LDR gave a range of about 256 which provided very smooth motor control. Here is the code for the thermistor control, they will all look very similar because of my learning algorithm. I also wanted to do a little realtime monitoring so I added the serial output component from lab 11.
#define MYSENSOR A0 // This is the thermistor or LDR input
#define MYLED1 5 // This is the LED I’ll use to monitor output
#define MYMOTOR 11 // This is the actual motor
#define MAXREAD 1023 // Our maximum read range
#define MAXWRITE 255 // Our maximum write range.

// The variables I’ll need to create my motor range.
float sensorvalue = 0;
float sensorvaluefloat = 0;
float sensormin = 1024;
float sensormax = 0;
float sensorrange = 0;
float sensorpos = 0; // This will be our sensor position based on the range we learn
float sensoron1 = 0;
float sensoron2 = 0;
float sensoron3 = 0;
float motorcalc = 0;
int LEDBright = 0;
int motorspeed = 0;
int lastmotorspeed = 0;

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYSENSOR,INPUT); // Initialize the sensor
pinMode(MYLED1,OUTPUT); // Initialize the LED output
pinMode(MYMOTOR,OUTPUT); // Initialize the motor
// Setup our debug ability
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

  // First we need to read from our sensor
float sensorvalue = analogRead(MYSENSOR); // Read the current sensor value
Serial.print(sensorvalue);
Serial.print(” “);
// Serial.println(sensorvalue); // For debugging purposes
// Then we need to learn the upper and lower bounds of the sensor.

  // Create a float version of sensorvalue
sensorvaluefloat = float(sensorvalue);
if (sensorvalue<sensormin) sensormin = sensorvalue;
Serial.print(“Min-“);
Serial.print(sensormin);
Serial.print(” “);

if (sensorvalue>sensormax) sensormax = sensorvalue;
Serial.print(“Max-“);
Serial.print(sensormax);
Serial.print(” “);

// now we decide where in the sensor range we land.
sensorrange = sensormax – sensormin;
Serial.print(“Rng-“);
Serial.print(sensorrange);
Serial.print(” “);

  // Now we need to run the motor
motorcalc = ((sensorvalue – sensormin)/sensorrange) * MAXWRITE;
Serial.print(“Spc-“);
Serial.print(motorcalc);

  // Create the motor speed
motorspeed = int(motorcalc);

  if (motorspeed < 150) {
motorspeed = 0;
} else {
motorspeed =255;
}
// Print the speed assigned
Serial.print(“Spd-“);
Serial.print(motorspeed);
Serial.print(” “);

  // Light up the LED with the corresponding motor speed brightness
analogWrite(MYLED1,motorspeed);

  // Set the motor speed
analogWrite(MYMOTOR,motorspeed);
lastmotorspeed = motorcalc;

  delay(100);
Serial.println(” “);
}


20170126_114532-ThermistorBattery
Next we implemented a buzzer controlled by a  potentiometer.
#define MYPOT A0
#define MYBUZZER 11
#define OUTPUTMAX 255


int sensorvalue = 0;
float sensormin = OUTPUTMAX;
float sensormax = 0;
float sensorcalc = 0;
float sensorrange = 0;
float outputcalc = 0;
int outputval = 0;


void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
pinMode(MYPOT,INPUT);
pinMode(MYBUZZER,OUTPUT); // Initialize the POT for input
// Setup our debug ability
Serial.begin(9600);
}


void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

  // First we need to read from our sensor
sensorvalue = analogRead(MYPOT); // Read the current sensor value
Serial.print(sensorvalue);
Serial.print(” “);

  sensorcalc = float(sensorvalue); // cast the sensorvalue to a float
Serial.print(sensorcalc);
Serial.print(” “);
if (sensormin>sensorcalc) sensormin = sensorcalc; // Assign the min for the sensor values
Serial.print(sensormin);
Serial.print(” “);

  if (sensormax<sensorcalc) sensormax = sensorcalc; // Assign the maximum from the sensor values
Serial.print(sensormax);
Serial.print(” “);

  sensorrange = sensormax – sensormin;
Serial.print(sensorrange);
Serial.print(” “); 

  if (sensorrange < 10) {
outputcalc = 0;
} else {
outputcalc = ((sensorcalc – sensormin)/sensorrange) * OUTPUTMAX;
}
Serial.print(outputcalc);
Serial.print(” “);

  // Now assign the integar output value
outputval = int(outputcalc);
Serial.print(outputval);
Serial.print(” “);

  // Now we can send our output based on our input
analogWrite(MYBUZZER,outputval);

  Serial.println(” “);
delay(100);
}

20170126_120541-Buzzer
For our last exercise, we used a motion detector to control a buzzer. My buzzer sounded weird when I just ran power to it so I pulsed it when motion was detected and it sounded better. I got rid of my learning code for simplicity but would probably use it in the real world because all the motion detector mushrooms seemed to return different results. Note that rather than including the code for the buzzer in my main loop I created a function called buzzme which did the buzzer once motion was detected. This also included a delay giving time for the motion detector to reset itself.
#define MYINPUT A0
#define MYOUTPUT 11
#define MOMIN 1000
#define OUTPUTMAX 255


int sensorvalue = 0;
float outputcalc = 0;
int outputval = 0;


void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
// pinMode(MYINPUT,INPUT); // Initialize the POT for input
pinMode(MYOUTPUT,OUTPUT);
pinMode(MYINPUT,INPUT);
// Setup our debug ability
Serial.begin(9600);
}


void buzzme () {
for (int i=1;i<5;i++) {
analogWrite(MYOUTPUT,OUTPUTMAX);
delay(500);
analogWrite(MYOUTPUT,0);
delay(500);
}
delay(2000); // Delay 2 seconds to let the MD settle
}


void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

  // First we need to read from our sensor
sensorvalue = analogRead(MYINPUT); // Read the current sensor value
Serial.print(sensorvalue);
Serial.print(” “);

  outputval = int(sensorvalue);
if (outputval < 900) outputval = 0;
if (outputval>0) buzzme();
Serial.println(” “);
delay(20);

}

20170126_122537-MotionDetector
Part 10, a long one, complete!

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