Arduino

There are numerous motivations to assemble your own Arduino circuit on a breadboard or PCB. It consumes less space in the breadboard, cheaper than Arduino boards or perhaps you won’t be utilizing a shield, yet despite everything you need an Arduino as the heart of your Project.The following steps will outline how to assemble the circuit on a breadboard.  

A microcontroller might need to store its data like sensor value, or a particular count or image data for a long period of time. The most common type of memory used with the microcontroller based systems is EEPROM. The EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory which is a kind of Read Only Memory (ROM), which can be written and erased by means of electrically programming and hence the name. Once programmed the data it will remain in the memory for a very long time even if there is no power available. EEPROM memory is widely used in microcontroller systems where some particular data need to be retained each time the system is turned on and to save particular data before the system is powered off.here are several EEPROM memory chips available which can be interfaced in a microcontroller based system with the help of serial communication protocols. 

The mouse and the Keyboard form the standard input unit for a Personal computer. The QWERT keyboard which is used in the PC comes with a PS2 connector or USB port connector. The PS2 keyboard uses a simple synchronous serial protocol using only two wires for communication. Due to its simplicity the PS2 keyboards are widely used with simple microcontroller based boards also. The PS2 keyboard always acts as a slave device which can send the equivalent ASCII value of the key which has been pressed to its master device which can be a PC or a microcontroller. The ZigBee is the name of a wireless protocol maintained by the IEEE 802.15 standard. This is a protocol specified for wireless Personal Area Network (PAN) using low powered wireless transceivers. There are already wireless transmitter and receiver modules which can do point to point communication.   

Even though the microcontrollers are purely digital devices which work on logic0 and logic1 voltages they are commonly found interfaced with analog system or circuits. The microcontroller can read the analog input voltage by sampling it and converting it to their digital values with the help of Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). The microcontroller can also generate an analog voltage on any external device with the help of Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) waves. Most of the microcontrollers have built-in PWM module and ADC modules which helps them in reading analog voltage inputs and generating analog voltage outputs on an external device. Those who have done some basic experiments with the PWM and ADC modules know how complex it is to get them configured, initialized and make them work properly together.  

The microcontroller systems may have to back up the data which they have read during their operation or the data which they need to access during their running time. Most of the microcontrollers have built-in EEPROM memory but they come in comparatively small sizes. In order to use the microcontroller in applications like file accessing, media player etc. an external memory card is necessary. The SD memory card comes in large storage capacities ranging from 1 GB to 8 GB and they are compatible with the SPI bus of the microcontroller. The large storage capacity and simplicity in interfacing results in wide usage of SD memory card by the microcontrollers. The files in an SD memory card are stored using FAT32 or FAT16 and one should use the code or FAT file-system library to access the files from an SD card. 

The PS2 mouse is an input device which can communicate with a host device using the PS2 protocol. It can be connected to a host device using the 6 pin mini DIN connector. The mouse will continuously give output which can be decoded to get the movement in the X-Y plane and also the status of the buttons on the mouse. The data read from the mouse can be decoded and processed to get the amount of change in position of the mouse with respect to the position at the previous read. This data is normally used in PCs to move a pointer in the screen. The PS2 protocol is a simple two wire synchronous protocol which makes it possible for the simple microcontroller board to interface the standard PS2 mouse or keyboard with it.This particular project demonstrates how to transmit the data read from a standard PS2 mouse from a microcontroller board to a distant PC.  

There is no other tool available which helps in easy prototyping like the Arduino does.  The arduino board has all the required circuitry to get the built-in AVR microcontroller running. The output or inputs can be taken from the boards or given to the board using convenient connectors. Both digital and analog I/O pins are available in all Arduino boards. The arduino boards can also communicate with other devices using standard communication ports like USART, IIC, and USB etc. In this project a GSM module is interfaced with the Arduino board using the USART communication port. A PS2 keyboard is also interfaced with the Arduino board with the help of normal I/O pins. The keyboard can be used to type an SMS and the number to which the SMS needs to be send and the Arduino board will make the GSM module to perform the task.  

This particular project demonstrates how to interface a GSM module and send SMS to other mobile numbers using an Arduino board. The AVR microcontroller boards which are provided with all the basic circuitry for the operation of the microcontroller which has been flashed with the Arduino boot-loader are called Arduino boards. The Arduino IDE is so simple to use that anyone who has basic knowledge of c programming can quickly get started with it. The project on how to get started with the Arduino explains about the steps required to get start with an Arduino board. The Arduino can communicate with the other devices using its digital I/O, serial port, I2C port, SPI port etc. and in this project the GSM module is interfaced using the serial port of the Arduino board. . The advantage of using a GSM communication with a system or device is that the user can control the system wirelessly.  

In certain applications the microcontroller based systems has to be connected with the GSM network which will enable a user to control the system by sending messages or making a call. The advantage of using a GSM communication with a system or device is that the user can control the system wirelessly no matter how far it is kept compared to any other wireless communication, provided that both the user and the device should be in a cellular coverage area. The mobile phones have built in GSM modules which then be used by the processor inside the phone to make a call, send or receive message or even connect with the GPRS network.  When it comes to a microcontroller based system a separate GSM module is used rather than using a cell phone as such.  There are GSM modules available which can do serial communication with microcontroller based systems.  

The mobile phones have built –in GSM module which enables them to connect with any cellular network around the globe. The GSM stands for Global System for Mobile communications. In certain applications the microcontroller based systems has to be connected with the GSM network which will enable a user to control the system by sending messages or making a call. The systems can also send messages to the user to alert or inform about the status of the system running. In all such cases a separate GSM module is used rather than using the mobile phones. There are GSM modules available which can do serial communication with microcontroller based systems. The communication is done by sending or receiving AT commands with the GSM module. This particular project demonstrates how to interface a GSM module and dial a call using the standard PS2 keyboard with the help of an Arduino board. 

One can use a cell phone with any cellular networks around the globe if the proper SIM card is inserted in it. This is possible because there is some device inside the cell phone which follows a global standard enabling them to connect with different cellular networks. This standard is called Global System for Mobile communications (GSM). The mobile phones have built in GSM modules which then be used by the processor inside the phone to make a call, send or receive message or even connect with the GPRS network.  In certain applications the microcontroller based systems has to be connected with the GSM network which will enable a user to control the system by sending messages or making a call. The systems can also send messages to the user to alert or inform about the status of the system running.   

The applications of microcontroller are not limited to control simple electrical or electronic device but they are widely used in robotics and automotive industries nowadays. From simple rear view mirror control to complex engine control functions are done by the microcontroller. The microcontroller can even implement to automatically controlling the vehicle without a human driver inside it and such kinds of vehicles are called Unmanned Vehicles (UV). The UVs are commonly used research, military, rescue and agriculture fields. For any UVs the real time tracking of their path is necessary to ensure that they are moving through the proper way.This project demonstrates how it is possible to make a simplest path tracking device for a ground vehicle with the help of optical mouse. This project makes use of an optical mouse which works on PS2 protocol and is interfaced with an Arduino board to read the data from it.   

The system of satellites which helps in the positioning of a place on the surface of the earth is called Global Positioning System (GPS). The devices which can read the geographical coordinates of a place with the help of at least two to four GPS satellites are called GPS Receiver or simply GPS module. They can communicate with the other devices using serial communication protocols and hence they can be easily interfaced with microcontroller based systems. The GPS module continuously produces a set of data regarding the position of the earth surface where it is situated which includes the current position with respect to the equator of the earth in terms of Latitude and Longitude. In this project the data regarding the geographical coordinate is extracted from the GPS output with the help of the Arduino and send it to a remote PC with the help of Xbee transceiver. 

The Xbee is the brand name a wireless transceiver device which works on the ZigBee protocol. The ZigBee is the name of a wireless protocol maintained by the IEEE 802.15 standard. This is a protocol specified for wireless Personal Area Network (PAN) using low powered wireless transceivers. They can be used for simple point to point communication systems also. They have an approximate range of 10 to 100 meters and are used in industries, scientific fields, medical fields etc. The Xbee module even though uses complex packet data based Zigbee protocol for communicating with each other, they can communicate with other devices using simplest serial communication protocol and hence they are widely used in microcontroller base boards.This project demonstrates how to interface an Xbee module with the Arduino board and perform a full transmission and reception test between two Xbee modules generally known as loop back test. 

In earlier days the application of the wireless technology was limited mostly to simple point to point communication only replacing the cable based communication systems. The entire communication system itself became complex after the introduction of the computer and communication system based on computers. Several complex networked communication systems like LAN, WAN, PAN etc. came into use. To replace the cable based network communication system with wireless technology demands the design of complex wireless devices and wireless network protocols.The ZigBee is the name of a wireless protocol maintained by the IEEE 802.15 standard. This is a protocol specified for wireless Personal Area Network (PAN) using low powered wireless transceivers. There are already wireless transmitter and receiver modules which can do point to point communication. 

The AVR microcontroller boards which are provided with all the basic circuitry for the operation of the microcontroller which has been flashed with the Arduino boot-loader are called Arduino boards. The Arduino board has all the required circuitary to get the built-in AVR microcontroller running. When it comes to programming the Arduino board anyone who have basic knowledge of c programming can quickly get started with the Arduino IDE. Hence the Arduino forms an easy prototyping platform for both beginners and experts.A microcontroller can communicate with the user by several means including LED display, sound generation, using the serial communication etc. The most commonly found output device in a microcontroller board is an LCD display module.  

Every single location in the entire globe can be specified in terms of geographical coordinates. The geographical coordinate is a system which specifies any given location on the earth surface as latitude and longitude. There are devices which can read the geographical coordinates of a place with the help of the signals received from a number of satellites orbiting the earth. The system of satellites which helps in the positioning of a place is called Global Positioning System (GPS). The devices which can read the geographical coordinates of a place with the help of at least four GPS satellites are called GPS Receiver or simply GPS module.The GPS module continuously produces a set of data regarding the position of the earth surface where it is situated which includes the current position with respect to the equator of the earth in terms of Latitude and Longitude. 

The PS2 keyboard uses a simple synchronous serial protocol using only two wires for communication. Due to its simplicity the PS2 keyboards are widely used with simple microcontroller based boards also. The PS2 keyboard always acts as a slave device which can send the equivalent ASCII value of the key which has been pressed to its master device which can be a PC or a microcontroller.The SD memory card comes in large storage capacities from 1 GB up to 32 GB are available. They are used mostly in costly devices like digital camera, media players etc. The SD memory cards are interfaced in high end devices using SD bus which provides very high speed data transfer between the device and the memory card.  They also can be interfaced with a device using the low speed and comparatively simple SPI bus and hence they are widely used in microcontroller based system also. 

Any kind of computing system has basically three parts namely input unit, processing unit and output unit. In case of a Personal Computer the standard input units are the mouse and the keyboard and the output units is the LCD or CRT Monitor. The input and the outputs are controlled by the Central Processing Unit (CPU) which has a powerful processor inside it. When it comes to small microcontroller based system having less processing power most of them still can interface the standard input devices of a PC with them due to their simplicity in interfacing method.  As far as the output is concerned the most commonly used are small LCD modules like monochrome 16*2, graphical or small sized color LCD display screens.This particular project discusses method of interfacing a standard PS2 keyboard with the Arduino board and display the keys pressed in a 16*2 LCD screen. 

A key is the most basic input device for a system which can do some process. The key input can be found in electrical, electronic and mechanical devices. In case of the Personal Computers a group of keys are arranged in a single board called keyboard. The PC are mostly using QWERTY keyboard which has evolved from the mechanical typewriter device. Keyboards are interfaced in basically using two methods one is through USB port and the other through PS2 port.The PS2 is a simple synchronous serial protocol using only two wires for communication. Due to its simplicity the PS2 keyboards are widely used with simple microcontroller based boards also. The PS2 keyboard can send the equivalent ASCII value of the key which has been pressed. This project explains how to interface a standard ASCII keyboard having PS2 interface with the Arduino board.