Ashutosh Bhatt

Just consider the scenario that you are entering into any suspicious place and suddenly, by mistake, you interrupt an invisible LASER beam and an ALARM or SIREN blows. Nowadays this is a very common scenario. Many people secure their home, office, shops, warehouses, etc with a LASER beam security system. Not only buildings or premises, but many precious things like jewellery, diamonds, precious antique items in the museum, etc many other things are also secured using such invisible LASER beam. In this system, there is an invisible LASER beam that is continuously ON and it is detected by any light sensor. Whenever any object or person comes in between LASER and sensor the beam interrupts and the sensor does not detect LASER light. And that’s ALL!!!! As soon as the beam interrupts (cuts) the siren blows for intruder alert.

You may have seen many projects of generating different colours from RGB LED using Arduino. The given project also generates different colours from RGB LED using Arduino. But also, it displays the amount of red, green and blue colour on LCD. We know, all colours are basically mixing of three primary colours RED, GREEN and BLUE in different amount. For example, by mixing RED and GREEN colour, we can generate YELLOW and by varying their amount we can generate different colours like ORANGE, LEMON GREEN etc many other colours. Also, we can get different shades of RED and GREEN. So here, in this project, I am generating different colours and shades using RGB LED using Arduino and 3 potentiometers. We can vary the intensity of red, green and blue colour of RGB LED by applying variable pulse width input – PWM.

I was doing experiments with arduino UNO and different stepper motors. Surprisingly, I didn’t get satisfactory results. The 3 stepper motors that I have, did not work properly with arduino stepper motor library provided with the arduino IDE software. The problems were: Sometimes they rotate, sometimes don’t; they do not rotate to the exact angle that I want; the RPM (speed) at which motor rotates, that is completely different from what is entered in program; the motor does not rotate to the desired number of rotations or to even specified angle.So, finally, I conclude – the stepper motor library and its functions given is built in arduino IDE, are not compatible with all kind of stepper motors – especially unipolar stepper motors. I decided to create a universal kind of arduino library for all unipolar stepper motors.

Here I present Arduino library to control DC motor. The library is having so many facilities and flexibilities that it can control any DC motor in required manner. The library is designed as per the industrial motion control requirements. The library is having 16 different functionalities such that it can control the motor in most versatile manner. Here is the list of facilities in library.Here is the list of facilities in library: It controls direction of rotation of motor, it controls speed of motor from 0-100%, it can provide soft start to motor in specified time – means motor speed will increase from 0% to desire level in specified time, it can provide smooth stop to motor in specified time – means motor speed will decrease from current speed to 0% in specified time, it can apply jog control to motor in either direction – means motor will jerk in specified direction, and it can apply DC BREAK  (means immediate or emergency STOP) to motorHere is the list of facilities in library.

Here, I present 3-in-1 parameter monitoring system that measures and displays- Current temperature (in oC ), Humidity (RH in %), Light intensity (in %). The interesting thing is it has digital cum analog meter consol. Means values are displayed on LCD as a digital read out as well as they are indicated on retro-style analog dial (scale). All three parameters are measured one by one and they are displayed on LCD as well as on analog dial after some delay. It continuously monitors all three parameters and displays them turn by turn on both meters.The project is build using Arduino UNO board with DHT sensor (to measure temperature and humidity), LDR (to measure light intensity) and LCD. It uses servo motor as a pointer to indicate value on analog meter.

I bought wired remote controlled car for my little princess. Using wired remote it can move forward and reverse. It was very simple toy car with a DC motor inside and in remote, there were two AAA size battery cells with two buttons – one to move the motor forward and another to move reverse. It was working very fine and the car runs very nice. But once, my baby broke the remote.I tried to repair it but the button’s contacts were broken so it was not possible to repair it. The remote can be built using one DPDT switch, one sliding switch and 3 AAA size batteries. DPDT switch is as shown in the given figure with its internal connections. It has 6 terminals and it is used to move the car forward and reverse.

Here I am presenting one more LED chaser. As the title suggests, it’s not just simple micro controller based LED chaser but its IR remote controlled LED chaser. Means the LED chasing effects can be changed by remote control. Not only that but the blinking rate of LEDs can be also increased or decreased to make chasing effect faster or slower using remote. The project given here, demonstrates how to generate different chasing effect on different colour LEDs using IR remote (like TV, DVD, AC, STB etc) with the help of Arduino. Also it varies speed of chasing effect using remote.

Whenever we talk about any remote controlled home appliance, it’s obvious that it’s an Infra Red (IR) remote control. For example TV, music system, DVD player, AC, fan, air cooler etc any home appliance, is controlled by an IR remote. These remotes work on different IR protocols like RC5, RC6 (developed by Philips) or NEC etc.The principle of operation is, they will send one code to the appliance when any of the buttons is pressed. The code is actually series of bits (1’s and 0’s) in form of pulses. The pattern of pulses for 1 and 0, changes as protocol changes. Decoding remote code means to identify the number associated with different buttons of given IR remote. 

Humidity is the percentage of water vapor contained in an air. It’s a very important parameter for manufacturing industries. Humidity affects almost all the products during its manufacturing process. For example chemical, pharmaceutical, textile manufacturing industries, FMCG product manufacturing industries, packed food and dairy product manufacturing industries etc all has to take care of humidity during its manufacturing process.Even electronic component and IC (chip) manufacturing industries has to continuously monitor and control the humidity to get precise and accurate product. So, monitoring and controlling humidity is one of the most important tasks for all such industries.

Cranes are used for the purpose of lifting heavy things and transporting them from one place to another. Usually, these machines are found to be employed for industrial purposes such as the transportation and construction industry. However, the scope is not necessarily restricted to industrial use.Cranes can also be put to use in workshops or at home for domestic and small scale purposes. We can make a portable and lighter version of the heavy lifting cranes that are much more convenient to be used at home. The project given here illustrates how you can make small crane (lift) to lift up or drop down small items up to 500 – 1000 gm. 

The project given here demonstrates how to vary the speed of stepper motor and number of revolutions of it using IR remote (like TV, DVD, AC, STB etc) with the help of Arduino. The project uses a normal set top box (STB) IR remote, TSOP IR sensor, stepper motor driver chip and Arduino UNO board. Anyone can use any type of IR remote. Just he has to change the remote codes in the Arduino sketch (program) for the remote. This procedure is also described here while explaining the operation. So let us see how this is done. First, see the circuit diagram followed by its description and operation. The stepper motor has many parameters that can be controlled like- Direction of rotation, Speed of rotation, Angle of rotation, and Number of revolutions.

Arduino can be used to vary different colors in RGB bulb (LED). We know Arduino can vary the intensity of LED using its analog outputs by generating PWM. The RGB bulb has 3 internal LEDs – red, green and blue. The Arduino varies the intensity of all three red, green and blue LED and thus it gives different mixtures of these three colors and generates different colors like CYAN, PINK, YELLOW, MAGENTA, WHITE etc. By varying the intensity of all three LEDs from minimum to maximum we can have many numbers of color combinations- means different colors.The given project demonstrates how to turn ON/OFF or vary colors of RGB bulb using any IR remote (like TV, DVD, AC, STB etc) with the help of Arduino. The project uses a normal set top box (STB) IR remote, TSOP IR sensor and Arduino UNO board.

Arduino can easily control the DC servo motor and rotate it at an exact, required angle. The Arduino has analog output through which it generates PWM that is used to rotate servo motor at a specific angle. You can move the servo motor angle position using potentiometer or joystick or push buttons with the help or Arduino.The given project demonstrates how to move servo motor at specific angle using IR remote (like TV, DVD, AC, STB etc) with the help of Arduino. It also increases or decrease motor angle using remote and rotate motor CW and CCW. The project uses normal set top box (STB) IR remote, TSOP IR sensor and Arduino UNO board. Anyone can use any type of IR remote. Just he has to change the remote codes in the Arduino sketch (program) for the remote. This procedure is also described here while explaining the operation.

You can easily control speed of DC motor using Arduino. We know that the Arduino has analog output through which it generates PWM that is used to vary the speed of DC motor. You may have seen speed control of DC motor using potentiometer or joystick or push buttons with the help or Arduino.The given project demonstrates how to control DC motor speed using any IR remote (like TV, DVD, AC, STB etc) with the help of Arduino. It also run or stops the motor using remote. The project uses normal set top box (STB) IR remote, TSOP IR sensor and Arduino UNO board. Anyone can use any type of IR remote. Just he has to change the remote codes in the Arduino sketch (program) for the remote. This procedure is also described here while explaining the operation. 

The stepper motor has two types based on internal winding and constructions -Unipolar type stepper motor and Bipolar type stepper motor. In bipolar type stepper motor there are two stator coils and their four terminals are provided for interface to rotate motor. So bipolar stepper motors are having 4-wire interface always. While in unipolar stepper motor there are four stator coils. So there are total 8 wires (two for each coil) are provided for interface. There are 3 different interfaces for unipolar stepper motors.We all know that to rotate stepper motor the pulses has to be applied to its coil terminals in proper sequence. If pulses are not applied in proper sequence to its coil terminals, the motor will just vibrate – does not rotate. 

In the previous article, I explained how to identify pulse sequence applied to stepper motor terminals using a micro controller. Another most important parameter of a stepper motor is step angle. Step angle is the degree of rotation of motor per pulse. It means how much degree the motor will rotate when a single pulse is applied. It is also called step resolution (or simply resolution) of the stepper motor. The step angle of the motor will tell us that how many pulses should be applied to the motor to complete 360o rotation – that means one revolution. It is very much essential to know the step angle of the motor to rotate it to a specific number of revolutions or to rotate it to a specific degree. But, what if no documentation is available for given stepper motor? How to find out step angle of any unknown stepper motor? The given project is the answer to this question.

Arduino has several applications. We may find its application in many different fields and areas. It can be used in measurement field also to measure electrical quantities (like voltage, current, power etc) or physical quantities (like temperature, moisture, light intensity, humidity etc) or electronic component values etc. The given article demonstrates how to measure frequency and duty cycle of pulses using arduino. Frequency measurement is required in so many different applications. In communication field frequency measurement is at most essential. Duty cycle is also an important parameter to measure because it gives % of pulse width – means ON time of the pulse. In DC motor speed control and servo motor angle control, it is required to measure the width of the pulse. Also, the pulse width is measured to check the symmetry of pulse in some of the application like a digital signal receiver, repeaters etc.

In DC motor speed testing, the PWM is applied to the motor and its duty cycle is varied from min to max. While applying PWM the actual RPM of DC motor is also measured and note down to see how motor speed (RPM) varies as PWM width varies. Along with this, the applied voltage to the motor is also measured to see the motor speed at different applied voltage.Finally, after noting down all the values, the observation table is prepared for pulse width (duty cycle), applied voltage and motor speed in RPM. This table is used to prepare duty cycle->RPM graph or applied voltage->RPM graph of the motor.

As the name suggests, this is a demonstration of one military application in which the system automatically launches missile when any object is detected and it comes within the range. In actual system there is micro wave RADAR that detects any object and immediately fires missile to shoot the target.  Here in given system it uses ultrasonic sensor to detect any object. The sensor scans complete 360o circle by rotating continuously and when it detects any object that is within 2 feet (60 cm) range, it launches the missile. It is build using AT89C51 micro controller. It also uses LCD to display a different message as well as the distance of an object.

Arduino has a wide variety of applications. It can find its use in almost all fields. Its applications increase day by day because it’s open source and anyone can create a new set of functions and library to interface any new device with arduino. The given application demonstrates the use of arduino as tone and melody generator. It includes keypad and LCD for user interface. The music notes or melody is generated when the key is pressed and the frequency of generated sound is displayed on LCD. It illustrates keypad and LCD interfacing with Arduino along with tone – melody generation. The complete functionality of this project is due to the software program loaded into internal FLASH memory of arduino board microcontroller ATMega328.