In this tutorial, we’ll learn the basics of “heat vision” and how to interface a thermal-imaging camera with Arduino. Of course, humans cannot see heat directly, but objects do give off infrared radiation at a certain temperature. Although infrared light is invisible to the naked eye, a thermal camera can detect it. A thermal camera…
How to use a spy camera with Arduino
Spy cameras are mainly used for surveillance activities and to ensure safety. They may also be used for commercial purposes, such as to monitor for theft or break-ins at a store or workplace. Typical cameras are bulky and can be easily be spotted. However, it’s possible to integrate them into another object. To fit one…
Using a potential transformer with Arduino
In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to measure main-line voltage using a low-cost potential transformer. A potential transformer reduces a high-voltage circuit to a lower-level voltage for the purpose of measurement. It’s been used in the energy sector for decades. These transformers are typically big and bulky, so this do-it-yourself (DIY) project will incorporate one…
Mathematical equations executed by an MCU
Executing a mathematical equation just by pressing a single compile button seems an easy task. There are plenty of computations behind execution by ALU, compiler, linker, and various other peripherals. The equation is translated and broken into smaller instructions. Instructions require resources to execute. Resources are memory, registers, adders, multipliers, and shifters, etc. On the…
Clap sensor using STM32 MCU
Security systems work by measuring different physical parameters. One such parameter is sound. Every moving object produces sound and vibrations. These sounds and vibrations can be sampled, and the object can be identified. Sampling sound waves and training the system to distinguish between objects requires plenty of time. For this tutorial, let’s take a simple…
Electro nonmechanical relays characteristics and how-to DIY
With the replacement of vacuum tubes by transistors, switching between logic states with a minute amount of power consumption and in a relatively smaller space became possible. This article will focus on logic switching. Not much has changed with electrical switching technologies, although there have been some innovations around various techniques to switch electrical loads.…
Battery voltage/usage monitoring using Arduino and Simulink
Simulink and MatLab are great tools to simulate and analyze an application. Simulink offers blocks (software, hardware, arithmetic, functional, electrical, etc.) which can be put together for monitoring or generating various kinds of functions and controls. Putting blocks together gives a clear image of the system. Through blocks, control and data flow sequentially. Let’s see…
EMG-controlled wheelchair with Arduino
In this tutorial, we will learn how to interface EMG (electromyography) sensor with Arduino. Electromyography is the study of muscles, particularly in the electrical domain. Measuring the electrical signals generated by stretching and contracting muscles. We will use Myoware(by Advancer technologies) EMG sensor in this tutorial. Advancer Technology is a startup whose main area of…
Arduino color sensor used in hospitals
This tutorial is about interfacing color sensors with Arduino. We will design an autonomous patient movement system in hospitals. The color sensor which I am going to use in the project is Adafruit TCS34725. Adafruit provided predefined Arduino libraries for this sensor. It consumes 3.3v to 5v and outputs data on the I2C interface. Color…
Spectroscopic sensor interface with Arduino
In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to interface a spectroscopic sensor with Arduino. Spectroscopy refers to the study of the spectra produced when material interacts with or emits light. Researchers analyze the change(s) in a light spectrum and its attributes — such as its frequency or wavelength — when it’s exposed to matter (a gas,…
Raspberry Pi camera QR code encoding and decoding
This tutorial is about creating a QR code (quick response code) using Raspberry Pi B and Python 3.7. QR code is an optical machine-readable code. Optical means it can be decoded using any camera device. A direct competitor of QR code is Bar code. QR’s advantage over Bar Code is it’s faster to read and…
Biometric sensor with Arduino
This tutorial is about using a biometric sensor with Arduino for security purposes. The biometric domain includes all the human attributes which could distinguish each individual from the other, such as fingerprint mapping, eye retina scan, and facial recognition. Fingerprint sensors are a common and cheap solution to add a biometric authentication layer to any…
Raspberry Pi GUI development using GTK+ and event handling
In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) application for Raspberry Pi (RPi) using Python. This is not an easy task, particularly for a system that has limited resources (memory, CPU, RAM, cache, etc.). Granted, the latest version, RPi 4.0, offers 8GB of RAM, which allows for rendering and for…
Interfacing Raspberry Pi with Arduino
Raspberry Pi (RPi) is a small, low-cost, single-board computer that offers more than just a Linux operating system. It also has communication buses and general-purpose input/output (GPIOs) that can be used to interface external sensors and devices. One example is the serial peripheral interface or SPI. SPI communication is based on a shift register, where…
Interface SparkFun 9DoF sensor stick with Arduino Uno
A decade ago, 2D and 3D accelerometers were commonly used in devices to provide the direction, speed, and GPS localization of an object. An accelerometer is an electronic sensor that measures the acceleration forces acting on an object, typically to determine its position in space and monitor the object’s movement. Since then, the 3D field…
Raspberry Pi camera QR-code scanning
This tutorial will teach you how to scan QR codes using the Raspberry Pi module and the official Raspberry Pi camera. To attach the camera to the Raspberry pi, we use a dedicated header is available onboard. You can also use a USB camera with Raspberry Pi. The disadvantage is USB interface is slow. Also,…
What is an oximeter?
An oximeter is a device that measures the amount of oxygen carried by the red blood cells. Blood oxygen level has a certain threshold limit for good health. If the level shots or depreciate the threshold, one might be caught by multiple diseases. Adults and infants are rarely short of oxygen, but oxygen depreciation is…
Automated hand sanitizer using Arduino
This tutorial explains how to automate a hand sanitizer bottle. Sanitizers can be found for use at many public places (and especially recently, given the COVID-19 pandemic). However, each press of the cap leaves behind several types of germs on it. One way to avoid this is to automate the bottle so that users never…
LoRaWAN in action
In July 2019, a new world record was set when 24 LoRaWAN gateways simultaneously received a message transmitted by a node and one of the gateways was residing at a distance of 766 kilometers from the node. The previous record was 702 kilometers. The new record is set by a team from the University of…
Dynamic power management in IoT devices
In recent decades, the increase in demand for low power solutions required the development of new algorithms and clever techniques, which could save energy and guarantee a long-lasting shelf life of a standalone solution powered by batteries. Three key parameters and components of a general electronic solution are the semiconductor, software, and power for operation.…