WELC

OME TO A

RDUINO

E-DAY

CAR P

ROJECT

MEETING –

ITALY

26-3

1 MARCH

E-DAY CAR PROJECT

Italian, French and Bulgarian students met here in Italy between 25-31 March 2015. After meeting in France at the end of February, we worked on some of the ideas we have for the electric car. We divided into four groups and worked each day in a different lab with different teachers. We organised it so to use all the various areas of the school in Italy..

The four labs were: Chemistry, Electromagnetism, Physics and Electronics; on Monday we worked on Mechanics in the yard of the school testing some parameters of the electric car.

In particular we are going to talk about the Electronics lab and Arduino.

WHAT IS ARDUINO ?In its simplest form, an Arduino is a tiny computer that you can program to process inputs and outputs goingto and from the chip. The Arduino is what is known as a Physical or Embedded Computing platform, which means that it is an interactive system, that through the use of hardware and software can interact with its environment. The Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone interactive objects or it can be connected to a computer to retrieve or send data to the Arduino and then act on that data (e.g. Send sensor data out to the internet). The Arduino can be connected to LEDʼs. Dot Matrix displays, LED displays, buttons, switches, motors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, distance sensors, webcams, printers, GPS receivers, ethernet modules.

ARDUINO IDE

OUR TOOLBOX

• An Arduino board (Arduino Mega 2560, Arduino Mega ADK, Arduino UNO)

• An USB cable to connect the Arduino to our computer

• A Breadboard

• Three 330Ω resistors

• An LED

• An RGB Led

• A Buzzer

• An ultrasonic sensor

ANALOG AND DIGITAL SIGNALSFor our Arduino projects we learnt the differences between analog and digital signals.

The first is a signal which can assume all values between a certain interval; the second instead can assume only two fixed values, a maximum and a minimum. The real world is made out of analog signals, but a computer handles only digital signals. Because of this, when we want to elaborate analog data we sample it.

FIRST PROJECT – BLINKING A LED

In our first little project, we'll make the Arduino’s status LED blink. The status LED is connected to digital IO pin 13. Digital pins act as a kind of switch and can be in one of two states: HIGH or LOW. If set to HIGH, the output pin is set to 5 volts, causing a current to flow through the LED, so it lights up. If it's set back to LOW, the current flow stops, and the LED turns off.

SECOND PROJECT – FADING A LED

Arduino makes many stand-alone applications possible—projects that do not involve any additional computers. In such cases you need to connect the Arduino to a computer once to upload the software, and after that, it needs only a power supply. More often, people use the Arduino to enhance the capabilities of a computer using sensors or by giving access to additional hardware. Usually, you control external hardware via a serial port, so it is a good idea to learn how to communicate serially with the Arduino.

For uploading software, the Arduino has a serial port, and we can use it to connect the Arduino to other devices, too. The LED should be faded on when you press 1, and it should be faded off when you press 2.

THIRD PROJECT - BUZZER

A buzzer is a mechanical, electromechanical, magnetic, electromagnetic, electro-acoustic or piezoelectric audio signalling device. A piezo electric buzzer can be driven by an oscillating electronic circuit or other audio signal source. A click, beep or ring can indicate that a button has been pressed. It has a positive pin and a negative one.

FOURTH PROJECT – RGB LEDNow we will learn how to use a RGB (Red Green Blue) LED with an Arduino. We will use the analogWrite() function of Arduino to control the color of the LED. At first glance, RGB (Red, Green, Blue) LEDs look just like regular LEDs, however, inside the usual LED package, there are actually three LEDs, one red, one green and one blue. By controlling the brightness of each of the individual LEDs you can mix pretty much any color you want.

We mix colors just like you would mix audio with a ‘mixing board’ or paint on a palette – by adjusting the brightness of each of the three LEDs.

FIFTH PROJECT – ULTRASONIC SENSOR

Measuring distances automatically and continuously comes in handy in many situations. Think of a robot that autonomously tries to find its way or of an automatic burglar alarm that rings a bell or calls the police whenever someone is too near to your house or to the Mona Lisa. All this is possible with Arduino. we will build a device that measures the distance to the nearest object and outputs it on the serial port. As mentioned earlier, ultrasonic sensors usually do not return the distance to the nearest object. Instead, they return the time the sound needed to travel to the object and back to the sensor.

FINAL PROJECT – CAR PARKING SENSOR

Now we have all the knowledges to realize a parking sensor that provides an audible and color signal depending on the distance to the obstacle.

ALEX MAFFEI

MATTHIS CAPILLON

ALKIN ISMAILOV

GIUSEPPE GALLIPOLI

VITO DAVID