For this project, in class, we were taught the basics of Arduino, a product I have seen many times online before but have never actually used it.
It was a quick introduction to
using an LED to light upon a breadboard using a connective circuit utilizing aluminum foil. It was quick and easy and interesting to do.
As you can see the circuit was made possible by decreasing the threshold for activation and moving it away from any interference. I thought it turned out to be very cool.
We then introduced sequencing into the code to make the Arduino blink in intervals by adjusting the time it started and ended.
MY PROJECT
For my project’s inspiration, I recently went to a casino for my brother’s bachelor party and we were playing the game BlackJack. From one lucky hand, my brother won a substantial amount of money but it was cashed out in all cash. From this cash, he placed it in his hotel room so he would not lose it but was sort of nervous that it might get stolen when we went out that night. I thought about this predicament using some sort of security to alert if someone had come close to the money and therefore may take it.
I did some research into the sonar sensor in the Arduino and thought it would be a perfect fit for the predicament my brother ran into a few months ago. Then I started doing some research into it and found that most of the sonar output was a buzzer but my kit did not have one. Then I thought about using the LED screen but it did not really make sense too because we would not be there to monitor it. Then I found an open-source code that utilized Sonar Radar which I thought would be perfect for this.
I realized that the Arduino Uno is not capable of utilizing wifi, and therefore any signals that are output would go through the Arduino serial output itself.
This led me to find a program called “Processing” which can take the output from the Arduino and articulate it into a Sonar Radar type output.
Here is a video of the sonar in action.
Here is the source code for the Arduino
// Includes the Servo library
#include <Servo.h>.
// Defines Tirg and Echo pins of the Ultrasonic Sensor
const int trigPin = 10;
const int echoPin = 11;
// Variables for the duration and the distance
long duration;
int distance;
Servo myServo; // Creates a servo object for controlling the servo motor
void setup() {
pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT); // Sets the trigPin as an Output
pinMode(echoPin, INPUT); // Sets the echoPin as an Input
Serial.begin(9600);
myServo.attach(12); // Defines on which pin is the servo motor attached
}
void loop() {
// rotates the servo motor from 15 to 165 degrees
for(int i=15;i<=165;i++){
myServo.write(i);
delay(30);
distance = calculateDistance();// Calls a function for calculating the distance measured by the Ultrasonic sensor for each degree
Serial.print(i); // Sends the current degree into the Serial Port
Serial.print(“,”); // Sends addition character right next to the previous value needed later in the Processing IDE for indexing
Serial.print(distance); // Sends the distance value into the Serial Port
Serial.print(“.”); // Sends addition character right next to the previous value needed later in the Processing IDE for indexing
}
// Repeats the previous lines from 165 to 15 degrees
for(int i=165;i>15;i–){
myServo.write(i);
delay(30);
distance = calculateDistance();
Serial.print(i);
Serial.print(“,”);
Serial.print(distance);
Serial.print(“.”);
}
}
// Function for calculating the distance measured by the Ultrasonic sensor
int calculateDistance(){
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(2);
// Sets the trigPin on HIGH state for 10 micro seconds
digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(10);
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH); // Reads the echoPin, returns the sound wave travel time in microseconds
distance= duration*0.034/2;
return distance;
}
Here is the source code for the Sonar
import processing.serial.*; // imports library for serial communication
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent; // imports library for reading the data from the serial port
import java.io.IOException;
Serial myPort; // defines Object Serial
// defubes variables
String angle=””;
String distance=””;
String data=””;
String noObject;
float pixsDistance;
int iAngle, iDistance;
int index1=0;
int index2=0;
PFont orcFont;
void setup() {
size (1200, 700); // ***CHANGE THIS TO YOUR SCREEN RESOLUTION***
smooth();
myPort = new Serial(this,”/dev/cu.usbserial-1420″, 9600); // starts the serial communication
myPort.bufferUntil(‘.’); // reads the data from the serial port up to the character ‘.’. So actually it reads this: angle,distance.
}
void draw() {
fill(98,245,31);
// simulating motion blur and slow fade of the moving line
noStroke();
fill(0,4);
rect(0, 0, width, height-height*0.065);
fill(98,245,31); // green color
// calls the functions for drawing the radar
drawRadar();
drawLine();
drawObject();
drawText();
}
void serialEvent (Serial myPort) { // starts reading data from the Serial Port
// reads the data from the Serial Port up to the character ‘.’ and puts it into the String variable “data”.
data = myPort.readStringUntil(‘.’);
data = data.substring(0,data.length()-1);
index1 = data.indexOf(“,”); // find the character ‘,’ and puts it into the variable “index1”
angle= data.substring(0, index1); // read the data from position “0” to position of the variable index1 or thats the value of the angle the Arduino Board sent into the Serial Port
distance= data.substring(index1+1, data.length()); // read the data from position “index1” to the end of the data pr thats the value of the distance
// converts the String variables into Integer
iAngle = int(angle);
iDistance = int(distance);
}
void drawRadar() {
pushMatrix();
translate(width/2,height-height*0.074); // moves the starting coordinats to new location
noFill();
strokeWeight(2);
stroke(98,245,31);
// draws the arc lines
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.0625),(width-width*0.0625),PI,TWO_PI);
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.27),(width-width*0.27),PI,TWO_PI);
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.479),(width-width*0.479),PI,TWO_PI);
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.687),(width-width*0.687),PI,TWO_PI);
// draws the angle lines
line(-width/2,0,width/2,0);
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(30)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(30)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(60)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(60)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(90)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(90)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(120)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(120)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(150)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(150)));
line((-width/2)*cos(radians(30)),0,width/2,0);
popMatrix();
}
void drawObject() {
pushMatrix();
translate(width/2,height-height*0.074); // moves the starting coordinats to new location
strokeWeight(9);
stroke(255,10,10); // red color
pixsDistance = iDistance*((height-height*0.1666)*0.025); // covers the distance from the sensor from cm to pixels
// limiting the range to 40 cms
if(iDistance<40){
// draws the object according to the angle and the distance
line(pixsDistance*cos(radians(iAngle)),-pixsDistance*sin(radians(iAngle)),(width-width*0.505)*cos(radians(iAngle)),-(width-width*0.505)*sin(radians(iAngle)));
}
popMatrix();
}
void drawLine() {
pushMatrix();
strokeWeight(9);
stroke(30,250,60);
translate(width/2,height-height*0.074); // moves the starting coordinats to new location
line(0,0,(height-height*0.12)*cos(radians(iAngle)),-(height-height*0.12)*sin(radians(iAngle))); // draws the line according to the angle
popMatrix();
}
void drawText() { // draws the texts on the screen
pushMatrix();
if(iDistance>40) {
noObject = “Out of Range”;
}
else {
noObject = “In Range”;
}
fill(0,0,0);
noStroke();
rect(0, height-height*0.0648, width, height);
fill(98,245,31);
textSize(25);
text(“10cm”,width-width*0.3854,height-height*0.0833);
text(“20cm”,width-width*0.281,height-height*0.0833);
text(“30cm”,width-width*0.177,height-height*0.0833);
text(“40cm”,width-width*0.0729,height-height*0.0833);
textSize(40);
text(“CAmato Arduino Radar “, width-width*0.875, height-height*0.0277);
text(“Angle: ” + iAngle +” °”, width-width*0.48, height-height*0.0277);
text(“Distance: “, width-width*0.26, height-height*0.0277);
if(iDistance<40) {
text(” ” + iDistance +” cm”, width-width*0.225, height-height*0.0277);
}
textSize(25);
fill(98,245,60);
translate((width-width*0.4994)+width/2*cos(radians(30)),(height-height*0.0907)-width/2*sin(radians(30)));
rotate(-radians(-60));
text(“30°”,0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate((width-width*0.503)+width/2*cos(radians(60)),(height-height*0.0888)-width/2*sin(radians(60)));
rotate(-radians(-30));
text(“60°”,0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate((width-width*0.507)+width/2*cos(radians(90)),(height-height*0.0833)-width/2*sin(radians(90)));
rotate(radians(0));
text(“90°”,0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate(width-width*0.513+width/2*cos(radians(120)),(height-height*0.07129)-width/2*sin(radians(120)));
rotate(radians(-30));
text(“120°”,0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate((width-width*0.5104)+width/2*cos(radians(150)),(height-height*0.0574)-width/2*sin(radians(150)));
rotate(radians(-60));
text(“150°”,0,0);
popMatrix();
}
Reflection
Overall this project went smoother than I thought. I believe that the source code online was very helpful in my overall execution of the project. The contact wires on the Arduino seemed to be a little shaky with the movement of the motor, but I think it came together very nicely in the end.
What I would do differently
If I could do this over again I would use a different Arduino, one that has Wifi capabilities that could send a signal if a person or an object comes within a certain threshold of the money, then I could get an alert on my phone to say that someone would potentially be in the vicinity. I think the possibilities with this are endless though, it just takes some creative backbone to send it in the right direction. I would also get a full breadboard to keep all the components intact and make the connection stronger.
All in all, I really enjoyed working with the Arduino and am eager to get my hands on one of my own for future projects!