Why put in the time and effort to learn Arduino properly?
Due to Science — The World is Analogue! [Peter Kinget]
The world we live in is analog. We are analog. Any inputs we can perceive are analog. For example, sounds are analog signals. (read this articles)
Computers are digital.
Our electronic devices are the link between these two worlds. So, let’s travel from the physical world into the digital world of electronics!
And as students of electronics (or at first interested only), we are looking for means in acquiring sensors that measure the physical quantities and transform them into another physical quantity manipulable by the Arduino (or any other microprocessor).
In the sciences in general (and in physics more explicitly), only the measurable properties of a phenomenon, body, or substance are called physical quantities.
List of physical quantities available in the world:)
Acceleration
Angle
Area
Catalytic activity
Radioactive activity
Specific heat
Electric field
Electrical Current Density
Magnetic flux density
Distance, Length, Height (measured), Width, Offset, Distance traveled
Energy, Mechanical work
Enthalpy
Entropy
Luminous flux
Magnetic flow
Frequency
Strength, Weight
Lighting
Inductance
Electrical Current Intensity
Radiation intensity
Light intensity
Pasta
Molality
Normality
Power
Pressure
Amount of matter
Amount of movement
Speed of reaction
Electrical resistance
Radian
Temperature
Time
velocity
Electrical voltage (Electrical potential difference)
Volume
...And what do they call the instruments of measurement of physical quantities in electronics? Transducers.
A transducer is a device that converts one form of energy into another form. It converts the measurement to a usable electrical signal. In another word, it is a device that is capable of converting the physical quantity into a proportional electrical quantity such as Voltage or Current, Pressure and Voltage.
And here is a list of Transducers for Arduino (simple and cheap):
So Transducers are devices that transform one form of energy into another. Right?
Our world is analog. With Arduino, you can measure the analog signals of the world. Right?
Good!
Out of curiosity what industry are you working in? So it may be that from now on that you are interested in putting in the time and effort to learn Arduino properly but you are not sure whether it’ll be just for hobby or if you can make some sort of income from it?
That’s a good question.
First, you need to know that Arduino is a microprocessor (well not really…). It’s a philosophy: hardware and software and community together! Arduino Uno is a breakout board based on the Atmel ATmega328P microcontroller. That is a microcontroller!
A Microcontroller is an IC chip that executes programs for controlling other devices or machines.
A typical microcontroller includes a processor, memory and input/output (I/O) peripherals on a single chip.
What Arduino makes is to expose much of the features offered by the microcontroller to your projects.
And secondly, you need to know how to program it?
Atmel Studio 7
In the next post, we will begin a detailed study of this world called Arduino using Atmel Studio 7.
A study quite different from those seen out there on the net … we’re gonna see interruptions, sleep-mode, PicoPower architecture — is the ability to turn off more of the peripheral modules — do not miss it!
Do not miss this great event! Bye for now!
👉🏃Are you in a hurry? Grab your📲📱 smartphone and enjoy this series: Atmel Studio 7 & UNO Serie (Ep#00) @giljrE https://medium.com/series/atmel-studio-7-uno-ep-00-969b9cc3cf7b
CURIOSITIES:
Système International d’unités — is based on a metric system of measurement. These units are known as SI units because the name of the system in French is SI units have been widely used since the 1960s, and They are now used by scientific communities throughout the world.
Basic quantities — include length, time and mass. Other quantities (called derived quantities) can be expressed as some combination of one or more basic quantities. Quantities such as area and volume, for example, can be derived from the length. The area of a rectangle is the product of two dimensions, both of which are lengths. Similarly, the volume of a cuboid is the product of three dimensions, all three of which are also lengths. Speed is expressed as the ratio of the distance moved by an object and the time interval over which this movement takes place. Speed is therefore expressed using a combination of two basic quantities, length and time.
How do we know about the distant stars?
We can’t see far enough into space to be able to see individual planets orbiting a remote start, for example. We can, however, detect tiny variations in the light that reaches us from the star caused by the gravitational effects of an orbiting body.
And how to measure the atom?
Similarly, we cannot directly measure the mass of an atom, but we can get around this using a piece of equipment called a mass spectrometer. In its simplest form, the device vaporizes a sample of a material, turning it into gas. Each atom of the sample is then ionized (positively charged) by removing one or more of its electrons. The positively charged ions are then sent through a magnetic field. Because they carry a positive electrical charge, they are deflected by the magnetic field. The amount of deflection depends on the atom’s mass (the smaller the mass, the greater the deflection). A detector measures the amount of deflection that has occurred, and the results are used to calculate the mass of the atom.
What is a submultiple unit?
Units that are significantly smaller than the base unit (sometimes referred to as submultiple units) are denoted using the appropriate prefix. For example, the base unit of electrical current is smaller than one ampere (typically thousandths or millionths of an ampere). We can prefix the letter “A” with a character that indicates which particular submultiple we want to represent. One-thousandth of an ampere is called a milliampere, so we use the abbreviation “mA” (the lower case letter “m” is used to represent the milli prefix). One-millionth of an ampere is called a microampere, so we use the abbreviation “μA”. The lower case Greek letter mu is used to represent the micro prefix.
What is multiple units?
Units that are significantly larger than the base unit (called multiple units) are treated in the same way. Take electrical resistance as an example. The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm, represented in electrical formulae using the Greek upper-case letter Omega (Ω). Resistances in electrical circuits tend to be large (typically thousands or millions of ohms). For very large resistances, we can prefix the Greek letter Omega with a character that indicates which particular multiple we want to represent. One thousand ohms is called a kilohm, so we use the abbreviation “kΩ”. One million ohms is called a megohm, so we use the abbreviation “MΩ”. The upper case letter “M” is used to represent the meta prefix.
The International System of Units provides us with a common framework within which to carry out the measurement of diverse quantities and allows us to express the results in a format that will be meaningful to the entire scientific community.
References & Credits:
See The Serie: Atmel Studio 7 & UNO
[Edited at nov 2018: Grammarly corrections powered]
