ATMEGA168 Arduino Micro Controller Projects

by Lewis Loflin

This section is a group of projects based on the Arduino micro controller. It's very inexpensive and easy to learn using a type of 'C' language. Note that I've used the Arduino Mini and their Bare Bones Kit from Modern Devices Company. I'm very pleased with both. If one can't solder then please buy an assembled kit. All information presented in these projects is free for anyone to use and there is no warranty of any kind.

These projects are for those with a two year degree, the garage tinkerer, ham operator, or even a kid in vocational school. Note that on Ebay there are a number of starter kits for sale by a number of individuals. These would be very good for those starting out from scratch. One will also need a PC and USB cable and/or USB to RS232 adaptor.

You Tube Arduino Microcontroller Video Series March 2012:

Basic digital circuits would be a big help. Now for what upsets so many students: Math class up through trigonometry, Algebra 2, or better pre-calculus as a minimum. In addition a real laboratory science class in inorganic chemistry (CHEM. 101 and/or CHEM. 102) and/or physics 101/102 for technology (available in most community colleges) would be a big help. This is technology oriented physics, not so much the more abstract four-year transfer type.

What is the difference between a micro-controller versus a micro-processor? A micro-processor requires a number of external integrated circuits (ICs) in order to function such a memory, I/O ports, system clock, etc. A micro-controller has all of this built in internally saving a lot of time and cost just getting the system to operate at all. The above illustrates a completely functional Arduino controller. For an example of a micro-processor "board" see the KIM-1 my first computer

Arduino demos:

Atmega168/Arduino features:
14k flash RAM program storage
1024 bytes of static RAM for program memory
512 bytes of EEPROM
6 PWM outputs
6 10-bit A/D inputs
UART and SPI interfaces (SPI in not implemented!) 2 Hardware interrupts
20 general purpose I/O pins (shared with PWM and Analog pins)
In reality two pins are used for serial In/Out and six are for AD conversion. This leaves only 11 usable digital I/O pins. 16 MHz RISC microcontroller. RISC or reduced instruction set computer means simplified assembly programming but with less flexibility of a full instruction set.
Open-source hardware, IDE, bootloader. In other words no copyright hassles, etc.

arduino

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Arduino Power Inverter

As an alternate solution, one can use an ATMEGA328:

Flash Memory: 32 KB (ATmega328) of which 2 KB used by bootloader
SRAM 2048 bytes (ATmega328)
EEPROM 1024 bytes (ATmega328)

Homepage and software: http://www.arduino.cc/
Command reference page: http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/HomePage
Extended reference: http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Extended

To buy an Aduino boards, parts, etc. visit www.moderndevice.com I have no financial or other relationship with Modern Devices Company.

PDF Files:

Added January 2012: PICAXE Micro-controller Projects!

The PICAXE series of micro-controllers rank as the easiest and most cost effective way to use Microchip processors. I wanted an easier and less expensive way to introduce my students to the "PIC" micro-controller. Here I hope to get those starting out past poorly written literature and lack of simple working code examples.

 




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