![]() So this "Internet of Things" is all around us. ![]() If you need tons of power for your application you can read about platforms that can run Linux below. The Arduino is a pretty capable prototyping platform, but it does have it's limitations in terms of speed and storage. The Arduino is an ideal platform to create prototypes of electronics devices using the myriad of sensors that are available to the elctronics professional or hobbiest. So what does this have to do with the "Internet of Things"? This is one of the buzzwords being thrown around lately, so I figured I should figure out what it is and how it is done. ![]() Combine several of these sensors and connect them to the internet or a mobile application and you can imagine what the possiblities are! The "Internet of Things" (aka IoT) You can imagine automating a whole greenhouse operation in this manner, right? What about a light intensity sensor? You could use that to angle solar panels for optimum production or perhaps you could open and close motorized thermal blinds for energy efficiency in the summer air-conditioning season. If the humidity and/or temperature reach a level as you define it, the fan can be turned on. On a different pin, you have a fan controller hooked up. Sample Sensor Applicationsįor example, let's say you have a DHT-22, which is a temperature and humidity sensor, hooked up to your Arduino. The IDE also has a really nice way to monitor the connections so you can see the output of your program through a familiar "console" style window. Perhaps lights will blink, a buzzer will buzz, a light sensor will start sending back data about the brightness of the room. The board will immediately start running the program you just uploaded. When you are ready to compile your program and put it on your Arduino, you simply attach the Arduino using a USB cable and upload the code to your board. Your code can decide what actions to take based on the input from a sensor. The loop function is the code that will "run forever" on the Arduino "waiting" for input from one of it's pins. These programs, at a minimum, consist of a setup function and a loop function. ![]() The Arduino uses C-like programs that are called "sketches". That's right, this is where it gets really cool. It's a really simple circuit and really simple code to control it. This involved an LED, a couple jumper wires and a resistor (to keep from blowing LEDs) plugged into a breadboard and attached via the jumper wires to the Arduino's power, ground and input/output pins. Getting Started on the ArduinoĪs I would imagine many people do, we started by making a couple LED lights blink at various speeds and intervals. If you don't know what all that stuff is, that is the point of getting the kit I suppose, to learn about various sensors and how to hook everything up and utilize the input/output pins of the Arduino to interact with physical devices and sensors via code. It's a nice little kit that includes the Arduino a handful of LEDs, an electric motor, buttons, jumper wires, breadboard, etc. I discovered the wonders of the Arduino by first reading a little about it, finding out how inexpensive it was to get started with, then actually purchasing one to try it out as a project with my son. We broke out the Vilros Arduino Uno Ultimate Starter Kit purchased on Amazon for about 50 bucks. So here we are less than a month into 2016 and I've been trying to find ways to encourage my older son's interest in technology.
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