Practical AVR Microcontrollers: Games, Gadgets, and Home Automation with the Microcontroller Used in the Arduino (Technology in Action)

400 Pages·2012·10.117 MB·English

by  Alan Trevennor

Practical AVR
Microcontrollers
Games, Gadgets, and Home Automation with
the Microcontroller Used in Arduino
Alan Trevennor
Practical AVR Microcontrollers
Copyright © 2012 by Alan Trevennor
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“To Wendy, who made it all possible.”
Contents at a Glance
Foreword ......................................................................................................................xv
About the Author ........................................................................................................xvii
About the Technical Reviewer .....................................................................................xix
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................xxi
Introduction ...............................................................................................................xxiii
■ Part 1: The Basics ....................................................................................1
■ Chapter 1: A Brief History of Microcontrollers ............................................................3
■ Chapter 2: Building Our AVR Test Bed .......................................................................13
■ Chapter 3: Arduino and the Naked AVR .....................................................................49
■ Chapter 4: Moving On! ...............................................................................................85
■ Chapter 5: Smarten Up! ...........................................................................................155
■ Chapter 6: Digitally Speaking ..................................................................................167
■ Part 2: The Projects .............................................................................189
■ Chapter 7: Introduction to the Projects Section ......................................................191
■ Chapter 8: Project 1: Good Evening, Mr. Bond: Your Secret Panel ...........................195
■ Chapter 9: Project 2: Crazy Beams—Exercise Your Pet! .........................................213
■ Chapter 10: Project 3: WordDune ............................................................................229
■ Chapter 11: Project 4: The Lighting Waterfall ..........................................................249
■ Chapter 12: Moving to Mesmerize ...........................................................................277
■ Chapter 13: Smart Home Enablers ..........................................................................305
v
■ CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
■ Appendix A: Common Components..........................................................................333
■ Appendix B: A Digital Electronics Primer ................................................................347
■ Appendix C: Breadboards ........................................................................................359
■ Appendix D: Serial Communications .......................................................................365
Index ...........................................................................................................................377
vi
Contents
Foreword ......................................................................................................................xv
About the Author ........................................................................................................xvii
About the Technical Reviewer .....................................................................................xix
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................xxi
Introduction ...............................................................................................................xxiii
■ Part 1: The Basics ....................................................................................1
■ Chapter 1: A Brief History of Microcontrollers ............................................................3
A Microcontroller Timeline .....................................................................................................4
Why Microcontrollers? ...........................................................................................................5
Why Should You Learn About Microcontrollers? ............................................................................................5
What Can You Do with a Microcontroller? .....................................................................................................5
Why AVR? .......................................................................................................................................................7
Summary ..............................................................................................................................11
Coming Up Next ....................................................................................................................11
■ Chapter 2: Building Our AVR Test Bed .......................................................................13
Test Bed Details ....................................................................................................................13
Test Bed Ingredients .............................................................................................................13
A Desktop Computer ....................................................................................................................................14
Summary List of Other Parts .......................................................................................................................15
Toolkit: Required Items ................................................................................................................................16
Toolkit: Optional Items .................................................................................................................................17
Piece Parts ...................................................................................................................................................18
vii
■ CONTENTS
AVR ISP Programmer ...................................................................................................................................24
Other Programmers .....................................................................................................................................33
AVR ISP Programming Adaptor and Pin Headers .........................................................................................34
Assembling the Programming Adaptor ........................................................................................................35
Test Bed Software—Installation and Setup .........................................................................39
Choosing the Software: Why Arduino? .................................................................................39
Test Bed Testing ...................................................................................................................42
TTL Level Serial Port ............................................................................................................45
Summary ..............................................................................................................................47
Coming Up Next ....................................................................................................................47
■ Chapter 3: Arduino and the Naked AVR .....................................................................49
Comparing Approaches ........................................................................................................49
AVR Pulls Ahead ...........................................................................................................................................52
Go AVR! ........................................................................................................................................................53
Putting All the Pieces in Place ..............................................................................................55
The AVR Type ........................................................................................................................57
Arduino’s Confi guration Files: ......................................................................................................................57
AVR Out of the Box .......................................................................................................................................60
Using an External Crystal ............................................................................................................................61
The AVR and Its Fuses .................................................................................................................................62
AVRDude ...............................................................................................................................66
The Trouble with AVRDude’s Terminal Mode ................................................................................................67
AVRDude: Getting Started ............................................................................................................................67
Arduino and the AVR ID Problem ..........................................................................................76
Pin Name Translations ..........................................................................................................77
AVR: Speak to Me! ................................................................................................................79
Terminal Emulators ..............................................................................................................82
Summary ..............................................................................................................................83
Coming Up Next ....................................................................................................................83
viii
■ CONTENTS
■ Chapter 4: Moving On! ...............................................................................................85
Making Things That Move ....................................................................................................85
The Servo Motor ..........................................................................................................................................85
Giving a Servo Motor a Testing Time ...........................................................................................................91
The Gem Light ...........................................................................................................................................101
Drive On! ....................................................................................................................................................108
MOS-What? ...............................................................................................................................................114
Relays ........................................................................................................................................................117
Solenoids ...................................................................................................................................................121
Motors (Non-Servo) ...................................................................................................................................124
Sensing Movement .............................................................................................................138
Sensor Switches ........................................................................................................................................138
Active Sensors ...........................................................................................................................................144
Summary ............................................................................................................................154
Coming Up Next ..................................................................................................................154
■ Chapter 5: Smarten Up! ...........................................................................................155
Intelligent Devices ..............................................................................................................155
Increased Functionality .............................................................................................................................156
Adaptive Behavior ......................................................................................................................................157
Increased Effi ciency ..................................................................................................................................158
Improved Problem Management ...............................................................................................................159
Capacity for Repurposing ..........................................................................................................................159
Greener Products .......................................................................................................................................164
Support from the Mother Ship ...................................................................................................................164
Embedded Intelligence Benefi ts ................................................................................................................164
Downsides of Intelligent Devices .......................................................................................164
The Anatomy of a Smart Device .........................................................................................165
Summary ............................................................................................................................166
Coming Up Next ..................................................................................................................166
ix
■ CONTENTS
■ Chapter 6: Digitally Speaking ..................................................................................167
When Intelligent Devices Speak .........................................................................................167
Communications Channel Types ................................................................................................................168
Error Checking ...........................................................................................................................................169
Microcontroller KISS Communications ...............................................................................171
The RS-232 Connection .............................................................................................................................172
RS-232 or Direct Logic Level Connection? ................................................................................................174
Designing the Time-Getter Protocol ...................................................................................174
Talking Tokens ...........................................................................................................................................178
Object Models ............................................................................................................................................179
Implementing a Tokenized Object Model on AVR .......................................................................................187
Summary of Object Models and Tokenization............................................................................................188
Summary ............................................................................................................................188
Coming up ..........................................................................................................................188
■ Part 2: The Projects .............................................................................189
■ Chapter 7: Introduction to the Projects Section ......................................................191
Project Bases .....................................................................................................................191
Project Chapter Formats ....................................................................................................192
Project Scope and Diffi culty ...............................................................................................193
■ Chapter 8: Project 1: Good Evening, Mr. Bond: Your Secret Panel ...........................195
A Life Ruined by Movies and TV .........................................................................................195
Making It Real ....................................................................................................................195
The Fireline Fiasco ....................................................................................................................................196
Thinking Again ...........................................................................................................................................197
Racking Up a Success ...............................................................................................................................198
Hiding the Button .......................................................................................................................................201
Position Sensors ........................................................................................................................................203
The Secret Compartment ...........................................................................................................................203
The Electronics ..........................................................................................................................................205
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