The document provides an overview of the Arduino open-source electronics prototyping platform. It discusses that Arduino is intended for artists, designers, hobbyists to create interactive objects. It describes the main features of Arduino boards including the microcontroller, inputs/outputs, and programming. The document outlines how to program Arduino using its IDE and C-like language, and covers uploading code, using libraries, and interfacing with common devices.

1. Meeting Arduino
by Miguel Sánchez
Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
February 2008

2. Outline
(1)Introduction
(2)What is Arduino?
(3)Arduino main features
(4)Programming Arduino
(5)Q & A

3. Design of embedded systems

Love it or hate it

Many details (software, hardware, I/O, pcb ...)

Not easy to practice with:

expensive

errors maybe be destructive (more expensive)

many tools are proprietary (compilers, pcb CAD...)

Development kits are cool but ... expensive

4. What is Arduino?

From http://www.arduino.cc
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Arduino is an open­source electronics
prototyping platform based on flexible, easy­to­
use hardware and software. It's intended for artists,
designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in
creating interactive objects or environments.

5. Open­source hardware?

It seems an odd concept

Like Open­source software, designers are
making all the many details of the design
public, including:

schematics & pcb

development environment (multi platform)

boot loader code

6. Schematic

7. Arduino main features
13 digital outputs (6 PWM)
USB
RESET
in­circuit
power
system
selection a
programming
9­18 VDC
power outputs 6 analog inputs

8. Hardware details

Built around ATMEL ATmega168 micro
controller

16KByte flash / 1KByte RAM / 0.5KByte EEPROM
Clock 0 – 20Mhz
10 bit ADC, PWM,
capture counters,
USART, I2C, SPI,
programmable watchdog, etc

USB to serial converter
Can be USB­powered


9. There are other formats

Older versions use ATmega8

There are small versions without comms

Older versions used RS­232 instead of USB

Program upload required user to press RESET

not anymore!

10. Who did this and why?

Arduino is an open
hardware and
open/free software for
Physical Computing.

Physical ... what?

11. Artists platform

Maybe the intended use is for making artistic
interactive installations

It can be used by students and hobbyists too!

You can buy a board on eBay or from a local
supplier for less than 20 EUR

add a USB cable and you can start playing

12. What about the software?

Arduino platform is completed by a software
development environment

It's a C­like language (that it is actually parsed
to generate standard C­code)

It is great thing that there is a GNU C compiler
for ATMEL microcontollers

They made it easy: compile, upload, run

13. Arduino IDE

Written in Java

It works on Windows,
Linux, OSX, ...

It includes a mini
terminal for debugging

Freely available

14. Arduino Language

It is based on Wiring language

developed by Hernando Barragán (Universidad de
los Andes, Colombia)

The Arduino IDE is based on Processing IDE

Ben Fry and Casey Rias (MIT Media Lab)

Both projects are also open­source ones

Several libraries are part of the language (serial
I/O, stepper motors, basic I/O, delays, etc)

15. Program structure

Instead of a main function you have two
mandatory functions: setup and loop
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void setup() performs the initial setup of
variables and hardware

void loop() contains code that will be run as an
endless loop

Think of main() { setup(); while(1) loop(); }

16. Language reference

Similar to C syntax 
Variable types:
* boolean
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Serial communication
* char
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Basic input/output: * byte
* int

digitalRead, * unsigned int
digitalWrite * long
* unsigned long

analogRead, * float
analogWrite * double
* string

... * array

17. gcc­avr compiler
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Code is translated to C code and later compiled

Library AVR­Libc is used

Binary can be uploaded through the serial
connection because Arduino chip does have a
bootloader code

Bootloader receives the code and writes it to
flash memory

18. Boot sequence
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After a RESET:
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Bootloader code checks if an upload is being done
over the serial connection.
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If not, it jumps to the beginning of the user code

User code upload does not destroy the
bootloader

Bootloader cannot be programmed using the
serial, though

19. Programming the bootloader

Arduino commercial kits do
include the bootloader code
in the microcontroller

To change it, you need to use
the In­Circuit Serial
Programming (ICSP pins)

ICSP adapters for serial or
parallel ports can be built
cheaply

20. Uploading new code
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In older versions, users have to press RESET
button on Arduino

Newer versions (diecimila) make a RESET with
the DTR signal of the serial port (USB2serial)

RESET is needed because user code was
running and we want the bootloader to take
control now so upload can happen

21. Arduino shields

You can stack other boards on top of Arduino to
add additional hardware to your project like:

a proto­board

a ZigBee wireless interface

a DC motor controller

a stepper motor controller

your own shield

22. Stack of shields

23. External power supply

You can use a wall
wart from 9­18 VDC

USB cannot power
beyond 500 mA load

24. Programming Arduino

The Arduino IDE is freely available from
Arduino webpage.

Arduino uses FTDI USB to serial chip.

Drivers for that chip are available for many
platforms.

You do not need to install additional drivers for
Linux, Windows or Apple OS X.

25. Hello World!
Compile Upload Activate Terminal

As Arduino does not a
have a screen, we can
use the serial port to
print out

Serial.begin(speed)

Serial.println(”...”)
Terminal Area

26. Blink

Pin 13 has a LED

Let's use it

27. Analog input

Let's read from input 0
and print to the serial

Can we call this a PC­
based instrument?

28. PWM output

Not all the digital tcycle
outputs allow PWM

Pin 13 does not work,
pin 11,10,9,6,5,3 does
ton

analogWrite function
takes care of this t on
Vout = ×Vcc

You may call it analog t cycle
output

29. Libraries

There are certain classes available for driving
common devices like:

stepper motors

serial EEPROM memory

RC servos

LCD panels

Software serial port

etc

30. Prototype platform

Once you've got your system running you may:

completely remove the bootloader

design a new PCB with all the needed elements

remove USB communication if yo do not need it

Or you can leave it this way

it may be your cheapest choice

31. Other references

http://www.freeduino.org

it contains a list of more than 400 references

among them a Programming Tutorial

And there are many variations:

32. Questions & Answers

Hopefully ...

Don't be shy!

33. Thank you!