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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Arduino - A Toy For Ham Radio



Arduino is a physical computing platform based on a simple I/O board and a development environment that implements the Processing/Wiring language. Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone interactive objects or can be connected to software running on a computer (e.g., Macromedia Flash, Processing, Max/MSP, Pure Data, SuperCollider). Currently shipping versions can be purchased pre-assembled; hardware design information is available for those who would like to assemble an Arduino by hand.
The Arduino project received an honorary mention in the Digital Communities category at the Prix Ars Electronica 2006.

An Arduino board consists of an Atmel AVR microcontroller (ATmega168 in newer versions, ATmega8 in older versions) and complementary components to facilitate programming and incorporation into other circuits. Each board includes at least a 5-volt linear regulator and a 16MHz crystal oscillator (or ceramic resonator in some variants). The microcontroller is pre-programmed with a bootloader so that an external programmer is not necessary.
At a conceptual level, all boards are programmed over an RS-232 serial connection, but the way this is implemented in hardware varies by version. Serial Arduino boards contain a simple inverter circuit to convert between RS-232-level and TTL-level signals. Current Arduino boards including the Diecimila are programmed via USB, implemented using USB-to-serial adapter chips such as the FTDI FT232. Some variants, such as the Arduino Mini and the unofficial Boarduino, offload the circuitry required to connect to the computer onto a detachable USB-to-serial adapter board or cable.
The Arduino board exposes most of the microcontroller's I/O pins for use by other circuits. The Diecimila, for example, provides 14 digital I/O pins, 6 of which can produce PWM signals, and 6 analog inputs. These pins are available on the top side of the board, via female .1 inch headers. Several plug-in application boards known as "shields" are also commercially available.
The Arduino-compatible Barebones and Boarduino boards provide male header pins on the underside of the board in two more closely spaced rows for ease of use with solderless breadboards.

The Arduino IDE is a cross-platform Java application that serves as a code editor and compiler and is also capable of transferring firmware serially to the board.
The development environment is based on Processing, an IDE designed to introduce programming to artists unfamiliar with software development. The programming language is derived from Wiring, a C-like language that provides similar functionality for a more tightly restricted board design, whose IDE is also based on Processing.


Watch these video and see how Arduino can do for ham radio projects

Arduino Morse Beacon Keyer



Arduino Morse Keyer with PWM



Arduino Duemilanove - Morse code



Arduino Beacon Controller



Arduino Morse Code Callsign Player



Get your own Arduino now

http://www.arduino.cc/

1 comment:

  1. I wish I'd this during my time in University. Anyway, it's cheap to get it rather than getting PIC development boards.

    Anyone staying in KL interested with this maybe we can chip in some portion to make something nice with this.

    ReplyDelete