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Raising a new Generation of Leaders

ARDUINO C & Interfacing

with the Outside World
 Course Outline
• Introduction to Linux Operating System, Installation, Understanding
Ubuntu Desktop, Basic Command and Security Concept.
• Understand C Language Overview and Program Structure, and Data
types.
• Fundamentals of C Operators and Escape Sequence
• Decision making in C
• Program Loops in C
• Use Functions in C
• Understand Storage Classes and Scope
• Understand Pointers and Use Pointers Effectively
• Create Structures, Unions and Data Storage
• Arduino C and Interfacing with the Outside World
• Understand the basics of Object Oriented Programming such as C++ 2
1.0 Introduction to Arduino
• Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based
on easy-to-use hardware and software, developed in
order to simplify the process of working with
microcontrollers.
• The advantages of using Arduino over other similar
systems are:
i) Inexpensive: Some Arduino modules cost less than
$50.
ii) Open source and extensible hardware: Arduino
board plans are published under a Creative
Commons license, which allows electronic
designers to extend and improve on it.

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iii) Cross-platform: Arduino Software Integrated Development
Environment runs on Windows, Mac and Linux operating
systems.
iv) Open source software: Arduino IDE is published as open
source tools, which can be extended by experienced
programmers through C++ libraries.
v) Simple and clear programming environment: Arduino IDE
is easy-to-use for beginners and also flexible for advanced
programmers.

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2.0 Microcontrollers and the Arduino
board
• A microcontroller(µC or MCU) is a
computer on a single integrated
chip that contains:
 Processor
 Memory: RAM, ROM and Flash memory
 I/O ports: USB, Ethernet, Inter-Integrated Circuit
(I2C) and Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI).

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• The most common microcontroller
families are Intel(4004,8008, 80286), Atmel(AT
and AVR), Microchip(PIC) and ARM(Cortex-A,
Cortex-M)

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• Atmel microcontrollers(shown in Table 1) are
commonly used in Arduino boards.

Table 1: Some microcontrollers used on arduino boards

µC Flash SRAM EEPROM Clock Digital Analog Voltage
memory (bytes) (bytes) speed I/O pins input pins
(bytes)

ATmega168 16K 1K 512 16Mhz 14 6 5V

ATmega328 32K 2K 1K 16Mhz 14 6 5V

ATmega1280 128K 8K 4K 16Mhz 54 16 5V

ATmega2560 256K 8K 4K 16Mhz 54 16 5V

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• Arduino has several brands which
include - Arduino Uno, Arduino Yun, Arduino
Leonardo, Arduino LilyPad, Arduino Mega,
Arduino Nano, Arduino Mini, Arduino Mini Pro,
Arduino BT

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• Arduino also have shields, which
can be plugged on top of the
Arduino PCB to extend its
capabilities. Examples of Arduino
shields are: Motor shield, TFT touch screen
shield, Ethernet shield, GSM shield, WiFi
shield, eHealth shield and etc.

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A sample project with Arduino and motor shield

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• The different parts of an Arduino
board are shown below:

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 3.0 Arduino IDE
• Just like other computers, any MCU
requires program instructions to
work.
• The Arduino IDE is a software that
contains all you need to write
program codes.
• The Arduino programming language
that you write in the IDE is a
simplified version of C language.
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• The elements of the IDE are:
 Text editor: for code writing, syntax
and keyword coloring, automatic
indentation
 Compiler: for source code
compilation.
 Hardware interface: to upload
programs and communication with
Arduino board through USB.

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3.1 Installing Arduino IDE on Linux
Step1: Download the latest package for Linux 32-bit
or Linux 64-bit from:
www. arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
Step 2(a): Open the terminal and navigate to your
downloads folder
cd ~/Downloads
(b) Decompress the downloaded archive with the
command:
tar –xvf arduino-nightly-linux64.tar.xz
(c) Move the result folder to /opt/ directory for
global access:
sudo mv arduino-nightly/opt

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Step 3 (a): Navigate to install folder
cd /opt/arduino-nightly
(b) Give executable permission to install.sh
script in that folder:
chmod +x install.sh
Step 4 (a) Plug in your board using USB cable and
note that external power is unnecessary.
(b) Run arduino
./arduino

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3.2 Arduino IDE

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3.3 Selecting the right arduino board

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3.3 Selecting the right port

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3.4 Arduino IDE Command Icons

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3.5 Arduino Code Structure
• There are two major blocks in the text
area of Arduino IDE.
i) void setup(): The code written in
this block is executed only when the
program begins or reset button is
pressed.
ii) void loop(): The code written inside
this block will be executed
repeatedly.
• Note that programs are called
sketches in Arduino.
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Example 1: Open your IDE and type
the “Hello World” code:

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Click the Compile and then the
Upload icons in order to compile
the program and load on the
Arduino board.
Click the Serial Monitor button to
see the code as shown:

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Example 2: Open the LED blink
code example in the IDE as follows:

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The code is shown in the IDE as follows

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Compile and upload the code to
obtain:

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Exercise
Run the Fade code example in the
IDE(File>Examples>Basics>Fade).

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Raising a new Generation of Leaders

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