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

Description

In Practical AVR Microcontrollers, you’ll learn how to use the AVR microcontroller to make your own nifty projects and gadgets. You’ll start off with the basics in part one: setting up your development environment and learning how the "naked" AVR differs from the Arduino. Then you’ll gain experience by building a few simple gizmos and learning how everything can be interconnected. In part two, we really get into the goodies: projects! Each project will show you exactly what software and hardware you need, and will provide enough detail that you can adapt it to your own needs and parts availability. Some of the projects you’ll make: An illuminated secret panel A hallway lighting system with a waterfall effect A crazy lightshow Visual effects gizmos like a Moire wheel and shadow puppets In addition, you'll design and implement some home automation projects, including working with wired and wireless setups. Along the way, you'll design a useable home automation protocol and look at a variety of hardware setups.  Whether you’re new to electronics, or you just want to see what you can do with an AVR outside of an Arduino, Practical AVR Microcontrollers is the book for you. Title Page Copyright Page Contents at a Glance Table of Contents Foreword About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction MCU Basics About Our MCU Setup Putting AVRs to Work Book Structure Part 1: Basics Part 2: The Projects Appendixes Where Do We Go from Here? Coming Up Next PART 1 The Basics CHAPTER 1 A Brief History of Microcontrollers A Microcontroller Timeline Why Microcontrollers? Why Should You Learn About Microcontrollers? What Can You Do with a Microcontroller? Why AVR? Some History: The Computer Industry Takes a RISC CISC : The Computer Industry Gets a Complex! The KISS Principle Reasserts Itself RISC Goes Primetime Wraps Off AVR Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 2 Building Our AVR Test Bed Test Bed Details Test Bed Ingredients A Desktop Computer Summary List of Other Parts Toolkit: Required Items Toolkit: Optional Items Piece Parts Breadboard A +5-Volt Regulated Supply The AVR Chip AVR ISP Programmer Programming in Parallel About In-System Programming Boxing the Programmer Other Programmers AVR ISP Programming Adaptor and Pin Headers Assembling the Programming Adaptor Test Bed Software—Installation and Setup Choosing the Software: Why Arduino? Test Bed Testing TTL Level Serial Port Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 3 Arduino and the Naked AVR Comparing Approaches AVR Pulls Ahead Go AVR! Putting All the Pieces in Place The Arduino IDE Arduino infrastructure software C Compilers Hex File Errors AVRDude, the AVR Programmer, and the AVR Chip The AVR Type Arduino’s Configuration Files: AVR Out of the Box Using an External Crystal The AVR and Its Fuses Fuse Low Byte High Fuse Byte Extended Fuses AVRDude The Trouble with AVRDude’s Terminal Mode AVRDude: Getting Started AVRDude’s Configuration File AVRDude Examples Making AVR Use the External Crystal Clock Arduino and the AVR ID Problem Pin Name Translations AVR: Speak to Me! Terminal Emulators Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 4 Moving On! Making Things That Move The Servo Motor Giving a Servo Motor a Testing Time The Great Thing About Standards… Adding Some Library Code The Gem Light Drive On! MOS-What? Relays Solenoids Motors (Non-Servo) Sensing Movement Sensor Switches Active Sensors Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 5 Smarten Up! Intelligent Devices Increased Functionality Adaptive Behavior Increased Efficiency Improved Problem Management Capacity for Repurposing Outside Light—Without Intelligence Outside Light—With an Intelligent Controller Intelligent Light Controller Enhancements Greener Products Support from the Mother Ship Embedded Intelligence Benefits Downsides of Intelligent Devices The Anatomy of a Smart Device Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 6 Digitally Speaking When Intelligent Devices Speak Communications Channel Types Error Checking Microcontroller KISS Communications The RS-232 Connection RS-232 or Direct Logic Level Connection ? Designing the Time-Getter Protocol Talking Tokens Object Models Smart Home Object Model Object Tokenizing Implementing a Tokenized Object Model on AVR Summary of Object Models and Tokenization Summary Coming up PART 2 The Projects CHAPTER 7 Introduction to the Projects Section Project Bases Project Chapter Formats Project Scope and Difficulty CHAPTER 8 Project 1: Good Evening, Mr. Bond: Your Secret Panel A Life Ruined by Movies and TV Making It Real The Fireline Fiasco Thinking Again Racking Up a Success Hiding the Button Position Sensors The Secret Compartment The Electronics Sliding Panel Electronics Troubleshooting Software Commentary All Together Now! Summary Coming up Next CHAPTER 9 Project 2: Crazy Beams—Exercise Your Pet! The Project Sourcing the Lasers Project Build Assembly The Electronics Crazy Beams—The Software Software—Positioning Parameters and Timing Constants Crazy Beams Software Code Walk Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 10 Project 3: WordDune The Hardware WordDune: The Build WordDune Gameplay WordDune: Game Software Setup WordDune Commands General Software Structure WordDune Sketch Code Walk WordDune: Declarations Section setup() loop() format_EEPROM() addToDictionary() dumpEEPROMToSerialChannel() dumpDictToSerialChannel() Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 11 Project 4: The Lighting Waterfall The Passageway Light Proving Circuit Waterfall Lights Software Moving to Making It Waterfall Lights Mark II Mark II Electronics Take-Two Circuit Diagram Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 12 Moving to Mesmerize Duck Shooter Game The Duck Shooter Circuit Making Duck Shooter into a Keeper Building Duck Shooter Going Further Duck Shooter Software MCU Shadow Puppets Building the Shadow Puppets The Shadow Puppet Circuit Shadow Puppets Software The Moiré Wheel Waterslide Decals Building the Moiré Wheel Project Moiré Wheel Software Summary Coming Up Next CHAPTER 13 Smart Home Enablers Is Your Home Smart? Socket Cracking On the Radio: The Un-wired Home Wiring Up Back to Basics Low-Cost Wireless Communication Smart Home Using a Mixed Network A Simple HomeHelp Protocol Using a Low-Cost Smart Home Wireless Node Door Sensor Circuit Diagram Door Sensor Sender Software Door Sensor Receiver Software Door Sensor Summary Remotely Commandable Light Stand Light Stand Electronics Light Stand: RGB Values Sender Light Stand Software: Receiver The Light Stand in Action Summary Coming Up Next APPENDIX A Common Components Resistors Resistor Specifications Resistor Types and Packagings Capacitors Measuring Capacitance Time for a Capacitance Capacitor Shapes and Sizes Light-Emitting Diodes APPENDIX B A Digital Electronics Primer The Highs and the Lows I Count—In Denary? Deciding, Logically General Gates AND Gate NAND Gate OR Gate NOR Gate XOR Gate Understanding the Specifications of Gates Real Live Gates APPENDIX C Breadboards APPENDIX D Serial Communications Data Transfer Basics Binary Me! The Byter Bit The Trouble with Parallel Tear It Down, Ship It Out! Asynchronous Data Transmission Stop Bits Word Length Parity Checking and Error Detection Protocol Overhead Okay, So Tell Me About RS-232 and RS-485 Are There Other Types of Serial Data Interface ? Index