CE 432 Lab 2021 Fall
Lab 6
Name: Nicolas Llarena
Email: Njllarenaarias@fortlewis.edu

1. Homework 6 - Sensors and Actuators

2. Introduction
The purpose of this homework is to practice and get familiar with different coding and wiring problems that will be useful for th course project. Videos and images will be taken of all tasks to demonstrate how they are working.
3. Materials
Materials Quantity
Arduino UNO
 2
Breadboard
 1
Jumper Wires
 20
Open-Smart 2.4 GHz Transceiver
 2
Joystick
 1
A4988 Driver
 1
NEMA 17 stepper motor
 1
HC-SR04
 1
Function Generator
 1
Oscilloscope
 1
MPU-6050
 1

4. Results

 Task 1
 The full-bridge configuration is the best to use because it is linear while the others are not. Having more strain gauges makes it more sensitive as well which is also a plus. Quarter-bridges and half-bridges usually have imbalances in their output and are not as accurate as full-bridges. In the image below, we can see the different equations of the voltage output of each wheatstone bridge. as we can see when applying a force, all the resistances of the four strain gauges change by the amount delta R. This makes the full-bridge more sensitive and more accurate than the rest.

         
Figure 1.  Equations for the Wheatstone Bridges

Task 2

Video 1.  HC-SR04 ultrasonic module connected with an Arduino to display the distance in cm between the module and an object.


Task 3



Figure 1. Image shows an input pulse signal generated with a function generator and fed through an Arduino that delays the output pulse signal by ~ 800us.
Task 4


Video 2. Video shows the MPU6050 module connected with an Arduino UNO to detect vibrations and turn an LED on whenever a certain threshold has been passed. (used LED instead of buzzer because I didn't have one, it is the same concept)

Task 5

Video 3. Two Arduino UNOs connected with two Open-Smart 2.4Ghz modules that work as receiver and transmitter, a NEMA stepper motor, and a joystick to control the speed and direction of the stepper motor.

Task 6

Video 4. Algorithm two from the slides implemented on an Arduino to demonstrate the encoder.





Discussion
This homework was longer than usual but it was helpful because we learned or remembered how to use certain modules with Arduino. the pulse detector was a little challenging since we had to be in the lab to use the oscilloscope and function generator to be able to test our code. For task 3 I forgot to take a video for the demonstration so I only have images to show how I connected everything and the final result plus the code is in the server. Looking forward to implementing some of these ideas into our course project.