Week Three

Week three is when I finalized my code and tested it with one input. Also this week I verified my choice in Arduino. Previously, I was looking at the ArduinoMEGA, mostly because of the number of inputs it had. I was mostly thinking about the future with the MEGA because a whole volleyball court would need a lot of input pins. Since I have limited my prototype to only 6 feet, that means three digital input pins plus one other input pin for my LED. My specifications are:

  1. Pins: Need at least 4 digital pins
  2. Memory rate: Unneeded. Processing real time data to make the output decision. Not storing any outputs/inputs.
  3. Sampling rate: 10 samples a second worked well for differentiating force (see fall term week 4), 100 samples a second worked very well with the scope (see fall term week 8), 50 samples a second would ensure enough accuracy
  4. Small enough current draw to ensure 10 hour running time on a 9V battery
Arduino Type Price Number of Digital Pins Memory Sampling Rate Current Draw
Arduino Mega 2560 45.95 54 256KB 16MHz 500mA
Arduino Uno R3 24.95 14 32KB 16MHz 50mA

Looking at my specifications and the table above differentiating between the Uno and the Mega, it is clear that the Uno is the better choice.

Thankfully, my adviser Professor Buma had an extra Arduino Uno that I could use to test my code. Using the millis() command and a simple for loop, I tested my system with the code using 1 input and it seemed to be working. The next step is to develop the code using three inputs as well as fully put together my prototype!