Immitating Arduino

Using Arduino Microcontrollers
1

Hi people!

Well I have a very simple problem..

What I am trying to do is that, I want to create my own circuit board, establishing Sensor a accquisition on I2C bus, consisting of these following components:

  1. Atmega328p-pu (with Arduino bootloader preprogrammed) - As I2C master
  2. two digital pressure sensors - I2C Slaves (1 & 2)
  3. 1 Humidity/Temperature Sensor - I2C slave 3

So as a start to my small project, I wanted a help. I would like to know that:

If I can buy an Arduino compatible microcontroller with bootloader, Can I use simply this microcontroller and Arduino IDE to burn my sketch? If yes, what all (hardware and software) would I need for the burning process? Are there some good tutorials for this online if you could suggest?

I sincerely seek your support as I am totally new to Arduino.. :frowning:

Thanks in advance! :slight_smile:
Cheers!

Pramit

2

Some kind of an interface PC-ATmega is needed for programming. In case of the bootloader and programming via USART (serial line) of the ATmega, the most used device is USB/RS232 convertor based on FTDI or similar chip.
Here is an example http://arduino.cc/en/Main/USBSerial. With this device and a few additional components (resistor, capacitors, breadboard, wires) you can develop and upload with Arduino IDE. Here is tutorial http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone how to.

3

Do you have a normal Arduino board, like the Arduino Uno to test the sensors and develop the code ?
It is best to start with an Arduino Uno, and do all the fancy things once you know about using Arduino.

4

Ftdi breakout plus atmega328P with bootloader, and you can upload sketches like it was an Arduino.

5

Thanks Guys!

These are proving to be really precious inputs!

Well I had a question though regarding the ftdi breakout chip..

Can't we use a simple wire-ended ftdi USB to RS232 converter cable for the RxD and TxD pins of the Microcontroller as explained in the tutorial??

Cheers!

Pramit

6

Do be careful of the terminology. Budvar10 incorrectly described the interface as a "USB/RS232 converter". It has nothing to do with RS-232 - the FTDI and similar chips convert the USB to a "TTL" or more correctly, 5V logic level. You do not want an RS-232 converter; RS-232 is in fact +/- 5 to 15V levels of the opposite polarity.

it is a help if the interface provides a DTR (or RTS) signal for providing an "auto-reset" to the Reset line via a 01µF capacitor.

7

@Paul__B: Yes, my bad. Thank you to clarify.

8

Great!

Thank you so much guys!

You are really suporting me a lot.. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

My next doubt which I have harboured is that regarding the frequency of I2C bus. If I simply connect my sensor to the Arduino on I2C interface with suitable Pull-up Resistors, would it be ok?
Or I need to do some frequency matching?

Thank you!

Pramit

9

sood:
Great!

Thank you so much guys!

You are really suporting me a lot.. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

My next doubt which I have harboured is that regarding the frequency of I2C bus. If I simply connect my sensor to the Arduino on I2C interface with suitable Pull-up Resistors, would it be ok?
Or I need to do some frequency matching?

Thank you!

Pramit

The frequency is not an issue I guess because the master (arduino) provides the clock, just leave it at default.

10

Essentially - connect it up, use the library functions - that's it!

11