School Project Help

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

Hey guys,

So I am doing a project for school which involves recording of multiple analogue signals for relatively short periods of time.

The problem is we have to have a working system within a week as there are some industry field experiments we are piggy backing in. To make things even better I have very limited programming experience and no experience with the arduino unit.

My question is can the arduino unit do this task easily? and if so, how would I go about doing that?

sample code/websites/videos/suggestions are all welcome.

Thanks.

2

Basically no there isn't enough memory for more than about a quarter of a second of sound. Assuming the analogue signals are sound.

What are they and how much memory will they take up? What sample rate do you want to use?

3

Well, multiple analog signals need not necessarily be called "sound"...

How many channels?
At what sample rate?
What shall happen with those data afterwards?

-- Mike you trickily changed your mail :wink:

4

If you need something fast, dataq below has some inexpensive starter kits.

5

Well,

The signals are just voltage readings from phototransistors, measuring specific ranges of radiation.

The sample rate can be slow, maybe every 10ms? even every 100ms would be OK I would think.

The number of channels should be at least 5, but up to 10 if possible.

We want to store this data to compare with other measurements taken during the experiment(for now). So just storing these values in an array on a computer, ideally in Excel would be great.

6

I should have been more precise with my last question:
In what intervalls can the data been uploaded to the PC? Will that be done by

  • USB
  • Ethernet
  • Xbee
  • SD card
  • other
    ?

You have around 2,500 bytes available on a 328 and you want to store 10x10 bits = around 12 byte/100ms = 120 byte/s => 20 seconds..

So you should consider an SD card shield....

7

Oh ok thanks.

Well a USB ideally. I can get an SD card if needed.

So shielding with an SD card will basically give me more space to store data? Does the arduino board have a slot for the card? and do you know any websites with specific methods to do this?

Also, is the arduino software compatible with newer OS's? like windows 7 or vista??

8

Well a USB ideally. I can get an SD card if needed.

You need to.

So shielding with an SD card will basically give me more space to store data?

Yes a shield with an SD card reader/writer will give you space to store more data - a lot more data.

Does the arduino board have a slot for the card?

Did you see one on your Arduino?

Also, is the arduino software compatible with newer OS's? like windows 7 or vista??

Yes.

9

http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/sd-card-shield-for-arduino-v21-p-492.html?cPath=104_109
SparkFun SD/MMC Card Breakout - BOB-12941 - SparkFun Electronics
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9802

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/SDMMC
http://blushingboy.net/p/SDuFAT/