Arduino

by

For the past few years, students in my first semester calculus physics laboratory have explored kinematics (and also a little dynamics) by building and launching model rockets. Working in groups, the students build Estes Big Bertha or Baby Bertha rockets from kits. Then, we travel to a local park to launch the rockets. The rockets

by

Serial communication is a method for two computers or microcontrollers (or one computer and a microcontroller) to talk to one another. Arduino uses the transistor-transistor logic (TTL) serial protocol. This protocol sends bits using voltages of zero (for a zero bit) and five (for a one bit). Another popular serial protocol is RS-232 which uses

by

A common-cathode RGB LED has a total of four pins. One of the pins is the cathode which must be connected to ground and the others each control a color. The pinout shown below is for a typical RGB LED. Notice that each of the pins is a slightly different length; the cathode is the

by

A fine way to compactly control multiple Arduino digital output pins is to use a byte in conjunction with a bitmap. The byte provides the structure (eight bits) to compactly specify which digital pins are turned on and which are turned off. Let’s consider an example. Suppose you have eight digital output pins to control,