Book Image

DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists

By : Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz, Pedro Cesar Santana Mancilla
Book Image

DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists

By: Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz, Pedro Cesar Santana Mancilla

Overview of this book

We live in a world surrounded by electronic devices, and microcontrollers are the brains of these devices. Microcontroller programming is an essential skill in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), and this book helps you to get up to speed with it by working through projects for designing and developing embedded apps with microcontroller boards. DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists are filled with microcontroller programming C and C++ language constructs. You'll discover how to use the Blue Pill (containing a type of STM32 microcontroller) and Curiosity Nano (containing a type of PIC microcontroller) boards for executing your projects as PIC is a beginner-level board and STM-32 is an ARM Cortex-based board. Later, you'll explore the fundamentals of digital electronics and microcontroller board programming. The book uses examples such as measuring humidity and temperature in an environment to help you gain hands-on project experience. You'll build on your knowledge as you create IoT projects by applying more complex sensors. Finally, you'll find out how to plan for a microcontroller-based project and troubleshoot it. By the end of this book, you'll have developed a firm foundation in electronics and practical PIC and STM32 microcontroller programming and interfacing, adding valuable skills to your professional portfolio.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Testing the thermometer

In this section, we will test out how the IR sensor works as a thermometer by measuring the temperature of a human body. It seems that different body parts will get you slightly different temperature measurements. You should do a number of tests by measuring the body temperature from different parts, such as the forehead and the earlobe of a person. Remember that the distance between the sensor and the skin should be between 2 and 5 centimeters, although you should try out different distances and see what happens.

Before testing the thermometer, make sure that the skin is dry, clean, and unobstructed. In addition, confirm that the person has not been exposed to high heat, such as being out on a hot and sunny day, because this will change your measurements. If you are measuring skin temperature with the thermometer, make sure that the person is out of direct sunlight or you will get incorrect readings.

Medical studies indicate that the average skin surface...