Interfacing Arduino Boards with Optical Sensor Arrays: Overview and Realization of an Accurate Solar Compass
Daniele Murra,
Sarah Bollanti,
Paolo Di Lazzaro,
Francesco Flora,
Luca Mezi
Affiliations
Daniele Murra
ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Frascati Research Center, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Sarah Bollanti
ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Frascati Research Center, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Paolo Di Lazzaro
ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Frascati Research Center, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Francesco Flora
ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Frascati Research Center, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Luca Mezi
ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Frascati Research Center, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
In this paper, an overview of the potentiality of Arduino boards is presented, together with a description of the Arduino interfacing with light multi-sensors. These sensors can be arranged in linear arrays or in a matrix configuration (CCD or CMOS type cameras) and are equipped with tens, hundreds, or even thousands of elements whose sizes range from a few microns to tens of microns. The use of these sensors requires electronics that have high time accuracy, since they work through regular pulses sent by an external source and, furthermore, have the ability to digitize and store voltage signals precisely and quickly. We show that, with the appropriate settings, a simple Arduino board can handle both 1D and 2D optical sensors. Finally, we describe a solar compass made with such a board coupled to one of the tested optical array sensors that is capable of providing the north direction with a very high degree of accuracy.
