International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology

© 2017 IJSRCSEIT | Volume 2 | Issue 3 | ISSN : 2456-3307

Ultrasonic Ranging and Detecting Using Arduino and Processing

Govind Mishra, Yogendra, Vinay Singh, Mukesh Verma, Nilesh Verma, Ashutosh Mishra
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, RSRRCET, Kurud, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India

ABSTRACT
RADAR is an object detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of
objects. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio waves or microwaves which bounce off any object in
their path. Arduino is a single-board microcontroller to make using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more
accessible. This project aims at making an ULTRASONIC RADAR that is efficient, cheaper and reflects all the
possible techniques that a radar consists of.
Keywords : RADAR, Ultrasonic, Radio Waves, Arduino, Processing

I. INTRODUCTION extracting useful information from very high noise

levels.
RADAR is an object detection system which uses radio
waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or II. LITERATURE SURVEY
speed of objects. Radar systems come in a variety of
sizes and have different performance specifications. “The Idea” Army, Navy and the Air Force make use of
Some radar systems are used for air-traffic control at this technology. The use of such technology has been
airports and others are used for long range surveillance seen recently in the self-parking car systems launched
and early-warning systems. A radar system is the heart by AUDI, FORD etc. And even the upcoming
of a missile guidance system. Small portable radar driverless cars by Google like Prius and Lexus. This
systems that can be maintained and operated by one setup can be used in any systems the customer may
person are available as well as systems that occupy want to use like in a car, a bicycle or anything else. The
several large rooms. Radar was secretly developed by use of Arduino in this provides even more flexibility of
several nations before and during the World War II. usage of the above-said module according to the
The term RADAR itself, not the actual development, requirements. The idea of making an ULTRASONIC
was coined in 1940 by United States Navy as an RADAR came as a part of a study carried out on the
acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging. The working and mechanism of “mini radar”. Hence this
modern uses of radar are highly diverse, including air time we were able to get a hold of one of the Arduino
traffic control, radar, astronomy, air-defence systems, boards, Arduino UNO. So knowing about the power
antimissile systems, antimissile systems; marine radars and vast processing capabilities of the Arduino, we
to locate landmarks and other ships; aircraft anti- thought of making it big and a day to day application
collision systems; ocean surveillance systems, outer specific module that can be used and configured easily
space surveillance and rendezvous systems; at any place and by anyone. Moreover, in this fast
meteorological precipitation monitoring; altimetry and moving world there is an immense need for the tools
flight control precipitation monitoring; altimetry and that can be used for the betterment of the mankind
flight control systems; guided missile target locating rather than devastating their lives. Hence, from the
systems; and ground penetrating radar for geological idea of the self-driving cars came the idea of self-
observations. High tech radar systems are associated parking cars. The main problem of the people in the
with digital signal processing and are capable of world is safety while driving. So, this gave up a
solution to that by making use of this project to
continuously scan the area for traffic, population etc.

CSEIT172363 | Received : 10 May 2017 | Accepted : 17 May 2017 | May-June-2017 [(2)3: 380-383] 380
and as well as protection of the vehicles at the same
time to prevent accidents or minor scratches to the
vehicles.

III. COMPONENTS REQUIRED

(a). Arduino UNO: The Arduino Uno is a

microcontroller board based on the ATmega328. It has
14 digital Input /Output pins (of which 6 can be used as
PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16MHz ceramic
resonator, USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header and a reset button. It contains everything needed
to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to
computer with a USB cable or power it with an AC-to- (c). Ultrasonic Sensor: Ultrasonic sensors (also known
DC adapter or battery to get started. The Uno differs as transceivers when they both send and receive, but
from all preceding boards in that it does not use the more generally called transducers) work on a principle
FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it features the similar to radar or sonar which evaluate attributes of a
Atmega16U2 programmed as a USB-to-serial converter. target by interpreting the echoes from radio or sound
"Uno" means one in Italian and is named to mark the waves respectively. Ultrasonic sensors generate high
upcoming release of Arduino 1.0. The Uno and version frequency sound waves and evaluate the echo which is
1.0 will be the reference versions of Arduino, moving received back by the sensor. Sensors calculate the time
interval between sending the signal and receiving the
echo to determine the distance to an object. This
technology can be used for measuring wind speed and
direction (anemometer), tank or channel level, and
speed through air or water. For measuring speed or
direction a device uses multiple detectors and
calculates the speed from the relative distances to
particulates in the air or water. To measure tank or
channel level, the sensor measures the distance to the
surface of the fluid. Further applications include:
humidifiers, sonar, medical ultra sonography, burglar
forward. The Uno is the latest in a series of USB alarms and non-destructive testing. Systems typically
Arduino boards, and the reference model for the use a transducer which generates sound waves in the
Arduino platform. ultrasonic range, above 18,000 hertz, by turning
(b). Servo Motor: A servomotor is a rotary actuator that electrical energy into sound, then upon receiving the
allows for precise control of angular position, velocity echo turn the sound waves into electrical energy which
and acceleration. It consists of a suitable motor coupled can be measured and displayed.
to a sensor for position feedback. It also requires a
relatively sophisticated controller, often a dedicated
module designed specifically for use with servomotors.
Servomotors are not a different class of motor, on the
basis of fundamental operating principle, but uses
servomechanism to achieve closed loop control with a
generic open loop motor. Servomotors are used in
applications such as robotics, CNC machinery or
automated manufacturing.

IV. STEPS INVOLVED

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 Ground, third for trigger signal and fourth for echo.
(a). Using Arduino Software The ultrasonic sensor is mounted on the servo motor
The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) and both of them further connected to the Arduino
is a cross-platform application written in Java, and is board. The ultrasonic sensor uses the reflection
derived from the IDE for the Processing programming principle for its working. When connected to the
language and the Wiring projects. It is designed to Arduino, the Arduino provides the pulse signal to the
introduce programming to artists and other newcomers ultrasonic sensor which then sends the ultrasonic wave
unfamiliar with software development. It includes a in forward direction. Hence, whenever there is any
code editor with features such as syntax highlighting, obstacle detected or present in front, it reflects the
brace matching, and automatic indentation, and is also waves which are received by the ultrasonic sensor. If
capable of compiling and uploading programs to the detected, the signal is sent to the Arduino and hence to
board with a single click. A program or code written the PC/laptop to the processing software that shows the
for Arduino is called a "sketch". Arduino programs are presence of the obstacle on the rotating RADAR screen
written in C or C++. The Arduino IDE comes with a with distance and the angle at which it has been
software library called "Wiring" from the original detected.
Wiring project, which makes many common
input/output operations much easier. Users only need (d). Processing Software: Processing is an open source
define two functions to make a run able cyclic programming language and integrated development
executive program: • Setup (): a function run once at environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts, new
the start of a program that can initialize settings • Loop media art, and visual design communities with the
(): a function called repeatedly until the board powers purpose of teaching the fundamentals of computer
off. Open the Arduino IDE software and select the programming in a visual context, and to serve as the
board in use. To select the board: • Go to Tools. • foundation for electronic sketchbooks. The project was
Select Board. • Under board, select the board being initiated in 2001 by Casey Reas and Benjamin Fry,
used, in this case Arduino Uno. • Go to Tools and to both formerly of the Aesthetics and Computation
Port and select the port at which the Arduino board is Group at the MIT Media Lab. One of the stated aims of
connected. • Write the code in the space provided and Processing is to act as a tool to get nonprogrammers
click on compile. Once the code is compiled, click on started with programming, through the instant
upload to upload the sketch to the Arduino board. gratification of visual feedback. The language builds on
the Java language, but uses a simplified syntax and
(b). Connecting Servo Motor: A servomotor is a rotary graphics programming models.
actuator that allows for precise control of angular
position, velocity and acceleration. A normal servo V. APPLICATIONS
motor has three terminals: 1.VCC 2. GND 3. PULSE.
A servo motor works at normally 4.8 to 6 volts. Ground The idea of making an Ultrasonic RADAR appeared to
is provided by connecting it to the Ground of the us while viewing the technology used in defence, be it
Arduino. The total time for a servo motor pulse is Army, Navy or Air Force and now even used in the
usually 20ms. To move it to one end of say 0 degree automobiles employing features like
angle, a 1ms pulse is used and to move it to other end automatic/driverless parking systems, accident
i.e. 180 degrees, a 2ms pulse is applied. Hence, prevention during driving etc. The applications of such
according to this to move the axis of the servo motor to have been seen recently in the self-parking car systems
the centre, a pulse of time 1.5 ms should be applied. launched by AUDI, FORD etc. And even the upcoming
For this, the pulse wire of the servo motor is connected driverless cars by Google like Prius and Lexus.
to the Arduino that provides the digital pulses for pulse
width modulation of the pulse. Hence, by programming (a). Air Force: In aviation, aircraft are equipped with
for a particular pulse interval the servo motor can be radar devices that warn of aircraft or other obstacles in
controlled easily. or approaching their path, display weather information,
and give accurate altitude readings. The first
(c). Connecting Ultrasonic Sensor: An Ultrasonic commercial device fitted to aircraft was a 1938 Bell
Sensor consists of four wires. One for VCC, second for Lab unit on some United Air Lines aircraft. Such

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aircraft can land in fog at airports equipped with radar- VI. CONCLUSION
assisted ground-controlled approach systems in which
the plane's flight is observed on radar screens while This work aims on the use of Ultrasonic Sensor by
operators radio landing directions to the pilot. connected to the Arduino UNO R3 board and the signal
from the sensor further provided to the screen formed
on the laptop to measure the presence of any obstacle in
front of the sensor as well as determine the range and
angle at which the obstacle is detected by the sensor.
For this screen, we use Processing 2 software by
Benjamin Fry and Casey Reas, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge.

VII. REFERENCES

[1]. S. Murakami, Y. Nishida, T. Hori, H. Mizoguchi,

A Minimally Privacy-Violative Activity
Observation System: Tracking People and
Objects Using a Combined Tag-Radar Ultrasonic
System (in Japanese), in Proceedings of JSME
Robotics and Mechatronics Conference 2005
(b). Naval Applications: Marine radars are used to
(ROBOMEC2005), 1A1-N-095(1)-(4), June
measure the bearing and distance of ships to prevent
2005.
collision with other ships, to navigate, and to fix their
[2]. Y. Nishida, S. Murakami, H. Toshio, H.
position at sea when within range of shore or other
Mizoguchi, "Minimally Privacy-Violative
fixed references such as islands, buoys, and lightships.
System for Locating Human by Ultrasonic Radar
In port or in harbour, vessel traffic service radar
Embedded on Ceiling," in Proceedings of 2004
systems are used to monitor and regulate ship
IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man
movements in busy waters.
and Cybernetics (SMC '04), pp. 1549- 1554,
October 2004.
(c). Applications in Army: Two video cameras
[3]. S. Murakami, Y. Nishida, T. Hori, H. Mizoguchi,
automatically detect and track individuals walking
Detecting Human Head Location Using a Simply
anywhere near the system, within the range of a soccer
Installed Ultrasonic Radar System, in
field. Low-level radar beams are aimed at them and
Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of
then reflected back to a computer, which analyzes the
the Robotics Society of Japan, 1A23(1)-(2),
signals in a series of algorithms. It does this by
September 2004.
comparing the radar return signal (which emits less
than a cell phone) to an extensive library of “normal
responses.” Those responses are modeled after people
of all different shapes and sizes .It then compares the
signal to another set of “anomalous responses” – any
anomaly, and horns go off. Literally, when the
computer detects a threat, it shows a red symbol and
sounds a horn. No threat and the symbol turns green,
greeting the operators with a pleasant piano riff.

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