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01

sensing the imperceptible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFq7BF_kjus&feature=related
temperature

Temperature sensors read environmental tem-

perature with varying degrees of accuracy. They are
availabe both in digital and analog versions as well as
Celsius and Farenheit.
A standard digital temperature sensor is the
LM335A. It is a very easy-to-use analog temperature

http://www.sparkfun.com
sensor. The LM335A works like a Zener diode with a
breakdown voltage proportional to absolute tempera-
ture at 10mV/°K. Hook up a resistor from 5V and GND,
and the LM335A will output an analog voltage of 2.98V
(298 Kelvin is 25C or room temperature). The output
of the sensor is linear, and when calibrated at 25°C Temperature Sensor - LM335A
the LM335A has typically less than 1°C error over a
100°C temperature range. The sensor can operate
continuously from −40°C to 100°C.Calibration of the
sensor requires a pot connected across the sensor,
with the wiper of the potentiometer connected to the
adjustment pin of the LM335.
There also exists a combined temperature

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsrvT2odicI
and humidity sensor, although it is a bit more expen-
sive. Some temperature sensors come soldered to
a mini breadboard and are called Temperature Sens-
ing Bricks that can be used without an Arduino Board.
Most of the available temperature sensors are under

http://www.elechouse.com
10$, depending on whether or not they have attached
circuitry and those paired with humidity are much
more expensive.

Digital Temperature & Humidity sensors

CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03
sensing the imperceptible:
humidity
Humidity sensors detect relative humidity and
are often combinded with temperature sensors. A
common stand alone humidity sensor is the HS1101
humidity sensor. Based on a unique capacitive cell,
these relative humidity sensors are designed for high
volume, cost sensitive applications such as office au-
tomation, automotive cabin air control, home appli-
ances, and industrial process control systems. They
are also useful in all applications where humidity com-
pensation is needed.
Also availabe are humidity sensors already sol-
dered to boards. An example is this breakout board for
Honeywell’s HIH-4030 humidity sensor. The HIH-4030
measures relative humidity (%RH) and delivers it as
an analog output voltage. You can connect the output
of the sensor directly to an ADC on a microcontroller;
and, thanks to the sensor’s near linear voltage output,
the data is very easy to process. Voltage applied to
the supply pins should be within 4-5.8VDC, and op-
timally at 5V. The sensor will typically only consume
about 200μA. This product comes as shown in the
picture, with the HIH-4030 soldered onto the break-
out board. The pins of the 3-pin header are spaced
by 0.1”.
Humidity sensors are a little more expensive
than temperature ones, particularly if they are at-
tached to a board.
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sensing the imperceptible:
barometric pressure
A barometer measures barometric pressure,
also known as atmospheric pressure. The Barometric
Pressure Sensor MEMs - SCP1000-D01 This is the
Relevant youtube video webaddress
very first absolute pressure sensor on the market to
use MEMs technology to grant 17-bit resolution. Un-
der ideal conditions, this sensor can detect the pres-
http://www.sparkfun.com
http://www.parallax.com
sure difference within a 9cm column of air. Breakout
board available below!
VTI’s SCP1000-D01 digital absolute pressure
sensors are intended for barometric pressure measure-
ment and altimeter applications for 30kPa...120kPa
HS1101 Humidity Sensor and -20°C...70°C measuring ranges. The pressure Barometric Pressure Sensor
and temperature output data is calibrated and com-
pensated internally and the communication between
the SCP1000 and its host micro-controller is realized
using an SPI interface.
SCP1000 is comprised of a VTI’s 3D-MEMS
capacitive sensing element, a dedicated low power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncPayJZyN_w
CMOS interface ASIC with on-chip calibration mem-
ory, 4 preset measuring modes and a LCP (Liquid
Crystal Plastic) MID (Molded Interconnect Device)
Relevant youtube video webaddress
housing. The component is a surface mountable de-
vice incorporating a circular vertical wall for easy wa-
terproof sealing.
http://www.sparkfun.com
http://www.sparkfun.com
A less expensive barometer is the MPL115A1,
which is a digital barometric pressure sensor that
uses MEMs technology to give accurate pressure
measurements between 50kPa and 115kPa.
HIH-4030 Humidity Sensor Barometric Pressure Sensor
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07
sensing the imperceptible:
weather
Weather sensors exist that combine several
different sensors in a single unit. One example of
this is the USB Weather Board. We take the sensi-
tive SCP1000 barometric pressure sensor, add the
TEMT6000 ambient light sensor, match it with a
sensitive SHT15 humidity sensor, and we give you
weather over USB! Ok, so it doesn’t really predict
the weather, but you can immediately tell what the
current pressure, humidity, ambient light level, and
temperature is. Graphed over time you can watch
weather fronts move in and the rain come down.
This new version uses and ATmega328 instead of
the ATmega168. Code is interchangeable between
the two. Serial output is a single visible ASCII string
at 9600bps.
Features:
* Powered over USB or externally
* Absolute barometric pressure accurate within +/-
150 Pascal
* Relative humidity accurate within +/-2%
* Temperature accurate within +/-0.3 degrees C
* Ambient light sensor (analog level)
* Serial output 9600bps 8-N-1
* Measurement rate of 1Hz
* Sensors are isolated from all potential heat sources
* Firmware allows for temperature compensation
The utube video at left also shows how you
can use Arduino to pick up the data from a weather
station module, like the Weather Meter at left, which
costs about $125.
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sensing the imperceptible:
wind
A sensor for detecting wind is called an an-
emometer. Based on original research, “The Wind
Sensor” is a thermal anemometer based on a tradi-
tional technique for measuring wind speed. The tech-
http://www.moderndevice.com/
nique is called the “hot-wire” technique, and involves
heating an element to a constant temperature and
http://www.sparkfun.com
then measuring the electrical power that is required
to maintain the heated element at temperature as the
wind changes. This measured electrical input is then
directly proportional to the wind speed. Hot wire an-
emometers are available in hand-held packages re-
USB Weather Board sembling multimeters, but this is the first small sensor Thermal Anemometer Thermistor
suitable for electronic experiments.
Our wind sensor has an official name of TAT for
“Thermal Anemometer Thermistor”, a nod to the fact
that the hot-wire in our sensor has been replaced by a
solid state sensor called a thermistor.
The TAT will work fine outdoors but for higher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmkRHLfwqb0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHkaZ8O-R9I
wind speeds the spinning cup style anemometers will
probably excel, just because the electrical input avail-
able to the TAT is limited somewhat by its supply volt-
age. The board has an op-amp on it that will work with
a supply as high as 12 volts, but it was really designed
for, and is calibrated at the factory for, five volts.
http://www.sparkfun.com
http://www.inspeed.com
Another sensor is this rugged anemometer with
dual digital display handles speeds from 3 mph to over
125 mph. Comes with exterior grade wire. The Pole
Mount anemometer is great for home or mobile use
where AC power is not available. It costs $79, Pole
not included.
Weather Meter INSPEED VORTEX ANEMOMETER
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07
sensing the imperceptible:
ifrared
There are long and short range infrared sensors
for detecting proximity as well as emitting and detect-
ing IR sensors. The common sensors are pictured at
left and range from $2-$15. The detectors and emit-
ters can be purchased individually or as pairs. These
sensors are often used for line following robots, for
example the MIT Handy Board Microcontroller. See
http://www.leang.com/robotics/info/articles/linesen/in-
dex.html
Another IR application is to measure temper-
ature. Melexis’ MLX90614ESF-BAA is an infrared
thermometer designed for non-contact temperature
sensing. An internal 17-bit ADC and a powerful DSP
contribute to the MLX90614’s high accuracy and reso-
lution. It has a huge number of applications including
body temperature measurment and movement detec-
tion. The MLX90614 provides two methods of output:
PWM and SMBus (i.e. TWI, I2C). The 10-bit PWM
output provides a resolution of 0.14°C, while the TWI
interface has a resolution of 0.02°C. The MLX90614 is
factory calibrated in wide temperature ranges: -40 to
85°C for the ambient temperature and -70 to 382.2°C
for the object temperature. The measured value is the
average temperature of all objects in the Field Of View
of the sensor. The MLX90614 offers a standard accu-
racy of 0.5°C around room temperatures
CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyQOywvM1RE&feature=related
sensing the imperceptible:
color
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELeOApOC7Hw
The TCS230D Color Sensor is an example of
available technology for sensing color. The TCS230
programmable frequency converter color light/red,
green and blue filter integrates in single chip, so it can
be realized without ADC each color channel 10 more
http://www.elechouse.com
resolution. Chip contains a cross-connection 8 x 8
http://www.sparkfun.com
photoelectric diode array, each one of 16 diode pro-
vides a color type, red, blue, green and remove all four
types of optical information can maximize reduce inci-
dent light inhomogeneity of radiation. With the color of
all 16 photoelectric diode are parallel connection, work
Image Caption through the programmable foot to dynamically select TCS230D Color Sensor
color, to increase the accuracy and simplified optical
circuit. The chip USES 8 pin SOIC surface encapsula-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbmYcdXjvJM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laG8p6DXoeM&feature=related
tion, suitable for measuring the colorimeter.
Another option is the ColorPAL from Parallax.
It is a miniature color and light sensor which, through
its RGB LED, doubles as a color generator. For sens-
ing color, the ColorPAL uses its LED to illuminate a
sample, one color component at a time, along with a
broad-spectrum light-to-voltage converter to measure
the light reflected back. The amount of light reflected
from the sample under illumination from each red,
green, and blue LED can be used to determine the
http://www.sparkfun.com
http://www.parallax.com
sample’s color.
Infrared Proximity Sensor Long Range ColorPal
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07
sensing the imperceptible:
heat
One way of detecting air and surface tempera-
tures is with a thermocouple. Thermocouples are best
used for measuring temperatures that can go above
100 degC. This is a bare wires bead-probe which can
measure air or surface temperatures. Most inexpen-
sive thermocouples have a vinyl covering which can
melt at around 200 degC, this one uses a fiberglass
braid so it can be used in high temperature measure-
ments such as heaters and ovens.
An amplifier can be used along with a thermo-
couple, for example, the Analog Devices Thermocou-
ple Type-K Amplifier. Attach a thermocouple, 5V pow-
er, and a decoupling capacitor and you’ve got 10mV/C
output! The Thermocouple Amplifier AD595-AQ is
perfect for high temperature application. The 10mV/C
analog output interfaces nicely with 10-bit ADCs found
on many types of microcontrollers.
CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01
sensing the imperceptible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMdzfVshFFg&feature=related
ir heat detection
There is something called an IR Pyroelectricity
sensor which uses IR to dectect changing heat levels
and therefore the presence of a human being. The
Relevant youtube video webaddress
RE200B CAN-3 human body IR Pyroelectricity sensor
is one such sensor available cheaply from elehouse.
http://www.elechouse.com
They also make another kind of IR sensor
http://www.adafruit.com
attached to a breadboard; also used to detect hu-
man presence. Using PIR pyroelectric sensor, low
power consumption, the authors 50uA wide range
of static, DC voltage circuit small volume 4.5 --20V
size38*28mm32 * 24 mm) can repeat/unrepeatable
Thermocouple Type-K Glass Braid choice is simple to use and triggered power + - sig- human body IR Pyroelectricity sensor
Insulated - K nal output induction distance seven meters induction
Angle 110 degree.
Pyroelectric infrared switch is a passive infrared
switch which consists of BISS0001 ,pyroelectric infra-
red sensors and a few external components. It can
automatically open all kinds of equipments, inculding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8tHF755K6o
incandescent lamp, fluorescent lamp, intercom, auto-
matic, electric fan, dryer and automatic washing ma-
chine, etc.
Relevant youtube video webaddress
It is widely used in enterprises, hotels, stores,
and corridor and other sensitive area for automatical
lamplight, lighting and alarm system.
http://www.elechouse.com
http://www.sparkfun.com
Thermocouple Amplifier AD595-AQ Human infrared sensor module
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07
sensing the imperceptible:
ir heat detection photography
Infrared radiation can be used to remotely de-
termine the temperature of objects (if the emissivity is
known). This is termed thermography, or in the case
of very hot objects in the NIR or visible it is termed
pyrometry. Thermography (thermal imaging) is main-
ly used in military and industrial applications but the
technology is reaching the public market in the form
of infrared cameras on cars due to the massively re-
duced production costs.
The instructables link at right shows you how to
modify a standard webcam to catch the infrared spec-
trum rather than the visible light one.
Sparkfun offers this is a high-quality black and
white CMOS camera module with high-power infra-
red LEDs to light up the night. Power the CA-84AC
module, hook up any display, monitor, or LCD screen
with an RCA input and get vivid black and white video
at 500x582 resolution even in completely dark envi-
ronments. Module is easily mountable and should be
powered close to the 12V spec. Comes with high qual-
ity optics, all the on board circuitry to output RCA sig-
nal, and cable harness.
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sensing the imperceptible:
uv sensing
http://www.techmagdaily.com/category/science/page/40
http://www.instructables.com/id/Infrared-IR-Webcam/
A photodiode is a type of photodetector capable
of converting light into either current or voltage, de-
pending upon the mode of operation.
Photodiodes are similar to regular semiconduc-
tor diodes except that they may be either exposed (to
detect vacuum UV or X-rays) or packaged with a win-
http://search.digikey.com
dow or optical fiber connection to allow light to reach
the sensitive part of the device. Many diodes designed
for use specifically as a photodiode will also use a PIN
junction rather than the typical PN junction.
A photodiode is a PN junction or PIN structure.
from Technology Daily When a photon of sufficient energy strikes the diode, DETECTOR/AMP UV
it excites an electron, thereby creating a free electron
and a (positively charged electron) hole. If the absorp-
tion occurs in the junction’s depletion region, or one
diffusion length away from it, these carriers are swept
from the junction by the built-in field of the depletion
region. Thus holes move toward the anode, and elec-
trons toward the cathode, and a photocurrent is pro-
duced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photodiode
Two different kinds of UV sensors are available
Relevant youtube video webaddress
at digikey.com and are pictured at right.
http://search.digikey.com
http://www.sparkfun.com
CMOS IR Camera Module - 500x582 Photodiode
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07
sensing the imperceptible:
human pulse
This Polar Heart Rate Module - RMCM01 can
be used to detect the human heart beat. This is a
OEM module for the Polar Heart Rate system. This
device works with any Polar heart rate strap to pickup
the electromagnetic pulse and output a 1ms pulse
indicating a heart beat has occurred.
Features:
* Multiple interfaces: USB, Logic-level serial and I2C
* Dual heart rate processing algorithms: averaged
and raw
* Uses the RMCM01 Polar OEM receiver
* Compatible with coded and non-coded Polar trans-
mitters including T31, T31C, T61C and Wearlink®
* 32-entry heart rate data history buffer
* Four 8-bit ADC inputs
* Up to a 5 channel digital input/output utility port
* Simple command/response interface
* Programmable power-on default operation
* Only works with one transmitter (HRM) in range
An accesory to this module is Polar Heart
Rate Monitor Interface. This is a wonderful evalua-
tion board cooperatively designed by danjuliodesigns
and SparkFun. The Heart Rate Monitor Interface
(HRMI) is an intelligent peripheral device that con-
verts the ECG signal from the Polar Heart Rate
Monitor (HRM) into easy-to-use heart rate data. It
implements a sophisticated algorithm for computing
an average heart rate even with noisy or intermittent
data from the transmitter.
CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01
sensing the imperceptible:
body sensing
This detector circuit is for detecting a Lie. The
lie detector circuit diagram consists of three transis-
tors, a capacitor, two lights or LEDs, five resistors, and
Relevant youtube video webaddress
http://detector-sensor.blogspot.com
a variable resistor.
This Lie Detector circuit is based on the fact that
a person’s skin resistance changes when they sweat
http://www.sparkfun.com
(sweating because they’re lying). Dry skin has a resis-
tance of about 1 million ohms, whereas the resistance
of moist skin is reduced by a factor of ten or more.
Another way to sense things in the body is this
piezo pulse sensor. The purpose of the piezo film
Polar Heart Rate Module - RMCM01 pulse sensor project is to identify and build a reliable, Lie Detector circuit
low power, low cost blood flow sensor. The sensor is
http://www.phoenix.tc-ieee.org/004_Piezo_Film_Blood_Flow_Sensor/
intended for two proposed designs for the ambulatory
blood pressure monitor (ABPM). They are: (a) an os-
Phoenix_PiezoPulse.htmRelevant youtube video webaddress
cillometric cuff design (as a Korotkoff sound sensor)
and (b) the blood flow velocity design.
There are many other body sensors as in those
used in medical devices, but there are not so many of
these commercially availabe to use with Arduino.
http://www.sparkfun.com
Polar Heart Rate Monitor Interface Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07 CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01

sensing the imperceptible: sensing the imperceptible:

breath chemicals

One way of sensing breath is to measure ac- Another way to sense human breath is through
tualy breathing rhythms. The Respiratory Belt Trans- the detection of Carbon Monoxide which is present in
ducer contains a piezo-electric device that responds a person’s exhale. This sensor has a high sensitivity
linearly to changes in length. The transducer comes and fast response time. The sensor’s output is an ana-

http://www.adinstruments.com
with a 6 meter cable and is MR Safe. It measures log resistance. The drive circuit is very simple; all you

changes in thoracic or abdominal circumference dur-
ing respiration. These measurements can indicate
inhalation, expiration and breathing strength and can
be used to derive breathing rate. The transducer may
be used to characterize breathing patterns. The trans-
ducer is a solid-state device that requires no excitation
and connects directly to a BNC on any PowerLab. It
is comfortable to wear, rugged, reliable and washable.
It is suitable for use on animals of various sizes (from
http://www.elechouse.com
need to do is power the heater coil with 5V, add a load
resistance, and connect the output to an ADC.
Other chemicals which can be detected using
various sensors are methane, natural gas, liquid gas,
kerosene, isobutane, propane, liquefied petroleum
gas, and hydrogen. Many of these sensors assert that
Piezo Respiratory Belt Transducer they have the ability to ignore noise such as alcohol MQ-7 Carbon Monoxide Gas Sensor
and smoke in trying to detect other specific gasses.
One such sensor, shown at bottom right, can detect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENO0MlXLV2c&feature=related
cats to horses) as well as humans. natural gas , liquid gas, and kerosene but avoids the
Another way to sense human breath is through noise of alcohol and cooking fumes and cigarette
the detection of certain components. The Alcohol Gas smoke.
Sensor MQ-3 is an alcohol sensor suitable for detect- All of these gas sensors should be used with
ing alcohol concentration on your breath, just like your caution as there are heat coils located within the sen-
common breathalyzer. It has a high sensitivity and fast sors that get rather hot.
response time. Sensor provides an analog resistive
output based on alcohol concentration. The drive cir-
cuit is very simple, all it needs is one resistor. A simple
interface could be a 0-3.3V ADC.

http://www.elechouse.com
http://www.sparkfun.com

Alcohol Gas Sensor MQ-3 MQ-5 Gas Sensor

CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07
sensing the imperceptible:
chemicals (cont.)
Need to test for nuclear fallout? This is a
USB powered Geiger Counter equipped with an AT-
Mega328 that can be programmed in circuit using one
of the programmers below. Simply plug the unit into
USB (make sure you have FTDI drivers installed),
open a terminal program to the correct COM port at
9600bps, and you will see random bits being gener-
ated from the random background radiation.
Geiger tubes are the sensing elements of Gei-
ger counters, which are used to measure ionizing ra-
diation. This tube is made of a thin-walled stainless
steel and is filled with a mixture of Neon and Halogen Geiger Counter
gases at low-pressure.
You’ll need a large voltage to get the Geiger
tube to going - 325VDC minimum, 500VDC recom-
mended. If ionizing radiation passes through the tube,
short pulses of current will flow from the negative
electrode to the positive electrode to be measured or
counted.
Geiger Tube
CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01
sensing the imperceptible:
PH sensing
The pH sensor components are usually com-
http://www.electronics-lab.com/blog/?p=3676
bined into one device called a combination pH elec-
trode. The measuring electrode is usually glass and
quite fragile. Recent developments have replaced the
glass with more durable solid-state sensors. The pre-
amplifier is a signal-conditioning device. It takes the
http://www.sparkfun.com
high-impedance pH electrode signal and changes
it into alow impedance signal which the analyser or
transmitter can accept. The preamplifier also strength-
ens and stabilizes the signal, making it less suscep-
tible to electrical noise
There is a link at right to an open software Arduino pH meter
open hardware pH meter using an Arduino/Freeduino
board. In other words, this is an electronic circuit to be
connected with a glass electrode pH sensor.
If you don’t want to wire your own pH sensor but
just want to transmit data readings directly into your
computer, you can us this phidget. Connect any stan-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m9OfkQ6Zqo
dard Ph probe to this PhidgetPhSensor and quickly
read Ph levels into your PC.
http://www.active-robots.com
http://www.sparkfun.com
Phidget Ph Sensor
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07 CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01

sensing the imperceptible: sensing the imperceptible:

particulate ultrasound

Sharp’s GP2Y1010AU0F is an optical air qual- Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a fre-
ity sensor, designed to sense dust particles. An infra- quency greater than the upper limit of human hearing.
red emitting diode and a phototransistor are diagonal- Although this limit varies from person to person, it is
ly arrraanged into this device, to allow it to detect the approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz) in healthy,
reflected light of dust in air. It is especially effective in young adults and thus, 20 kHz serves as a useful low-
detecting very fine particles like cigarette smoke, and er limit in describing ultrasound.

is commonly used in air purifier systems.
The sensor has a very low current consump-
tion (20mA max, 11mA typical), and can be powered
with up to 7VDC. The output of the sensor is an ana-
log voltage proportional to the measured dust density,
with a sensitivity of 0.5V/0.1mg/m3.
http://www.sparkfun.com
http://parts.digikey.com
One sensor for dectecting this imperceptible
sense is the Ultrasonic Range Finder - Maxbotix LV-
EZ3. The sensor provides very accurate readings of
0 to 255 inches (0 to 6.45m) in 1 inch increments with
little or no dead zone!
Optical Dust Sensor - GP2Y1010AU0F A model often used in building robots is the Ultrasonic Range Finder
Ping Ultrasonic Range Sensor which prevents robots
from running into things.

http://www.lynxmotion.com
Ping))) Ultrasonic Range Sensor
CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07 CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01

sensing the imperceptible: sensing the imperceptible:

hall effect sensor compass

A Hall effect sensor is a transducer that varies The Honeywell HMC6352 is a fully integrated
its output voltage in response to changes in magnetic compass module that combines 2-axis magneto-
field. Hall sensors are used for proximity switching, resistive sensors with the required analog and digi-
positioning, speed detection, and current sensing ap- tal support circuits, and algorithms for heading com-
plications. putation. Rumor is that Honeywell took all the tricks
In its simplest form, the sensor operates as an up their sleeve and created the HMC6352 using the

http://www.sparkfun.com

analogue transducer, directly returning a voltage. With
a known magnetic field, its distance from the Hall plate
can be determined. Using groups of sensors, the rela-
tive position of the magnet can be deduced.
Electricity carried through a conductor will pro-
duce a magnetic field that varies with current, and a
Hall sensor can be used to measure the current with-
out interrupting the circuit. Typically, the sensor is in-
tegrated with a wound core or permanent magnet that
surrounds the conductor to be measured.
Frequently, a Hall sensor is combined with cir-
cuitry that allows the device to act in a digital (on/off)
mode, and may be called a switch in this configura-
tion. Commonly seen in industrial applications such
as the pictured pneumatic cylinder, they are also used
in consumer equipment; for example some computer
printers use them to detect missing paper and open
covers. When high reliability is required, they are used
http://www.sparkfun.com
HMC1052 core, a Microchip PIC core, and a combi-
nation of MOSFET and OpAmp circuitry. This chip is
simple to use and gives you magnetic heading down
to the last degree.
Another model, the HMC6352 Compass Mod-
hall effect sensor ule, is fully integrated and combines 2-axis magneto- Compass 2-Axis Integrated Solution
resistive sensors with the required analog, digital,
microprocessor and algorithms required for heading
computation.
The HMC6352 Compass Module provides a
direct heading angle and includes internal calibration
algorithms within its firmware. Stray magnetic field
protection and temperature compensation are also
included.

http://www.parallax.com
in keyboards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_effect_

http://parts.digikey.com
sensor
A couple of availabe hall effect sensors are pic-
tured at right.

mini hall effect sensor HMC6352 Compass Module

CH.01 CH.02 CH.03 CH.04 CH.05 CH.06 CH.07 CH.08 CH.09 CH.09 CH.08 CH.07 CH.06 CH.05 CH.04 CH.03 CH.02 CH.01

http://www.amazon.com/Irwin-6041705CD-Strait-Line-Live-Sensor/dp/
sensing the imperceptible: sensing the imperceptible:

time live wire

There are many chips and modules for keep- Live wire sensors now come built into some
ing abolute time, also known as real time. A couple higher end stud finders used in locating metal studs
examples are pictured here. and the nails in wood studs. The live wire detectors
The DS1302 trickle-charge timekeeping chip help to locate the wiring embedded in the wall assem-
contains a real-time clock/calendar and 31 bytes of bly so that you don’t cut through it.
static RAM. It communicates with a microprocessor In order to attach such a device to arduino, one

http://www.parallax.com
via a simple serial interface. may need to hack the commercial product.
Only three wires are required to communicate

with the clock/RAM: CE (chip enable), I/O (data line)
and SCLK (serial clock). Data can be transfered to
and from the clock/RAM 1 byte at a time, or in a burst
of up to 31 bytes. The DS1302 is designed to operate
on very low power, and retain the data and clock infor-
B0002VM7O4
This is an interesting article about using the
wiring in one’s home as an atenna for powering low
energy consuming sensors in the house to detect
DS1302 Timekeeping Chip air quality, etc. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releas- Strait-Line Live Wire in Wall Sensor
es/2010/09/100915094230.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2010/09/100915094230-large.jpg
mation on less than 1 μW.
This a custom designed module for the DS1307
Real Time Clock. The module comes fully assembled
and pre-programmed with the current time (ok, so it’s
our current time - MST). The included Lithium coin
cell battery (CR1225 41mAh) will run the module for a
minimum of 9 years (17 years typical) without external
5V power. The DS1307 is accessed via the I2C proto-
col. We’ve written a test-bed to program the modules.
This test-bed code should give you some insight on
how to interface the module to any microcontroller us-

http://www.sparkfun.com
ing our example software I2C and BCD routines.

Real Time Clock Module Science Daily