What this book covers

Chapter 1, Meeting the Arduino Family, introduces you to the Arduino platform, and the different board models that integrate the Arduino family are presented, noting their common aspects.

Chapter 2, The Arduino Development Environment, shows you how to download, install, and set up a working Arduino integrated development environment and gives a complete explanation of its use and commands.

Chapter 3, Interacting with the Environment the Digital Way, covers the connection and use of digital outputs by dealing with simple devices that can be digitally operated, such as LEDs.

Chapter 4, Controlling Outputs Softly with Analog Outputs, shows you how to manage analog outputs and the use of transistor drivers to deal with high-current devices, such as motors.

Chapter 5, Sensing the Real World through Digital Inputs, explains the use of digital inputs by giving examples of typical applications, such as buttons and switches, and proposes an optical coin detection device that uses an optocoupler.

Chapter 6, Analog Inputs to Feel between All and Nothing, presents analog inputs and their use and offers two new projects: an ambient light meter with a photocell and a motor speed controller by using a potentiometer as an input device.

Chapter 7, Managing the Time Domain, introduces you to the different tools the Arduino library offers to deal precisely with time by building two more projects: a simple timer and a visual and acoustic metronome.

Chapter 8, Communicating with Others, shows you how to connect your Arduino projects to other platforms via serial communication and how to use the Serial Monitor to read from and send data to Arduino. A computer-controlled motor speed driver and a dial thermometer will be built.

Chapter 9, Dealing with Interrupts, shows you how to use interrupts to deal with unexpected events and to understand the difference between having to wait for something to occur and be called when it occurs. We will use a tachograph as a good example to show you all these concepts.

Chapter 10, Arduino in a Real Case – Greenhouse Control, gives you a complete real example of a project that summarizes all the concepts learned throughout the book.