Designing a PCB for your home automation system

So far in this chapter, we have learned how to prototype an Arduino-based system on a breadboard. We are now going to see how to take an idea from the prototype we built on a breadboard and build our own board from it.

The first step is to design the board on your computer. To do so, I used software called EAGLE, which is widely used to design Arduino-based systems. You can download EAGLE by going to the following page:

http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/

The first thing you have to do is open the software and create a new schematic. This will take you to a new blank window similar to what is shown in the following screenshot, where you will create your schematics:

In this section of the chapter, I want to show you how to build your own board and not build the exact same board I used as an example.

Therefore, I will give you an overview of how to build a board in EAGLE. What you should focus on at this stage is really how to use the most...