doubts on blue tooth enabled temperature sensor

@cooltwins-I5yJpZ • Oct 26, 2024

Oct 26, 2024

2.2K

hi there guys,
It is high time i try my hand on a mini project and i just came up with this idea of blue tooth enabled temperature sensor

i think it is an awesome idea but the thing is i am in my 2nd year only and my knowledge level in ECE is very limited.

I am a CEan so i am not gonna go round asking people to send me stuff.So i have managed to gather some material but can't make much of it.

so i am asking you my doubts hoping you will be patient and clear my doubts.

so here goes:
DOUBTS:

(1) the process starts off with a thermal sensor, followed by adder,amplifier and rectifier.I have no problems with these components but then one has to go on to use PIC16F877 whose nature, charachteristics, uses i do not know. but the specifications given are RS232 Standard,iSPA (which still does not make sense to me ). and that PIC also requires some programming and testing. programming :L.E.T PicBasic Pro,PICALL. testing :A/D,USART.😕

(2). there is another component whose necessity i am not aware off: Impulsesoft Serial Port Adapter (iSPA). the info i have says that it acts as a COM port.

(3) then there is this PCMCIA Card also which sounds like greek and latin to me.

(4) i also want to know about the Data acquisition from COM port, PIC programming.

thanks for reading the entire post.

do try and post some answer if you are aware of any of these topics.

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cooltwins

@cooltwins-I5yJpZ • Jan 31, 2010

on trying to use the help of google i came across this info:

PIC16F877 is not recommended for the present times and instead PIC16F887 is the most preferred one owing to its speed and other features.

i am still looking out for info on the new one.
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sanks85

@sanks85-20puY7 • Feb 1, 2010

hey buddy can you please explain the phenomena on which your bluetooth temperature sensor works...??
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sanks85

@sanks85-20puY7 • Feb 1, 2010

i mean what is the need of using a bluetooth device to a temp. sensor..??
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Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Feb 2, 2010

cooltwins
I am a CEan so i am not gonna go round asking people to send me stuff.So i have managed to gather some material but can't make much of it.
Thats the spirit! 😀

I assume your system will be like this:

Temperature sensor -> Amplifier -> PIC -> Bluetooth transceiver -> Computer

The PIC16F877a is quite a interesting microcontroller which allows you to perform multiple control functions with various input and outputs. For this project, you are only interested in two types. the ADC (or Analog to Digital converter) and the USART (Universal Sync/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter).

1. The ACD will be used to detect the analog signals of the temperature sensor, who's voltage level is proportional to the temperature. You will need to calibrate the sensors to know this. Some sensors are already calibrated during the factory stage, while others will need to be done manually. The PIC will convert the analog signal into digital internally (with a resolution of 8 bits), which you can then use in your programming or send to another host.

USART is the main serial method to communicate the PIC with other hosts, such as transceivers (like bluetooth), computers, sensors and other PICs. If compatible, SPI and I[sup]2[/sup]C are used to communicate with other devices as well. With USART, you will need to set a data rate as well as start/stop bits.

2. Its the first time I've heard of the Impulsesoft Serial Port Adapter, but from briefly reading it, it seems to a bluetooth transceiver that you can use to connect to your PIC and communicate with your computer via USART.

3. PCMCIA is a standard slot that laptops use to connect PC cards to it. Because laptops do not have much ways of adding peripheral cards to it, companies manufacture PC cards such as wireless modems and stuff that you can just slot into the laptop. In this project, you only require a bluetooth transceiver on the laptop.. these days they are embedded. If not, its cheaper to buy a USB Bluetooth dongle than a PCMCIA card.. they are quite expensive these days.

4. If you are already experienced in C programming, you can use that as the means of programming the PIC.

You can check Godfather's article on how to program the PIC:
#-Link-Snipped-#

You can check some C programming samples here:
<a href="https://www.microchipc.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Program Microchip PIC micros with C - sample source code, FAQ and more</a>

To acquire data from the serial COM ports depend on what software you'll be using. If you have MATLAB, there are functions available to open the serial ports, collected data and plot the results on graph. You can also just compile your own program too.

sanks85
i mean what is the need of using a bluetooth device to a temp. sensor..??
In this case, its basically a wireless temperature device. You can then just place this sensor somewhere remotely without the need of wires, limited to the range of bluetooth communications. If longer range is needed, WiMax or the standard RF can be used.. even up to 3km.

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cooltwins

@cooltwins-I5yJpZ • Feb 3, 2010

thanks for the explanation ash,

and things do look a bit more clear now. 😀

but i am yet to look at those links and once i do so i hope things will fall in place and as for the reception of signals in the COM port, i haven't been taught MATLAB yet, it is covered only in the next semester i believe.and is there any other way to go on?😕
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Codex Guides

@codex-guides-j1Ii3L • Feb 7, 2010

You could try using Hyperterminal or another simple terminal program. It will only display the data - not record it or anything - but that should be just fine for what you're trying to do.

- CG
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Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Feb 7, 2010

On the lines of what CG has said, I think there are existing VB (or C#) based hyperterminals out there with the source code available.. that allows you to add some coding to save input from the COM ports.

.. or you could just start from scratch and compile from C, C++ or Java 😀
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Codex Guides

@codex-guides-j1Ii3L • Feb 7, 2010

Now that I think about it, you might be able to save the Hyperterminal window to a text file or something. It's been a long time since I last used it.

- CG
#-Link-Snipped-#

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cooltwins

@cooltwins-I5yJpZ • Feb 7, 2010

yeah thanks ash and codex will try to make it.
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Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Feb 8, 2010

Good luck. I'm actually working on something similar to test some wireless transceivers and the GUI. Will be using an LM35 (temperature sensor) as some sort of input to the PIC16F, communicate using UART to the HAC-UM96 radio modems and finally to the computer. More of a long winded version of this project you have, but the aim is to have long distance communication links.
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cooltwins

@cooltwins-I5yJpZ • Feb 8, 2010

whoa!
ash good luck with your project. 👍
hope i have luck with mine too. 😉
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shahrul

@shahrul-Ex12xz • Feb 23, 2010

ash
I assume your system will be like this:

Temperature sensor -> Amplifier -> PIC -> Bluetooth transceiver -> Computer
Maybe this is the system needed.
Start to do the input first. Maybe try to interface temperature and display on LCD. After that, goes to the another step.
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