EFY Magazine projects

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An effort to put up Construction projects published in Electronics For you Magazine will be done here in this thread regularly. If any other member too has any access to any construction articles from the magazine, is most welcome to post it here. All articles will include schematics, full articles with PCB layouts and codes. Thus material whatever available from the magazine will be posted here, and these are not my projects. Any claims about its non working or discussions about the same may be continued on the regular discussion forums. This thread will be exclusively for posting projects only.
Requests for any EFY published projects such as Code or other info may be continued on this thread:
EFY Magazine projects Requests Code or More
http://www.sonsivri.com/forum/index.php?topic=37591.0

EDIT: Ask for code or hijack this topic and your post will be deleted, and a warning given. Help keep topic clean

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Solar emergency light (EFY June 2015)
Solar-powered lights are a popular alternative to electric-powered lights. The solar emergency lamp described here has 60 white LEDs. It is powered
either by solar power or AC mains or 12V, SMF battery; under normal operation, the lamp is powered by the battery. When the battery voltage drops to 10.5V, the battery-charge-controller circuit goes into operation. Selection between a solar panel and AC mains for charging is done with the help of solid-state relays. If both sources are connected, the system selects solar power over AC mains for charging the battery.

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Arduino based gesture controlled robot (EFY July 2015)
Presented here is an Arduino based gesture-controlled robot, which is controlled through an accelerometer module using wireless radio frequency (RF) communication. In this project, we have used two Arduino UNO boards, one at the transmitter side and the other at the receiver side. The transmitter circuit is attached to the hand and the receiver Presented here is an Arduino based gesture-controlled robot, which is controlled through an accelerometer module using wireless radio frequency (RF) communication. circuit is attached to mechanical chassis of the robot. Hand gestures can control the robot using an accelerometer such as ADXL345 module. By changing the axis of ADXL345, we get corresponding changes in X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis coordinates. These are sent to Arduino Board2 and, accordingly, control command to the robot is sent through the RF transmitter module wirelessly. These transmitted signals are received at the receiver end through an RF receiver module and transferred to Arduino Board 1 at the receiving end, which then drives L293D IC to rotate the motors for robotic movement.

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Door Lock using Arduino (EFY July 2015)
Presented here is an electronic locking system in which Arduino Nano plays the role of the processing unit. This circuit allows activation of an electronic door lock only on entering the correct password. It uses Arduino Nano to provide a keypad interface door lock for the front door. It is a keyless system where you can use your own personal code to enter your home with just a few simple pushes of some buttons. The keypad lock functions by entering a secret code, which is user-programmable.

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Design your own Remote control (EFY March 2007)
Most of the home appliances like TV sets, stereo systems, CD/DVD layers/recorders, air-conditioners, microwave ovens, multimedia computers and
set-top boxes come with an IR remote control. An infrared remote offers severaladvantages: 
1. It is a cost-effective signaling system.
2. Unlike radio-frequency-based control devices, it is not subject to any
   stringent regulation and restriction.
3. It is a line-of-sight system with a range of 5 to 10 metres, hence its       
    radiation stays confined to a single room in which it is used. It thus prevents interference between units operating in different rooms even when     
    using identical device address and command code.
4. A relatively broad modulation frequency range is available using inexpensive ASICs and components.
5. It is generally insensitive to interference from external electrical or magnetic fields.
6. It offers relatively high energy efficiency, which enhances the battery life.
7. Infrared emitters and detectors are inexpensive and readily available.

Limitations are:
1. Line-of-sight propagation becomes a limitation when you need to control a device from another room.
2. Infrared is subject to mutual interference from multiple sources in the same room as most consumer IR transmissions use a wavelength of either
   880 or 940 nm (corresponding to the two commonly available IR-emitting LED types). This limitation can be tackled by using different sub-carrier
   frequencies to modulate the light signals coupled with different encoding schemes to carry the data content.
3. Although largely immune to electrical or magnetic interference, the infrared signal is some what subject to interference from sunlight and other
    infrared sources as also fluorescent lights.

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AVR Based Programmable object counter (EFY August 2015)
Object counters are used for applications like counting the number of visitors at super markets and other public places, the number of objects passing through a particular area or into a tray or container in manufacturing industries, the number of tablets filled in a bottle or a wrapper in the pharmaceutical industry and counting and limiting the number of people entering elevators or halls, among others. The project presented here demonstrates the working of an object counter suitable for industrial applications for counting up to 9999 objects. It is an AVR microcontroller (MCU) based full-featured programmable counter. In manufacturing industries, before the final product is ready, the product passes through a number of different stages of the manufacturing process. Normally, the operator enters the number of objects to be counted from the monitoring console, followed by pressing Start. The products moving on a conveyor belt are counted by the programmable object counter. The conveyor belt automatically stops when the number of counts entered by the operator is reached. Main features of this programmable object counter are simple user interface (UI) using only four pushbuttons, an LCD display for the UI, LEDs for simple visual indications, a buzzer for audio indication, counting of objects from 0 to 9999 and user-selectable counting up or counting down options.

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Bed-Vacancy Alarm System (EFY Sept 2015)
This inexpensive, compact bedvacancy alarm system raises an audible alarm  whenever a patient or a small kid sleeping on the bed leaves the bed. The circuit comprises a bed sensor, an alarm box and a power supply with an optional battery-backup facility. The bed sensor can be placed under the hip of the care receiver on the mattress. The alarm box can be hooked onto a headboard or nightstand. The highly-sensitive sensor used is nothing but a force sensing resistor (FSR). The FSR is a polymer thickfilm (PTF) device whose  resistance decreases with an increase in the force applied to its active surface. It is not a strain gauge, load cell or pressure transducer. While FSR can be used for dynamic measurement, only qualitative results are generally obtainable. Usually an FSR can sense applied force anywhere in the range of 100gm to 10kg; when no pressure is applied, its resistance is larger than 100k ohms.

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Thermocouple Tutorial with Arduino Interfacing (EFY Sept 2015)
Here is a simple project for interfacing a thermocouple with Arduino board. In high temperature process-control applications, some Ics and sensors fail to operate at certain high temperature levels. So a simple, rugged and linear thermocouple can be used to prevent that. A thermocouple is made by fusing the tips of two dissimilar metals. It works on the principle of Seebeck Effect, which states that when one end of a pair of two dissimilar metals
is heated, a potential difference forms at their other end, which is directly proportional to the temperature difference of the two ends.

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Assistive Device for the Speech Impaired (EFY Oct 2015)
Speech-impaired people have difficulty in communicating with normal people because the hand gestures used by them to communicate their information is not easily understandable; only trained people can understand these. Most expressions and emotions remain un-conveyed, sometimes even misinterpreted. So hand gestures (limited gestures) are not an effective method of communication for the speech impaired people. To take care of this issue, an assistive device can be used to enhance the passage of communication. Here, the assistive device consists of a specialized keypad in which each key corresponds to a preassigned recorded audio that can be played to convey the message by the speech-impaired person.

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Sonar Water-Level Meter (EFY Oct 2015)
Three-fourths of the earth is water, out of which 97 per cent is saline (in oceans, seas and groundwater). The remaining 2.5 per cent to 2.75 per cent is fresh water, out of which 1.75 per cent to two per cent is frozen in glaciers, ice and snow. Fresh groundwater and soil moisture constitutes only 0.7 per cent to 0.8 per cent. Less than 0.01 per cent, available as surface water in lakes, swamps and rivers, is available to us as drinking water. It is therefore imperative that systems are in place for managing this precious and scarce resource. Water-level indicators for waterstorage tanks are mostly mechanical contraptions. Steel wires, pulleys and rails get rusted as these are in continuous contact with water and air, resulting in  unreliable operation. Contactless sonar-level metres are there but their high cost is a deterrent. In this article, a sonar contactless, wireless water-level indicator, which can be fabricated for less than ` 2500, has been described. It is capable of measuring water levels up to four metres with an accuracy of less than 5mm.

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Android Based Invisible Broken-Wire-Detection Robot (EFY Nov 2015)
Arduino UNO board. Arduino is an open source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It is intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone who may be interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Arduino UNO is a board based on
ATmega328 microcontroller (MCU). It has 14 digital input/output pins, six analogue inputs, a USB connection Electrical conductors for distribution
are carried on overhead pole lines or buried underground. It is easy to identify broken electrical wires on overhead lines but not so in underground wires or household wirings concealed in the walls or breakage inside their insulation cover. Here is a robot that can detect invisible broken electrical
wires in 1-core, 2-core and 3-core cables without physically disturbing these.

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ATmega16A Based GPS Receiver (EFY Nov 2015)
A global positioning system (GPS) receiver is used to get precise geographical location by receiving information from satellites. It not only gives information about location but also information like time, date, height and speed. It is so useful that most smartphones are embedded with it. GPS receivers have many applications in aircraft, ships, sea vessels and the like for navigation purposes. Smartphones with maps (like Google Maps) find routes to a specific destination such as a restaurant, hospital or hotel. With the help of a GPS, a target camp can be located and a missile launched to destroy it.

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Joystick Based Stepper Motor Angle Controller Using AVR MCU (EFY Dec 2015)
A stepper motor is associated with parameters like speed, direction, number of revolutions and angle of rotation. There are different types of stepper motor controllers designed to control required parameters as per specific applications. Here is a project for controlling a stepper motor’s angle of rotation up to 360 degrees. Controlling the angle of rotations of stepper motors finds many applications including the following: Satellite dish antenna positioning. A satellite dish antenna should be in alignment with the satellite in space to receive signal at maximum strength. Therefore it is important to position the dish antenna at required angle. Aileron, elevator and rudder positioning in aircraft: In aircraft, it is required to position the aileron, elevator and rudder at desired angles to increase or decrease lift, change direction and increase or decrease speed. Rudder positioning on ship. To move the ship in a specific  direction, it is important to set the angle of the rudder located in front of the propeller.  Tank guns or howitzers positioning: For hitting the bulls-eye (target), the tank gun (or howitzer) must be positioned at a specific angle. One way to control the stepper motor’s angle of rotation is by using a joystick. You can turn the joystick shaft at a specific angle to rotate the motor at the desired angle and, at the same time, setting of the angle of rotation can be displayed on the LCD screen. As the joystick shaft is turned right or left, the motor immediately follows the joystick and rotates in the same direction by same angle.

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Earthquake indicator using Arduino (EFY Jan 2016)
An earthquake is an unavoidable and unpredictable natural phenomenon that often causes damage to lives and property. We cannot fight it but we can stay alert and aware using technology that can protect us and the industry. Here a simple earth quake indicator for home and industry using an Arduino and a highly-sensitive ADXL335. An accelerometer can indicate vibrations. This project can be modified and used as a knock-and-shake detector for ATMs, vehicles or door-break alarms. But its main aim is to detect earthquakes and other seismic activities.

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DIGITAL IC TESTER With Embedded Truth Table (EFY January 2106)
Different ICs come with different specifications. Thus, it becomes imperative to apply different hardware configurations and feed all possible inputs for checking different ICs. We need some easy and useful techniques to check the functionality of different kinds of ICs. This article represents a prototype IC tester that is highly capable, highly reliable as well as cost-effective. Here, we develop a program with different functions for checking different ICs. We systematically analyse and test the prototype for several ICs, accessing each individual pin with all possible inputs. We also investigate truth tables associated with different ICs over a display channel.

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Fridge Temp and Humidity indicator (EFY Feb 2016)
We can measure temperature and humidity inside the fridge using a normal temperature-humidity indicator but relative humidity (RH) could be inaccurate in that case. The moment the fridge door is opened, RH will shoot up due to ingress or egress of moisture in the surroundings. The small sniffer device, described in this article, picks up temperature and humidity from inside the fridge and transmits on an RF link to a nearby receiver unit. The receiver unit checks the received code, identifies the right sniffer device and displays live temperature and humidity.

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Multi mode Audio Amplifier (EFY March 2016)
Sometimes we need configurable multichannel amplifiers for experiments or for use in offices or schools. Here is a circuit based on TDA1554Q, configured for multi-mode function with four channel outputs. The circuit of the simple 4-channel multi-mode audio amplifier is shown. It has four channels and each channel can provide around 11W over a load of 2-ohms and around 6W over a load of 4-ohms. The circuit will also work with loads of 4-ohms to 16-ohms.

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PIR based Power Saver (EFY March 2016)
Quite often you forget to switch off the light or fan when going out of the room. The simple circuit presented here will automatically switch off electrical appliances like lights or fans as you vacate a room, after a predetermined time period. It will also switch on the light when you enter the room again. This will reduce unnecessary power consumption. PIR motion sensor used in the circuit.

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Wifi temperature logging system (EFY March 2016)
Here is a temperature data logging system based on PIC16F887 microcontroller (MCU), Wi-Fi and ThingSpeak application programming interface (API). Thing Speak is an open source Internet of Things (IoT) application and API to store and retrieve data from things over the Internet. It enables you to collect, store, analyse, visualize and act on the data received from sensors or electronic circuits.

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Clock cum temperature indicator (EFY April 2016)
Although many circuits for digital clocks have been published in Electronics For You, this circuit is a PIC microcontroller (MCU) based easy-to construct gadget, which combines a clock with a temperature indicator in the same display. The display uses four 7-segment common anode LEDs. It shows the clock, and in every minute for five seconds the display alternates to show the temperature in  o C. An alarm facility with buzzer is provided. Clock’s precision is due to the 20MHz high-frequency crystal that is used with PIC16F73 chip.

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Wireless web server (EFY April 2016)
The project is based on low cost ESP8266 Wi-Fi module. Currently, ESP8266 is gaining popularity in the field of electronics because it is low-cost, reliable and easily available in the market. Most documents related to this module are in Mandarin (Chinese language) and information provided in the data sheet is not sufficient enough for using ESP8266 for an application. In order to fill the gap, people from various countries have formed an ESP8266 community forum, which gives necessary details about programming and other related is sues concerning this module.

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Child Monitoring circuit. ( EFY May 2016)
This small circuit, in two parts, helps in ensuring that a child does not get lost in a crowd during big festivals. It includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is attached to the small child and the receiver remains with the parents or the guardian accompanying the child. During operation, if the child moves away beyond the set range, the receiver starts vibrating to alert the parents.

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Driving a Wireless robotic Car (EFY May 2016)
Presented here is an Arduino and AT89C2051 micro controller (MCU) based robot. The robot is controlled using infrared (IR) sensors and wireless radio frequency (RF) communication. In this project we use four pairs of IR sensor modules (IR LED and photo diode) to control forward, backward, left and right movements of the robot.

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Fastest Finger first using Raspberry pi (EFY May 2016)
Fastest finger first systems are used in school, college and TV contests. The team which presses their push-button switch first is entitled to answer the query. When two or more teams press their push buttons within a very small time gap, it becomes very difficult to identify the team that pressed the button first. In such cases, the decision can be biased due to human intervention. The system presented here takes care of the aforesaid problem. This system can be used for a maximum of four teams in its present form. It is built around a Raspberry Pi board and a solid-state relay module.

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Arduino for ATmega32 (EFY June 2016)
Arduino is very helpful for people who have little knowledge of programming or electronics. The user does not need to understand the hardware or the low level coding of the AVR controller. Arduino is easy to use and can be learned with very little effort. Hence, the development/prototyping time using Arduino is considerably less. Arduino is based on WinAVR, a gcc compiler for AVR. You can create an Arduino project in Atmel Studio and even simulate it. At present Arduino uses ATmega328, ATmega168, ATmelga1280, ATmega2560 and ATmega8 boards controllers. However, many users/ developers are using ATmega32 controller in their projects now and are more familiar with this controller. But it is not seen in the list of Arduino boards in Arduino IDE. ATmega32 has 32 general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, which is more than 20 used in ATmega328. It is disappointing that some boards have more I/O pins, like ATmega1280 and ATmega 2560, but are expensive. In this project, we use ATmega32 as a microcontroller in Arduino board and utilise almost all the 32 GPIO pins available

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GSM based messaging system using Arduino (EFY June 2016)
Today, GSM networks are widely-used, whether for making calls or sending SMS es. But some places need urgent messages like in colleges, railway stations, events, share market and so on, and this information should be in real-time. This project is an experiment to give a start to the era of  ending messages in real-time. It is about writing the message, which is to be displayed on mobiles, and sending it as an SMS to the receivers. The received message is fetched into a microcontroller (MCU) and, after authentication, is displayed on an LCD screen.

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