Design And Construction Of A Arduino-Based Wireless Frequency Meter

ABSTRACT

Wireless frequency meter measures measure frequency of sinusoidal AC signals in the range of 50Hz to 3kHz. This device was designed with arduino and LCD as the major components. Arduino Uno is an AVR ATmega328P microcontroller (MCU)-based development board with six analogue input pins and fourteen digital I/O pins. The MCU has 32kB ISP flash memory, 2kB RAM and 1kB PROMOTE.

The 16×2 LCD, present at the receiver end, is used to display the value of frequency. It is interfaced with Arduino Uno board in four-bit mode.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0      INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

• AIM OF THE PROJECT
• OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT
• PROBLEM OF THE PROJECT
• BENEFIT OF THE PROJECT
• LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
• SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
• APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• BASICS OF DIGITAL FREQUENCY METER
• DESCRIPTION OF HERTZ
• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF HERTZ

 CHAPTER THREE

3.0     CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY

3.1      BASIC OF THE SYSTEM

3.2      BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE SYSTEM

3.3      SYSTEM OPERATION

3.4      CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

3.5      CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

3.6     DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENTS USED

3.7      POWER SUPPLY UNIT

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0      TESTING AND RESULTS

• CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE AND TESTING
• INSTALLATION OF THE COMPLETE DESIGN
• ASSEMBLING OF SECTIONS
• TESTING OF SYSTEM OPERATION
• CASING AND PACKAGING
• PRECAUTIONS WHEN USING A FREQUENCY METER
• BILL OF ENGINEERING MEASUREMENTS AND EVALUATION

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

• INTRODUCTION

1.1                                         BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

Wireless frequency meter is a general purpose instrument that displays the frequency of a periodic electrical signal to an accuracy of three decimal places via LCD. It counts the number events occurring within the oscillations during a given interval of time. As the preset period gets completed, the value in the counter display on the LCD. The 16×2 LCD, present at the receiver end, is used to display the value of frequency. It is interfaced with Arduino Uno board in four-bit mode. [1]Various types of instruments are available which operates at a fixed or variable frequency. But if any frequency meter operates at a different frequency than specified range, it could carry out abnormally. For measuring low frequencies, the deflection type meters are widely used. The deflection of the pointer on the scale shows the change in frequency.

However, the aim of this work is to build a arduino based wireless frequency meter with LCD which work as the output device.

1.2                                                  PROBLEM STATEMENT

The old used in measuring frequency is through the use of a deflecting meter. This meter when used for measurement takes difficult time to take the reading and sometimes it can be inaccurate. In order to overcome this problem a wireless frequency meter was designed which is uses LCD and serial monitor of Arduino IDE to display the reading digitally.

1.3                                             OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

The main aim of this work is to design an electronic instrument that is used to measure frequency of sinusoidal AC signals in the range of 50Hz to 3kHz.

1.4                                         SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

A wireless Frequency Meter is a general-purpose, basic, wireless counter for measuring, setting, and monitoring frequencies, for counting random events, and for industrial counting applications.

1. Among its many frequency measurement applications are the test, adjustment, and calibration of oscillators, telemetering equipment, i-f amplifiers and filters.
2. With appropriate transducers, it can be used to measure such physical quantities as pressure, temperature, strain, and weight.

• In conjunction with an optical or magnetic pickup, it will measure rotational speed also.

1.5                                                 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

This device measures frequency wirelessly. In scientific terms, frequency is the number of cycles per second in the signal. In terms of a layman, frequency of a signal denotes the rate of occurrence of the signal in certain time. Wireless Frequency meter is basically simple counter systems with a limited time period for counting.

In this work, we design simple frequency counter system arduino. Arduino Uno is an AVR ATmega328P microcontroller (MCU)-based development board with six analogue input pins and fourteen digital I/O pins. The MCU has 32kB ISP flash memory, 2kB RAM and 1kB EEPROM. The board provides the capability of serial communication via UART, SPI and I2C.

1.6                                              PROBLEM OF THE PROJECT

The accuracy of a wireless frequency meter is strongly dependent on the stability of its timebase. A timebase is very delicate like the hands of a watch, and can be changed by line of sight, interference, or even drift due to age, meaning it might not “display” correctly. This can make a frequency reading, when referenced to the timebase, seem higher or lower than the actual value.

1.7                                             LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

1. This circuit measures sinusoidal AC signals from a distance
2. This circuit uses AVR ATmega328P microcontroller as the heart of the circuit

• frequency of sinusoidal AC signals in the range of 50Hz to 3kHz

1.8                                               BENEFIT OF THE PROJECT

Arduino based  frequency meter can be used for:

1. For testing radio equipment
2. Measuring the temperature, pressure, and other physical values.

• Measuring vibration, strain

1. Measuring transducers

1.9                                     APPLICATIONS OF THE PROJECT

1. Frequency Counting
2. Precise frequency measurements in radar based application.

• Pressure, temperature, strain, and weight measurements with proper transducer.

1. Motor speed measurements are also possible with proper arrangement.
2. Microwave frequency measurements.

1.10                                                     METHODOLOGY

To achieve the aim and objectives of this work, the following are the steps involved:

1. Study of the previous work on the project so as to improve it efficiency.
2. Draw a block diagram.

• Test for continuity of components and devices,

1. Design and calculation for the device was carried out.
2. Studying of various component used in circuit.
3. Construction of the circuit was carried out.

• Finally, the whole device was cased and final test was carried out.

1.11                                                      PROJECT ORGANIZATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study,  chapter three describes the methods applied,  chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.

Arduino-based wireless frequency meter designed to measure frequency of sinusoidal AC signals in the range of 50Hz to 3kHz. The authors’ prototypes of the transmitter and receiver sides are shown in Figs 1 and 2, respectively.