Chapter 6 Challenges

Phototransistor Voltage Output Circuit

Questions
1. What does a transistor regulate? The amount of current it allows to pass into its
collector and out through its base.
2. Which phototransistor terminals have leads? The phototransistors collector and
emitter terminals are connected to leads.
3. How can you use the flat spot on the phototransistors plastic case to identify its
terminals? The lead thats closer to the flat spot is the emitter. The lead thats further
away from the flat spot is the collector.
4. Which color would the phototransistor be more sensitive to: red or green? The
wavelength of red is closer to the wavelength of infrared, so it should be more sensitive
to red.
5. How does VA3 in the circuit above respond if the light gets brighter? VA3 increases with
more light.
6. What does the phototransistor in the circuit above do that causes V to increase or
A3

decrease? The phototransistor supplies the resistor with more or less current.
7. How can the circuit above be modified to make it more sensitive to light? Change the 2
k resistor to a higher value.
8. What happens when the voltage applied to an I/O pin that has been set to input is above
or below the threshold voltage? If the applied voltage is above the threshold voltage, the
input register bit for that pin stores a 1. If its below threshold voltage, the input
register bit stores a 0.
9. If the amount of charge a capacitor stores decreases, what happens to the voltage at its
terminals? The voltage decreases.
Exercises
1. Solve for V if I = 1 mA in the circuit above. V = I R = 0.001 A 2000 = 2 V.
A3

2. Calculate the current through the resistor if V in the circuit above is 4.5 V. V = I R I
A3

= V R = 4.5 2000 = 0.00225 A = 2.25 mA.

3. Calculate the value of a capacitor that has been stamped 105. 105 10 with 5 zeros
appended and multiplied by 1 pF. 1,000,000 1 pF = (1 106) (1 1012) F = 1
106 F = 1 F.
4. Write an rcTime statement that measures decay time with pin 7 and stores the result in
a variable named tDecay. It would be long tDecay = rcTime(7);
5. Calculate what the ndShade measurement would be if the Arduino measures decay
values of 1001 on both sides. ndShade = tRight / (tLeft+tRight) - 0.5 = 1001
(1001 + 1001) 0.5 = 0.5 0.5 = 0.
6. Write a for loop that displays fifty equal sign characters in the Serial Monitor.
for(int i = 1; i<=50; i++) // Repeat 50 times
{
Serial.print('='); // one = char each time through
}
7.
Projects
1. In Activity 1, the circuit, along with the HaltUnderBrightLight sketch, made the BOE
Shield-Bot stop under a light at the end of the course. What if you will only have a limited time
at a course before a competition, and you dont know the lighting conditions in advance? You
might need to calibrate your BOE Shield-Bot on site. A sketch that makes the piezospeaker beep
repeatedly when the BOE Shield-Bot detects bright light and stay quiet when it detects ambient
light could be useful for this task. Write and test a sketch to do this with the circuit in Activity
1.
/*
* Robotics with the BOE Shield - Chapter 6, Project 1
* Chirp when light is above threshold. Will require updating value of
* threshold & retesting under bright light to get to the right value.
*/
void setup() // Built-in initialization block
{
tone(4, 3000, 1000); // Play tone for 1 second
delay(1000); // Delay to finish tone
}
void loop() // Main loop auto-repeats
{
if(volts(A3) > 3.5) // If A3 voltage greater than 3.5
{
tone(4, 4000, 50); // Start chirping
delay(100);
}
}
float volts(int adPin) // Measures volts at adPin
 { // Returns floating point voltage
return float(analogRead(adPin)) * 5.0 / 1024.0;
}

2. Develop an application that makes the BOE Shield-Bot roam and search for darkness
instead of light. This application should utilize the charge transfer circuits from Building the
Photosensitive Eyes.
// Add this if condition to stop under the bright lamp.
if((tRight + tLeft) < 1300.0) // tLeft+tRight < 1300?
{
servoLeft.detach(); // Stop servo signals
servoRight.detach();
}

3. Develop an application that makes the BOE Shield-Bot roam toward a bright
incandescent desk lamp in a room where the only other light sources are fluorescent ceiling
lights. The BOE Shield-Bot should be able to roam toward the desk lamp and play a tone when
its under it. This application should use the charge transfer circuits from Building the
Photosensitive Eyes.
/*
* Robotics with the BOE Shield - Chapter 6, Project 3
* Roams toward light and away from shade.
*/
#include <Servo.h> // Include servo library
Servo servoLeft; // Declare left and right servos
Servo servoRight;
void setup() // Built-in initialization block
{
tone(4, 3000, 1000); // Play tone for 1 second
delay(1000); // Delay to finish tone
servoLeft.attach(13); // Attach left signal to pin 13
servoRight.attach(12); // Attach right signal to pin 12
}
void loop() // Main loop auto-repeats
{
float tLeft = float(rcTime(8)); // Get left light & make float
float tRight = float(rcTime(6)); // Get right light & make float
 // Add this if condition to stop under the bright lamp.
if((tRight + tLeft) < 1300.0) // If A3 voltage greater than 2
{
servoLeft.detach(); // Stop servo signals
servoRight.detach();
}
float ndShade; // Normalized differential shade
ndShade = tRight / (tLeft+tRight) - 0.5; // Calculate it and subtract 0.5
int speedLeft, speedRight; // Declare speed variables
if (ndShade > 0.0) // Shade on right?
{ // Slow down left wheel
speedLeft = int(200.0 - (ndShade * 1000.0));
speedLeft = constrain(speedLeft, -200, 200);
speedRight = 200; // Full speed right wheel
}
else // Shade on Left?
{ // Slow down right wheel
speedRight = int(200.0 + (ndShade * 1000.0));
speedRight = constrain(speedRight, -200, 200);
speedLeft = 200; // Full speed left wheel
}

maneuver(speedLeft, speedRight, 20); // Set wheel speeds

}
long rcTime(int pin)
{
pinMode(pin, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(pin, HIGH);
delay(5);
pinMode(pin, INPUT);
digitalWrite(pin, LOW);
long time = micros();
while(digitalRead(pin));
time = micros() - time;
return time;
// rcTime measures decay at pin
// Charge capacitor
// ..by setting pin ouput-high
// ..for 5 ms
// Set pin to input
// ..with no pullup
// Mark the time
// Wait for voltage < threshold
// Calculate decay time
// Returns decay time
}

// maneuver function
void maneuver(int speedLeft, int speedRight, int msTime)
{
servoLeft.writeMicroseconds(1500 + speedLeft); // Set Left servo speed
servoRight.writeMicroseconds(1500 - speedRight); // Set right servo speed
if(msTime==-1) // if msTime = -1
{
servoLeft.detach(); // Stop servo signals
servoRight.detach();
}
delay(msTime); // Delay for msTime
}