New to Olimex/Arduino - would love some help!

[jars121]

Hi everyone,

I bought an Arduino 11 a month ago, before I knew about Olimex. It would appear that the Duinomite Mega would be a much better unit.

Basically, I have 50+ IR proximitiy sensors which need to connect to the Arduino/Olimex. The sensors are analogue. I'm wondering if there are compatible I/O extension shields that I can use with the Duinomite Mega? I like the Mega over the Arduino for it's USB (going to connect a USB barcode scanner to it).

So, should I be trying to find a UEXT I/O expansion board? Bearing in mind that I need to use the analogue inputs, it would appear I'm going to need to stack several I/O shields together, as they don't seem to offer many analogue inputs each.

Any input here would be great!

Thanks!

[LubOlimex]

Hey jars121,

Your task seems doable but I'm not sure I can give you complete guide since there are many variables unknown to me. For instance, I can suggest a good couple of boards that may work together with Duinomite Mega via the UEXT connector (that nests UEXRT, I2C and SPI communication channels, along with 3.3V and GDN - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEXT). These boards are MOD-IO and MOD-IO2:

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/IO/MOD-IO/
https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/IO/MOD-IO2/.

If you need more analog I/O then you should go with multiple MOD-IO or MOD-IO2 boards since they are communicating over I2C and can be connected after each other. Each board has a specific I2C address and there is no problem with the communication. Both MOD-IO and MOD-IO2 boards have a processor with ready firmware and written command set. I advise you to check the demo syntax that is part of the firmware built-in the devices. MOD-IO's firmware is written in its Atmel AVR chip, whike MOD-IO2 has a Microchip PIC16 processor. If you don't need anything additional from the firmware, then you don't need to program these two.

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX

[jars121]

Thanks so much for the reply! That all made sense and was along the lines of what I was hoping for.

The basic idea behind the project is this:

A 'smart' toolbox in an industrial workplace, whereby a user (that has been granted access to the tools) swipes his card (barcode swipe reader, connected via USB). If the user's barcode is on the accepted list (stored either onboard the Duinomite or on an SD card), a fail-secure door latch is unlocked, allowing the roller door to be opened. The tools are stored on a pegboard. Each tool has a small IR proximity sensor built into the pegboard behind the tool, so that when a tool is taken from the pegboard, the IR senses that it's missing, and allocates that tool to that user. A monitor on the side of the toolbox will display the list of tools currently out, who has them, and what time they were taken. This will hopefully increase the accountability of those using the tools, and prevent tools from going missing.

Cheers!

[jars121]

Just a quick update. I've decided to look at using limit switches as opposed to IR/optical sensors. Being digital, does this change my ability to use a breakout board or I/O extension like the MOD-IO?

Thanks!

[olimex]

no, you can use MOD-IO to detect digital signals

[jars121]

Legend, thanks!