Tata Motors Ltd (NSE: TATAMOTORS, BSE: 500570, NYSE: TTM) is

a multinational corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. Part of the Tata

Group, it was formerly known as TELCO (TATA Engineering and
Locomotive Company). Tata Motors has a consolidated revenue of USD 16
billion after the acquisition of British automotive brands Jaguar and Land
Rover in 2008.

It is India's largest company in the automobile and commercial vehicle

sector with upwards of 70% cumulative market share in the domestic
commercial vehicle segment, and had a 0.81% share of the world market in
2007 according to OICA data. The OICA ranked it as the 19th largest
automaker,[1] based on figures for 2007.[2] and the second largest
manufacturer of commercial vehicles in the world. The company is the
world’s fourth largest truck manufacturer, and the world’s second largest bus
manufacturer. In India Tata ranks as the leader in every commercial vehicle
segment, and is in the top 3 makers of passenger cars.[citation needed] Tata Motors
is also the designer and manufacturer of the iconic Tata Nano, which at INR
100,000 (ex-factory) or approximately USD 2300, is the cheapest production
car in the world.[citation needed]

Established in 1945, when the company began manufacturing locomotives,

the company manufactured its first commercial vehicle in 1954 in a
collaboration with Daimler-Benz AG, which ended in 1969.[3] Tata Motors is
a dual-listed company traded on both the Bombay Stock Exchange, as well
as on the New York Stock Exchange. Tata Motors in 2005, was ranked
among the top 10 corporations in India with an annual revenue exceeding
INR 320 billion.

In 2004 Tata Motors bought Daewoo's truck manufacturing unit, now known
as Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle, in South Korea. It also acquired
Hispano Carrocera SA, now a fully-owned subsidiary. In March 2008, it
acquired the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) business from the Ford Motor
Company, which also includes the Daimler and Lanchester brands.[4][5][6] and
the purchase was completed on 2 June 2008.[7]

1
Tata Motors has auto manufacturing and assembly plants in Jamshedpur,
Pantnagar, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Sanand and Pune in India, as well as in
Argentina, South Africa and Thailand.

History
Tata Motors is a part of the Tata Group manages its share-holding through
Tata Sons. The company was established in 1935 as a locomotive
manufacturing unit and later expanded its operations to commercial vehicle
sector in 1954 after forming a joint venture with Daimler-Benz AG of
Germany. Despite the success of its commercial vehicles, Tata realized his
company had to diversify and he began to look at other products. Based on
consumer demand, he decided that building a small car would be the most
practical new venture. So in 1998 it launched Tata Indica, India's first fully
indigenous passenger car. Designed to be inexpensive and simple to build
and maintain, the Indica became a hit in the Indian market. It was also
exported to Europe, especially the UK and Italy. In 2004 it acquired Tata
Daewoo Commercial Vehicle, and in late 2005 it acquired 21% of
Aragonese Hispano Carrocera giving it controlling rights of the company. It
has formed a joint venture with Marcopolo of Brazil, and introduced low-
floor buses in the Indian Market. Recently, it has acquired British Jaguar
Land Rover (JLR), which includes the Daimler and Lanchester brand names.

Tata in India

A loaded Tata truck on a Rajasthan highway

Tata Motors Limited is India’s largest automobile company, with revenues

of Rs 35,651.48 crore (US$ 7.59 billion) in 2007-08.[24] It is the leader in
commercial vehicles in each segment, and among the top three in passenger
vehicles with winning products in the compact, midsize car and utility
vehicle segments.[24] Tata Motors’ presence indeed cuts across the length and

2
breadth of India. Over 4 million Tata vehicles ply on Indian roads, since the
first rolled out in 1954.[25] The company’s manufacturing base in India is
spread across Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Pune (Maharashtra), Lucknow (Uttar
Pradesh), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Dharwad (Karnataka). Following a
strategic alliance with Fiat in 2005, it has set up an industrial joint venture
with Fiat Group Automobiles at Ranjangaon (Maharashtra) to produce both
Fiat and Tata cars and Fiat powertrains. The company is establishing a new
plant at Sanand (Gujarat). The company’s dealership, sales, services and
spare parts network comprises over 3500 touch points; Tata Motors also
distributes and markets Fiat branded cars in India.[24]

3
Object: Electrical Testing Setup for Cowl

Cowl: It is an unfinished part of the truck in which only the

electrical components are fitted such as horns , steering
,headlamps and indicators .

Components that need to be tested are :

1. Headlamps
2. Indicators
3. Horns

4
Headlamps or headlights

A headlamp is a lamp, usually attached to the front of a vehicle

such as a car, with the purpose of illuminating the road ahead
during periods of low visibility, such as darkness or precipitation.
Headlamp performance has steadily improved throughout the
automobile age, spurred by the great disparity between daytime
and nighttime traffic fatalities: the U.S. National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration states that nearly half of all traffic-related
fatalities occur in the dark, despite only 25% of traffic traveling
during darkness.

While it is common for the term headlight to be used

interchangeably in informal discussion, headlamp is the technically
correct term for the device itself, while headlight properly refers to
the beam of light produced and distributed by the device.

Regulations and requirements

Modern headlamps are electrically operated, positioned in pairs,
one or two on each side of the front of a vehicle. A headlamp
system is required to produce a low and a high beam, which may
be achieved either by an individual lamp for each function or by a
single multifunction lamp. High beams (called "main beams" or
"full beams" or "driving beams" in some countries) cast most of
their light straight ahead, maximizing seeing distance, but
producing too much glare for safe use when other vehicles are
present on the road. Because there is no special control of upward

5
light, high beams also causes backdazzle from fog, rain and snow
due to the retro reflection of the water droplets. Low beams (called
"dipped beams" in some countries) have stricter control of upward
light, and direct most of their light downward and either rightward
(in right-traffic countries) or leftward (in left-traffic countries), to
provide safe forward visibility without excessive glare or
backdazzle.

Asymmetrical low beam illumination of road surface

— right-traffic beam shown
E-code dipped/low beam

Low beam
Low beam (dipped beam, passing beam, meeting beam) headlamps
provide a distribution of light designed to provide adequate
forward and lateral illumination with limits on light directed
towards the eyes of other road users, to control glare. This beam is
intended for use whenever other vehicles are present ahead. The
international ECE Regulations for filament headlamps and for
high-intensity discharge headlamps specify a beam with a sharp,
asymmetric cutoff preventing significant amounts of light from
being cast into the eyes of drivers of preceding or oncoming cars.
Control of glare is less strict in the North American SAE beam
standard contained in FMVSS / CMVSS 108.

6
High beam

Symmetrical high beam illumination of road surface

European E-code high/full beam

High beam (main beam, driving beam, full beam) headlamps

provide a bright, centre-weighted distribution of light with no
particular control of light directed towards other road users' eyes.
As such, they are only suitable for use when alone on the road, as
the glare they produce will dazzle other drivers. International ECE
Regulations permit higher-intensity high-beam headlamps than are
allowed under North American regulations .

7
The basic criterion to be tested is the luminance
intensity
Luminous intensity
In photometry, luminous intensity is a measure of the wavelength-weighted
power emitted by a light source in a particular direction per unit solid angle,
based on the luminosity function, a standardized model of the sensitivity of
the human eye. The SI unit of luminous intensity is the candela (cd), an SI
base unit.

Photometry deals with the measurement of visible light as perceived by

human eyes. The human eye can only see light in the visible spectrum and
has different sensitivities to light of different wavelengths within the
spectrum. When adapted for bright conditions (photopic vision), the eye is
most sensitive to greenish-yellow light at 555 nm. Light with the same
radiant intensity at other wavelengths has a lower luminous intensity. The
curve which measures the response of the human eye to light is a defined
standard, known as the luminosity function. This curve, denoted V(λ) or
, is based on an average of widely differing experimental data from
scientists using different measurement techniques. For instance, the
measured responses of the eye to violet light varied by a factor of ten.

Luminous intensity should not be confused with another photometric unit,

luminous flux, which is the total perceived power emitted in all directions.
Luminous intensity is the perceived power per unit solid angle. Luminous
intensity is also not the same as the radiant intensity, the corresponding
objective physical quantity used in the measurement science of radiometry.

8
Components that are sensitive to light are

Avalanche photodiode

An avalanche photodiode (APD) is a highly sensitive semiconductor

electronic device that exploits the photoelectric effect to convert light to
electricity. APDs can be thought of as photodetectors that provide a built-in
first stage of gain through avalanche multiplication. From a functional
standpoint, they can be regarded as the semiconductor analog to
photomultipliers. By applying a high reverse bias voltage (typically 100-200
V in silicon), APDs show an internal current gain effect (around 100) due to
impact ionization (avalanche effect). However, some silicon APDs employ
alternative doping and beveling techniques compared to traditional APDs
that allow greater voltage to be applied (> 1500 V) before breakdown is
reached and hence a greater operating gain (> 1000). In general, the higher
the reverse voltage the higher the gain. Among the various expressions for
the APD multiplication factor (M), an instructive expression is given by the
formula

where L is the space charge boundary for electrons and α is the

multiplication coefficient for electrons (and holes). This coefficient has a
strong dependence on the applied electric field strength, temperature, and
doping profile. Since APD gain varies strongly with the applied reverse bias
and temperature, it is necessary to control the reverse voltage to keep a

9
stable gain. Avalanche photodiodes therefore are more sensitive compared to
other semiconductor photodiodes.

If very high gain is needed (105 to 106), certain APDs can be operated with a
reverse voltage above the APD's breakdown voltage. In this case, the APD
needs to have its signal current limited and quickly diminished. Active and
passive current quenching techniques have been used for this purpose. APDs
that operate in this high-gain regime are in Geiger mode. This mode is
particularly useful for single photon detection provided that the dark count
event rate is sufficiently low.

A typical application for APDs is laser rangefinders and long range fiber
optic telecommunication. New applications include positron emission
tomography and particle physics.[1] APD arrays are becoming commercially
available.

APD applicability and usefulness depends on many parameters. Two of the

larger factors are: quantum efficiency, which indicates how well incident
optical photons are absorbed and then used to generate primary charge
carriers; and total leakage current, which is the sum of the dark current and
photocurrent and noise. Electronic dark noise components are series and
parallel noise. Series noise, which is the effect of shot noise, is basically
proportional to the APD capacitance while the parallel noise is associated
with the fluctuations of the APD bulk and surface dark currents. Another
noise source is the excess noise factor, F. It describes the statistical noise
that is inherent with the stochastic APD multiplication process.

Photodiode

Photodetector from a CD-ROM Drive. 3 photodiodes are visible.

10
A photodiode is a type of photodetector capable of converting light into
either current or voltage, depending upon the mode of operation.[1]

Photodiodes are similar to regular semiconductor diodes except that they

may be either exposed (to detect vacuum UV or X-rays) or packaged with a
window or optical fiber connection to allow light to reach the sensitive part
of the device. Many diodes designed for use specifically as a photodiode
will also use a PIN junction rather than the typical PN junction.

Principle of operation
A photodiode is a PN junction or PIN structure. When a photon of sufficient
energy strikes the diode, it excites an electron, thereby creating a mobile
electron and a positively charged electron hole. If the absorption occurs in
the junction's depletion region, or one diffusion length away from it, these
carriers are swept from the junction by the built-in field of the depletion
region. Thus holes move toward the anode, and electrons toward the
cathode, and a photocurrent is produced.

Photovoltaic mode
When used in zero bias or photovoltaic mode, the flow of photocurrent out
of the device is restricted and a voltage builds up. The diode becomes
forward biased and "dark current" begins to flow across the junction in the
direction opposite to the photocurrent. This mode is responsible for the
photovoltaic effect, which is the basis for solar cells—in fact, a solar cell is
just a large area photodiode.

Photoconductive mode
In this mode the diode is often reverse biased, dramatically reducing the
response time at the expense of increased noise. This increases the width of
the depletion layer, which decreases the junction's capacitance resulting in
faster response times. The reverse bias induces only a small amount of
current (known as saturation or back current) along its direction while the
photocurrent remains virtually the same. The photocurrent is linearly
proportional to the illuminance.

Although this mode is faster, the photoconductive mode tends to exhibit

more electronic noise. The leakage current of a good PIN diode is so low (<

11
1nA) that the Johnson–Nyquist noise of the load resistance in a typical
circuit often dominates.

Other modes of operation

Avalanche photodiodes have a similar structure to regular photodiodes, but
they are operated with much higher reverse bias. This allows each photo-
generated carrier to be multiplied by avalanche breakdown, resulting in
internal gain within the photodiode, which increases the effective
responsivity of the device.

Phototransistors

12
It consist of a photodiode with internal gain. A phototransistor is in essence
nothing more than a bipolar transistor that is encased in a transparent case so
that light can reach the base-collector junction. The electrons that are
generated by photons in the base-collector junction are injected into the
base, and this photodiode current is amplified by the transistor's current gain
β (or hfe). Note that while phototransistors have a higher responsivity for
light they are not able to detect low levels of light any better than
photodiodes.Phototransistors also have significantly longer response times.

Materials
The material used to make a photodiode is critical to defining its properties,
because only photons with sufficient energy to excite electrons across the
material's bandgap will produce significant photocurrents.

Materials commonly used to produce photodiodes include

Electromagnetic spectrum
Material
wavelength range (nm)
Silicon 190–1100
Germanium 400–1700
Indium gallium arsenide 800–2600
Lead(II) sulfide <1000-3500

Because of their greater bandgap, silicon-based photodiodes generate less

noise than germanium-based photodiodes, but germanium photodiodes must
be used for wavelengths longer than approximately 1 µm.

Photodiode array
Hundreds or thousands (up to 2048) photodiodes of typical sensitive area
0.025 x 1 mm each arranged as a one-dimensional array, which can be used
as a position sensor. One advantage of photodiode arrays (PDAs) is that they
allow for high speed parallel read out since the driving electronics may not
be built in like a traditional CMOS or CCD sensor.

Photoresistor

13
The symbol for a photoresistor

A light dependent resistor

The internal components of a photoelectric control for a typical American

streetlight. The photoresistor is facing rightwards, and controls whether
current flows through the heater which opens the main power contacts. At
night, the heater cools, closing the power contacts, energizing the street
light. The heater/bimetal mechanism provides a built-in time-delay.

A photoresistor or light dependent resistor or cadmium sulfide (CdS)

cell is a resistor whose resistance decreases with increasing incident light
intensity. It can also be referred to as a photoconductor.

A photoresistor is made of a high resistance semiconductor. If light falling

on the device is of high enough frequency, photons absorbed by the
semiconductor give bound electrons enough energy to jump into the

14
conduction band. The resulting free electron (and its hole partner) conduct
electricity, thereby lowering resistance.

A photoelectric device can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. An intrinsic

semiconductor has its own charge carriers and is not an efficient
semiconductor, e.g. silicon. In intrinsic devices the only available electrons
are in the valence band, and hence the photon must have enough energy to
excite the electron across the entire bandgap. Extrinsic devices have
impurities, also called dopants, added whose ground state energy is closer to
the conduction band; since the electrons do not have as far to jump, lower
energy photons (i.e., longer wavelengths and lower frequencies) are
sufficient to trigger the device. If a sample of silicon has some of its atoms
replaced by phosphorus atoms (impurities), there will be extra electrons
available for conduction. This is an example of an extrinsic semiconductor.

PIN diode

A PiN diode is a diode with a wide, lightly doped 'near' intrinsic

semiconductor region between a p-type semiconductor and an n-type
semiconductor regions. The p-type and n-type regions are typically heavily
doped because they are used for ohmic contacts.

The wide intrinsic region is in contrast to an ordinary PN diode. The wide

intrinsic region makes the PIN diode an inferior rectifier (the normal

15
function of a diode), but it makes the PIN diode suitable for attenuators, fast
switches, photodetectors, and high voltage power electronics applications.

Operation

A PiN diode operates under what is known as high-level injection. In other

words, the intrinsic "i" region is flooded with charge carriers from the "p"
and "n" regions. Its function can be likened to filling up a water bucket with
a hole on the side. Once the water reaches the hole's level it will begin to
pour out. Similarly, the diode will conduct current once the flooded electrons
and holes reach an equilibrium point, where the number of electrons is equal
to the number of holes in the intrinsic region. When the diode is forward
biased, the injected carrier concentration is typically several orders of
magnitudes higher than the intrinsic level carrier concentration. Due to this
high level injection, which in turn is due to the depletion process, the electric
field extends deeply (almost the entire length) into the region. This electric
field helps in speeding up of the transport of charge carriers from p to n
region, which results in faster operation of the diode, making it a suitable
device for high frequency operations.

Characteristics

A PIN diode obeys the standard diode equation for low frequency signals. At
higher frequencies, the diode looks like an almost perfect (very linear, even
for large signals) resistor. There is a lot of stored charge in the intrinsic
region. At low frequencies, the charge can be removed and the diode turns
off. At higher frequencies, there is not enough time to remove the charge, so
the diode never turns off. The PIN diode has a poor reverse recovery time.

The high-frequency resistance is inversely proportional to the DC bias

current through the diode. A PIN diode, suitably biased, therefore acts as a
variable resistor. This high-frequency resistance may vary over a wide range
(from 0.1 ohm to 10 kΩ in some cases; the useful range is smaller, though).

The wide intrinsic region also means the diode will have a low capacitance
when reverse biased.

In a PIN diode, the depletion region exists almost completely within the
intrinsic region. This depletion region is much larger than in a PN diode, and
almost constant-size, independent of the reverse bias applied to the diode.
This increases the volume where electron-hole pairs can be generated by an

16
incident photon. Some photodetector devices, such as PIN photodiodes and
phototransistors (in which the base-collector junction is a PIN diode), use a
PIN junction in their construction.

The diode design has some design tradeoffs. Increasing the dimensions of
the intrinsic region (and its stored charge) allows the diode to look like a
resistor at lower frequencies. It adversely affects the time needed to turn off
the diode and its shunt capacitance. PIN diodes will be tailored for a
particular use.

Photovoltaic cell

The PIN photodiode was invented by Jun-ichi Nishizawa and his colleagues
in 1950.

PIN photodiodes are used in fibre optic network cards and switches. As a
photodetector, the PIN diode is reverse biased. Under reverse bias, the diode
ordinarily does not conduct (save a small dark current or Is leakage). A
photon entering the intrinsic region frees a carrier. The reverse bias field

17
sweeps the carrier out of the region and creates a current. Some detectors
can use avalanche multiplication.

The PIN photovoltaic cell works in the same mechanism. In this case, the
advantage of using a PIN structure over conventional semiconductor
junction is the better long wavelength response of the former. In case of long
wavelength irradiation, photons penetrate deep into the cell. But only those
electron-hole pairs generated in and near the depletion region contribute to
current generation. The depletion region of a PIN structure extends across
the intrinsic region, deep into the device. This wider depletion width enables
electron-hole pair generation deep within the device. This increases the
quantum efficiency of the cell.

Typically, amorphous silicon thin-film cells use PIN structures. On the other
hand, CdTe cells use NIP structure, a variation of the PIN structure. In a NIP
structure, an intrinsic CdTe layer is sandwiched by n-doped CdS and p-
doped ZnTe. The photons are incident on the n-doped layer unlike a PIN
diode.

18
Light meter

A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In

photography, a light meter is often used to determine the proper exposure for
a photograph. Typically a light meter will include a computer, either digital
or analogue, which allows the photographer to determine which shutter
speed and f-number should be selected for an optimum exposure, given a
certain lighting situation and film speed.

Light meters are also used in the fields of cinematography and scenic design,
in order to determine the optimum light level for a scene. They are used in
the general field of lighting, where they can help to reduce the amount of
waste light used in the home, light pollution outdoors, and plant growing to
ensure proper light levels.

19
Device used here for testing is LUX meter
Lux Meter

20
The Lux Meter is usually used to measure illumination. The illumination is
how level of luminous flux is falling on a surface area. The luminous flux is
visible component that is defined in radiant flux (light power) divided by
relative sensitivity of human eyes over the visible spectrum. This means the
Lux is well fit to light level from sense of human eyes.

However there is a difference between spectra response of ordinary silicon

photo diode and human eyes, it cannot be used for the lux meter. Some
photo diodes for illumination sensor have a color compensation filter on the
window to correct its spectra response.

Components used in Lux meter

Hardware
Photo diode outputs light current that is well proportional to input light
power when it is used in short mode. In this lux meter, the output current is
converted to voltage with an I-V converter, it is captured by a
microcontroller and displayed it in term of lux. The ppamp U1 in the Circuit
Diagram acts as the I-V conversion circuit and its conversion rate becomes
50mV/µA according to a feedback register R5. The capacitor C5 is to gain
correction, it cancels Ct of the photo diode (approx. 200 pF). In this case,
larger capacitance may be good rather than 220 pF because high frequency
signal is not needed.

The lux meter is powered by a 9V battery. To minimize battery space, it is

made contact with two piece of springs made of nickel plated copper
phosphorus alloy instead of a battery snap. However it is not anti-reverse
insertion structure, any protection circuit is needed. Q1 is the reverse
insertion protector which has not voltage loss like series diode. Q2 is a main
swich constructs power hold circuit with Q3 and Q4.

U4 is a 7 segment LED display from HP. It is packed into a 14 pin DIP

package. It is useful for handy equipments but it not suitable for battery
operation because it consumes not small power.

Microcontroller

21
The die from an Intel 8742, an 8-bit microcontroller that includes a CPU
running at 12 MHz, 128 bytes of RAM, 2048 bytes of EPROM, and I/O in
the same chip.

A microcontroller (sometimes abbreviated µC or uC) is a small computer

on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and
programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of
NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a
typically small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are designed for
embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal
computers or other general purpose applications.

Microcontrollers are used in automatically controlled products and devices,

such as automobile engine control systems, implantable medical devices,
remote controls, office machines, appliances, power tools, and toys. By
reducing the size and cost compared to a design that uses a separate
microprocessor, memory, and input/output devices, microcontrollers make it
economical to digitally control even more devices and processes. Mixed
signal microcontrollers are common, integrating analog components needed
to control non-digital electronic systems.

Some microcontrollers may use four-bit words and operate at clock rate
frequencies as low as 4 kHz, for low power consumption (milliwatts or
microwatts). They will generally have the ability to retain functionality
while waiting for an event such as a button press or other interrupt; power
consumption while sleeping (CPU clock and most peripherals off) may be
just nanowatts, making many of them well suited for long lasting battery
applications. Other microcontrollers may serve performance-critical roles,
where they may need to act more like a digital signal processor (DSP), with
higher clock speeds and power consumption.

Embedded design
A microcontroller can be considered a self-contained system with a
processor, memory and peripherals and can be used as an embedded system.
[1]
The majority of microcontrollers in use today are embedded in other
machinery, such as automobiles, telephones, appliances, and peripherals for
computer systems. These are called embedded systems. While some
embedded systems are very sophisticated, many have minimal requirements
for memory and program length, with no operating system, and low software

22
complexity. Typical input and output devices include switches, relays,
solenoids, LEDs, small or custom LCD displays, radio frequency devices,
and sensors for data such as temperature, humidity, light level etc.
Embedded systems usually have no keyboard, screen, disks, printers, or
other recognizable I/O devices of a personal computer, and may lack human
interaction devices of any kind.

Interrupts
Microcontrollers must provide real time (predictable, though not necessarily
fast) response to events in the embedded system they are controlling. When
certain events occur, an interrupt system can signal the processor to suspend
processing the current instruction sequence and to begin an interrupt service
routine (ISR, or "interrupt handler"). The ISR will perform any processing
required based on the source of the interrupt before returning to the original
instruction sequence. Possible interrupt sources are device dependent, and
often include events such as an internal timer overflow, completing an
analog to digital conversion, a logic level change on an input such as from a
button being pressed, and data received on a communication link. Where
power consumption is important as in battery operated devices, interrupts
may also wake a microcontroller from a low power sleep state where the
processor is halted until required to do something by a peripheral event.

Programs
Microcontroller programs must fit in the available on-chip program memory,
since it would be costly to provide a system with external, expandable,
memory. Compilers and assemblers are used to turn high-level language and
assembler language codes into a compact machine code for storage in the
microcontroller's memory. Depending on the device, the program memory
may be permanent, read-only memory that can only be programmed at the
factory, or program memory may be field-alterable flash or erasable read-
only memory.

Other microcontroller features

Microcontrollers usually contain from several to dozens of general purpose

input/output pins (GPIO). GPIO pins are software configurable to either an
input or an output state. When GPIO pins are configured to an input state,

23
they are often used to read sensors or external signals. Configured to the
output state, GPIO pins can drive external devices such as LED's or motors.

Many embedded systems need to read sensors that produce analog signals.
This is the purpose of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Since
processors are built to interpret and process digital data, i.e. 1s and 0s, they
won't be able to do anything with the analog signals that may be sent to it by
a device. So the analog to digital converter is used to convert the incoming
data into a form that the processor can recognize. A less common feature on
some microcontrollers is a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that allows the
processor to output analog signals or voltage levels.

In addition to the converters, many embedded microprocessors include a

variety of timers as well. One of the most common types of timers is the
Programmable Interval Timer (PIT). A PIT just counts down from some
value to zero. Once it reaches zero, it sends an interrupt to the processor
indicating that it has finished counting. This is useful for devices such as
thermostats, which periodically test the temperature around them to see if
they need to turn the air conditioner on, the heater on, etc.

Time Processing Unit (TPU) is a sophisticated timer. In addition to counting

down, the TPU can detect input events, generate output events, and perform
other useful operations.

A dedicated Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) block makes it possible for the
CPU to control power converters, resistive loads, motors, etc., without using
lots of CPU resources in tight timer loops.

Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) block makes it

possible to receive and transmit data over a serial line with very little load on
the CPU. Dedicated on-chip hardware also often includes capabilities to
communicate with other devices (chips) in digital formats such as I2C and
Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI).

Programming environments
Microcontrollers were originally programmed only in assembly language,
but various high-level programming languages are now also in common use
to target microcontrollers. These languages are either designed specially for
the purpose, or versions of general purpose languages such as the C
programming language. Compilers for general purpose languages will

24
typically have some restrictions as well as enhancements to better support
the unique characteristics of microcontrollers. Some microcontrollers have
environments to aid developing certain types of applications.
Microcontroller vendors often make tools freely available to make it easier
to adopt their hardware.

Many microcontrollers are so quirky that they effectively require their own
non-standard dialects of C, such as SDCC for the 8051, which prevent using
standard tools (such as code libraries or static analysis tools) even for code
unrelated to hardware features. Interpreters are often used to hide such low
level quirks.

Interpreter firmware is also available for some microcontrollers. For

example, BASIC on the early microcontrollers Intel 8052[4]; BASIC and
FORTH on the Zilog Z8[5] as well as some modern devices. Typically these
interpreters support interactive programming.

Simulators are available for some microcontrollers, such as in Microchip's

MPLAB environment. These allow a developer to analyze what the behavior
of the microcontroller and their program should be if they were using the
actual part. A simulator will show the internal processor state and also that
of the outputs, as well as allowing input signals to be generated. While on
the one hand most simulators will be limited from being unable to simulate
much other hardware in a system, they can exercise conditions that may
otherwise be hard to reproduce at will in the physical implementation, and
can be the quickest way to debug and analyze problems.

Recent microcontrollers are often integrated with on-chip debug circuitry

that when accessed by an in-circuit emulator via JTAG, allow debugging of
the firmware with a debugger.

Measure light intensity with an 8-bit microcontroller

Light sensors find their way into a host of interesting applications. For
instance, a light sensor in a camera measures the amount of light that the
film will be exposed to. Once the amount of light is known, the proper lens
aperture can be calculated to make sure that the picture is taken with the
proper amount of exposure.

25
In a smoke detector, a light sensor can be used to measure the amount of
light transmitted by a known light source, such as an LED, through the air
inside the sensor assembly. When the air becomes smoky, the amount of
light received by the sensor changes. If the amount of light change goes
above a preset threshold, then more than likely something nearby is burning,
and a horn is activated to indicate there’s a fire in the building.

There are many other applications for light sensors, such as flame detectors,
security systems, lighting control, robotics, etc. In these applications, many
of us think that since the sensor produces an analog output, interfacing this
type of sensor to a microcontroller will require a conventional analog-to-
digital converter. Actually, though, by using just a few discrete components,
interfacing a light sensor to an A/D-less microcontroller is very simple.

Photodiodes and phototransistors are two of the most popular and lowcost
light sensors. These devices are readily available in the $1 range. Both
devices produce current outputs as a function of light intensity. The
operating range of such devices varies depending on the manufacturer. Many
of these sensors are equipped with builtin lenses tuned to particular
wavelengths, so they’re most effective for detecting or measuring light with
those wavelengths. To get the best performance, the voltage across the
sensor must be held constant during measurement.

The circuit shown represents a very simple method of interfacing a light

sensor to the PIC12C620 microcontroller (see the figure). The light sensor
selected in the example is Photonic Detectors’ PDB-C107 (available through
Digi-Key). The PNP transistor (Q1) and resistors R1 and R2 are used to
provide a constant sensor voltage (VS) within 1 to 1.3 V. The collector
current of Q1 is approximately the same as the sensor current (IS). Capacitor
C1 integrates IS and generates a voltage ramp with a slope that’s
proportional to the light intensity seen by the sensor.

The microcontroller has two voltage comparators and an internal voltage

reference. One of the voltage comparators and the voltage reference are used
to interface to the sensor circuitry. The second voltage comparator, left
unused in this example, is available for other application-defined tasks, such
as temperature measurement using a thermistor, ac-line zero-crossing
detection, etc. The RA3 pin has multiple functions. It can be configured as a
digital I/O, or an analog connection to the inverting input of the voltage
comparator. Both RA3 and RA0 pins are used to control the sensor. Initially,

26
the system is in an idle state, where RA0 is a high output to disable the
sensor, and RA3 is a low output to discharge C1 through R3. This idle state
helps minimize power consumption.

To start a measurement, RA0 is set to a low output to activate the sensor

circuitry. RA2 is now set to an input and connected to the voltage
comparator’s inverting input. The noninverting input of the comparator is
connected to the internal voltage reference. The capacitor voltage then starts
to ramp up. The microcontroller now begins its timer while monitoring the
state of the comparator’s output. When the capacitor voltage and the voltage
reference are equal, the comparator output goes from a high to a low state.

As soon as the microcontroller detects this transition, it stops its timer. At

this point, the measurement is completed, and the micro sets the RA3 and
RA0 port lines back to the idle state. The time measured during the ramp is
inversely proportional to IS. The microcontroller can process this
information to meet whatever the application’s goal is, such as activating the
horn in a smoke detector, running the motor in a robot, or simply sending the
reading to the host computer.

Depending on the application, system calibration and linearization may be

required. The size of C1 and the maximum measurement time depend on the
light sensor, amount of light used in the application, and the internal voltage-
reference setting.

In many other applications in which the measurement resolution and

accuracy aren’t critical, such as detecting whether the lamp is 25% or 50%
on, an even lower-cost microcontroller without any analog peripheral (such
as the 8-pin PIC12C508) can be used. Instead of utilizing a voltage
comparator with an internal voltage reference, the capacitor voltage
measurement can be done on a regular I/O pin. The microcontroller now will
measure the voltage ramp from 0 V to its high input threshold voltage. The
system measurement error, stability, and repeatability will directly reflect the
threshold voltage variations due to the system’s powersupply voltage,
process variations, and the device temperature.

Software
Main function of the firmware is only captureing sensor output with A-D
converter and display it to the LED display. The built-in A-D converter of

27
AVR has 10 bit resolution but it is slightly insufficient for industrial
measurement system. The A-D converter unit has a gain amplifier which can
be inserted between multiplexer and A-D converter. This enables to improve
resolution by changing the input gain automatically. To implement this
funciton, capture input in gain of 20, if overflow occured, capture it again in
gain of 1. As a result, can improve resolution at small input resion that lower
relative resolution. Maximum light input is approx. 30000 lux due to A-D
input raige of 0 to 2.56 V.

The result from A-D comverter is multiplied by a calibration value to LED

display in term of lux. The LED will blink in low-battery condition.

The power switch is held by microcontroller to control power itself. This is

useful to prevent to forget to turn power off. This lux meter turnes power off
in 60 seconds.

Calibration
Any reference light source will not be available in most case. We have to
depend on only the data sheet to calibrate lux meter. The short current is Isc
= 0.16µA/100lux, according to S1087 data sheet. It becomes 2µA at 1250
lux. When -100 mV is applied to test pin (TP1), it is equivalent to 1250 lux
at photo diode, and I-V converter will output 100 mV.

To perform calibration, tie ISP pins via a several kΩ resister, turn on power,
and will be calibrated to the reference input. Low range is calibrated when
SCK-GND and -100 mV on TP1, High range is calibrated when MOSI-
GND and -1 V on TP1. Ofcource photo diode must be masked while
calibration, or the reslut will be invalid. When lux meter is housed into any
clear case including light sensor, additional calibration is required to
consider decrease due to case. When closed cover and lux decreased 10%,
calibrate again with 10% decreased voltages.

If any reference lux meter is available, it is easy to calibrate, find places of

1250 and 12500 lux and calibrate at these places will do.

28
Horns
Vehicle horn

29
A vehicle horn is a sound-making device used to warn others of the
approach of the vehicle or of its presence. Automobiles, trucks, ships, and
trains are all required by law to have horns. Bicycles are also legally
required to have an audible warning device in many jurisdictions, but not
universally nor always a horn.

Automobile
Oliver Lucas of Birmingham, England developed a standard electric car horn
in 1910. Automobile horns are usually electric klaxons, driven by a flat
circular steel diaphragm that has an electromagnet acting upon it and is
attached to a contactor that repeatedly interrupts the current to the
electromagnet. This arrangement works like a buzzer or electric bell and is
commonly known as "Sounding one's horn". There is usually a screw to
adjust the distance/tension of the electrical contacts for best operation. A
spiral exponential horn shape (sometimes called the "snail") is cast into the
body of the horn, to better match the acoustical impedance of the diaphragm
with open air, and thus more effectively transfer the sound energy. Sound
levels are approximately 107-109 decibels, and current draw 5-6 amperes.

Horns can be used singly, but are often arranged in pairs to produce a chord
consisting of two notes, sounded together; although this only increases the
sound output by 3 decibels, the use of two differing frequencies with their
beat frequencies and missing fundamental is more perceptible than the use of
two horns of identical frequency, particularly in an environment with a high
ambient noise level. Typical frequencies of a pair of horns of this design are
500 and 405–420 Hz (approximately B4 and G#4).

Some cars, and many motor scooters or motorcycles, now use a cheaper and
smaller alternative design, which, despite retaining the name "horn",
abandons the actual horn ducting and instead relies on a larger flat
diaphragm to reach the required sound level. Sound levels are approximately
109-112 decibels, and current draw 2.5-5 amperes. Again, these horns can be
either single, or arranged in pairs; typical frequencies for a pair are 420-440
and 340–370 Hz (approximately G#4-A4 and F4-F#4) for this design.

A horn grille is a part of some designs of automobile or other motor vehicle

that has an electric horn, such as a motor scooter.

30
The radiators of modern cars no longer determine the shape of the grilles,
which have become more abstract, the radiator being of different proportions
from the grille and over 15 centimetres behind it. Usually grilles are now
designed such that the sound of a horn can readily come out through them.
But those designs which maintain the notion that the shape of the grille shall
reflect the shape of the radiator behind it no longer have front fenders with
rather large crevices which would permit the old trumpet-shaped horns to be
mounted on top of them. Thus some cars, often British ones, have a pair of
round horn grilles mounted on either side of the radiator grille, behind each
of which a horn is located. A luxury car's horn grilles are usually chrome-
plated.

Cars with rear engines, such as the Volkswagen Beetle and the early
Porsches, necessarily have no radiator grilles in front, and so have horn
grilles placed below their headlights.

Some motor scooters have this feature as well, placed below the handlebars.
Their horn grilles may be cheap plastic. These vehicles and the cheaper cars
have only one horn.

Truck
Truck (lorry) horns may be electromagnetic klaxons of design similar to
those of automobiles. Often they are not electrically driven, but are purely
acoustic, driven by air from an air compressor which diesel trucks already
have on board to operate the air brakes. Such air horns are often used as trim
items, with chromed straight horns mounted on top of the cab. This design
may also be installed on customized automobiles, using a small electrical
compressor. Usually two are used, sometimes more. The frequencies vary in
order to produce a variety of different chords, but in general are lower than
those of automobile horns; for instance 125 through 180 Hz (approximately
B2-F#3). Sound levels are approximately 117-118 decibels.

Train horns can be grouped from one to five horns, to form a chord that has
the notes sounded together; these are operated by compressed air from the
air system.

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Sound Intensity
Sound intensity is defined as the sound power per unit area. The usual
context is the measurement of sound intensity in the air at a listener's
location. The basic units are watts/m2 or watts/cm2 . Many sound intensity
measurements are made relative to a standard threshold of hearing intensity
I0 :

The most common approach to sound intensity measurement is to use the

decibel scale:

Decibels measure the ratio of a given intensity I to the threshold of hearing

intensity , so that this threshold takes the value 0 decibels (0 dB). To assess
sound loudness, as distinct from an objective intensity measurement, the
sensitivity of the ear must be factored in.

Sensitivity of Human Ear

The human ear can respond to minute pressure variations in the air if they
are in the audible frequency range, roughly 20 Hz - 20 kHz.

Loudness
Loudness is the quality of a sound that is the primary psychological
correlate of physical strength (amplitude). More formally, it is defined as
"that attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered
on a scale extending from quiet to loud."

32
 The horizontal axis shows frequency in Hz

Loudness, a subjective measure, is often confused with objective measures

of sound strength such as sound pressure, sound pressure level (in decibels),
sound intensity or sound power. Filters such as A-weighting attempt to
adjust sound measurements to correspond to loudness as perceived by the
typical human. However, loudness perception is a much more complex
process than A-weighting. Furthermore, as the perception of loudness varies
from person to person it cannot be universally measured using any single
metric.

Loudness is also affected by parameters other than sound pressure, including

frequency, bandwidth and duration.
In acoustics volume is related to amplitude, sound pressure, and dynamics.

Explanation
The perception of loudness is related to both the sound pressure level and
duration of a sound. The human auditory system integrates (averages) the
effects of sound pressure level (SPL) over a 600–1,000 ms window. For
example, a sound of constant SPL will be perceived to increase in loudness
as 20, 50, 100, 200 ms samples are played, up to a maximum of
approximately 1 second at which point the perception of loudness will

33
stabilize. For long duration sounds (greater than 1 second), the moment by
moment perception of loudness will be based on the integration of the
preceding 600–1,000 ms.

In terms of the relationship between SPL and loudness for sounds longer
than 1 second, this can be approximated by a power function with an
exponent of 0.6 when plotted against sound pressure or 0.3 when plotted
against sound intensity (Stevens' power law). More precise measures have
been subsequently made that show that loudness grows more rapidly (with a
higher exponent) at low and high levels and less rapidly (with a lower
exponent) at moderate levels.

Units used to measure loudness:

• Sone (loudness N)
• Phon (loudness level L)

The sensitivity of the human ear changes as a function of frequency, as

shown on the graph to the right. Each line on this graph shows the SPL
required for frequencies to be perceived as equally loud. It also shows that
humans with good hearing are most sensitive to sounds around 2–4 kHz,
with sensitivity declining to either side of this region. A complete model of
the perception of loudness will include the integration of SPL by frequency
and the duration of each.

Loudness and hearing loss

When sensorineural hearing loss (damage to the cochlea or in the brain) is

present, the perception of loudness is altered. Sounds at low levels (often
perceived by those without hearing loss as relatively quiet) are no longer
audible to the hearing impaired, but interestingly, sounds at high levels often
are perceived as having the same loudness as they would for an unimpaired
listener. This phenomenon can be explained by two theories: Loudness
grows more rapidly for these listeners than normal listeners with changes in
level. This theory is called "loudness recruitment" and has been accepted as
the classical explanation. More recently, it has been proposed that some
listeners with sensorineural hearing loss may in fact exhibit a normal rate of
loudness growth, but instead have an elevated loudness at their threshold.
That is, the softest sound that is audible to these listeners is louder than the
softest sound audible to normal listeners. This theory is called "softness
imperception."

34
It is capable of detecting pressure variations of less than one billionth of
atmospheric pressure. The threshold of hearing corresponds to air vibrations
on the order of a tenth of an atomic diameter. This incredible sensitivity is
enhanced by an effective amplification of the sound signal by the outer and
middle ear structures. Contributing to the wide dynamic range of human
hearing are protective mechanisms that reduce the ear's response to very
loud sounds. Sound intensities over this wide range are usually expressed in
decibels.

Measuring of sound Intensity

Building the Meter

In this unit, the Ready-Made extensions involve measurements of sound

intensity. For these investigations you will need to build a Sound Level
Meter.

35
 Figure E1a
Sound Level Meter

The sound Level Meter is based on the 741 Amplifier constructed in the
Messing Around Section. Therefore, you already have most of the parts, and
you have already finished 85% of the work. A few extra parts are
neccessary.

Sound Level Meter Circuit

36
 A circuit diagram for a Sound Level Meter is shown above.

THE 741 OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER

The Operational Amplifier is probably the most versatile Integrated Circuit
available. It is very cheap especially keeping in mind the fact that it contains
several hundred components. The most common Op-Amp is the 741 and it is
used in many circuits.

The OP AMP is a ‘Linear Amplifier’ with an amazing variety of uses. Its

main purpose is to amplify (increase) a weak signal - a little like a
Darlington Pair.

The OP-AMP has two inputs, INVERTING ( - ) and NON-INVERTING

(+), and one output at pin 6.

The chip can be used in a circuit in two ways. If the voltage goes into pin
two then it is known as an INVERTING AMPLIFIER.
If the voltage goes into pin three then the circuit becomes a NON-
INVERTING AMPLIFIER.

37
 THE 741 IS USED IN TWO WAYS

1. An inverting amplifier. Leg two is the input and the output is always
reversed.

In an inverting amplifier the voltage enters the 741 chip through leg two and
comes out of the 741 chip at leg six. If the polarity is positive going into the
chip, it negative by the time it comes out through leg six. The polarity has
been ‘inverted’.

2. A non-inverting amplifier. Leg three is the input and the output is not
reversed.

In a non-inverting amplifier the voltage enters the 741 chip through leg three
and leaves the 741 chip through leg six. This time if it is positive going into
the 741 then it is still positive coming out. Polarity remains the same.

The 741 integrated circuit looks like any other ‘chip’. However, it is a
general purpose OP-AMP. You need only to know basic information about
its operation and use. The diagram opposite shows the pins of the 741 OP-
AMP. The important pins are 2, 3 and 6 because these represent inverting,

38
non-inverting and voltage out. Notice the triangular diagram that represents
an Op-Amp integrated circuit.

LM324
Low Power Quad Operational Amplifier

Single sided supply op-amps

A single sided supply op-amp is one where the input and output voltages can
be as low as the negative power supply voltage instead of needing to be at
least two volts above it. The result is that it can operate in many applications
with the negative supply pin on the op-amp being connected to the signal
ground, thus eliminating the need for a separate negative power supply.

The LM324 (released in 1972) was one such op-amp that came in a quad
package (four separate op-amps in one package) and became an industry
standard. In addition to packaging multiple op-amps in a single package, the
1970s also saw the birth of op-amps in hybrid packages. These op-amps
were generally improved versions of existing monolithic op-amps. As the
properties of monolithic op-amps improved, the more complex hybrid ICs
were quickly relegated to systems that are required to have extremely long
service lives or other specialty systems.

39
Decibel Meter

The circuit below responds to sound pressure levels from about 60 to 70 dB.
The sound is picked up by an 8 ohm speaker, amplified by a transistor stage
and one LM324 op-amp section. You can also use a dynamic microphone
but I found the speaker was more sensitive. The remaining 3 sections of the
LM324 quad op-amp are used as voltage comparators and drive 3 indicator
LEDs or incandescents which are spaced about 3dB apart. An additional
transistor is needed for incandescent lights as shown with the lower lamp. I
used 12 volt, 50mA lamps. Each light represents about a 3dB change in
sound level so that when all 3 lights are on, the sound level is about 4 times
greater than the level needed to light one lamp. The sensitivity can be
adjusted with the 500K pot so that one lamp comes on with a reference
sound level. The other two lamps will then indicate about a 2X and 4X
increase in volume.

In operation, with no input, the DC voltage at pins 1,2 and 3 of the op-amp
will be about 4 volts, and the voltage on the (+) inputs to the 3 comparators
(pins 5,10,12) will be about a half volt less due to the 1N914 diode drop.
The voltage on the (-) comparator inputs will be around 5.1 and 6.5 which is
set by the 560 and 750 ohm resistors.

When an audio signal is present, the 10uF capacitor connected to the diode
will charge toward the peak audio level at the op-amp output at pin 1. As the
volume increases, the DC voltage on the capacitor and also (+) comparator
inputs will increase and the lamp will turn on when the (+) input goes above
the (-) input. As the volume decreases, the capacitor discharges through the

40
parallel 100K resistor and the lamps go out. You can change the response
time with a larger or smaller capacitor.

This circuit requires a well filtered power source, it will respond to very
small changes in supply voltage, so you probably will need a large filter
capacitor connected directly to the 330 ohm resistor. I managed to get it to
work with an unregulated wall transformer power source, but I had to use
4700uF. It worked well on a regulated supply with only 1000uF.

41