An Ultrasonic Sensor is a device that measures distance to an object
using Sound Waves. It works by sending out a sound wave at
ultrasonic frequency and waits for it to bounce back from the object.
Then, the time delay between transmission of sound and receiving
of the sound is used to calculate the distance.
It is done using the formula Distance = (Speed of sound * Time
delay) / 2
We divide the distance formula by 2 because the sound waves
travel a round trip i.e from the sensor and back to the sensor which
doubles the actual distance.
The HC-SR04 is a typical ultrasonic sensor which is used in many
projects such as obstacle detector and electronic distance
measurement tapes. In this Instructable I'll teach you how to
interface the HC-SC04 with an Arduino Uno.
Step 1: Components Required
To interface an Ultrasonic Sensor with an Arduino and view the
distance on the serial monitor you'll need:
Arduino Uno
HC-SR04 Module
BreadBorad
Jumper wires
You'll need a laptop or a PC to upload code to the Arduino and view
the Distance on the Serial Monitor.
Step 2: A Little About HC-SR04
The HC-SR04 is an ultrasonic ranging module. This economical
sensor provides 2cm to 400cm of non-contact measurement
functionality with a ranging accuracy that can reach up to 3mm.
Each HC-SR04 module includes an ultrasonic transmitter, a receiver
and a control circuit.
There are Four Pins on the HC-SR04. They are :
Vcc (5V supply)
Gnd (Ground)
Trig (Trigger)
Echo (Receive)
The key features to be noted are:
Operating Voltage: 5V DC
Operating Current: 15mA
Measure Angle: 15°
Ranging Distance: 2cm - 4m
Step 3: The Arduino Serial Monitor
The Serial Monitor is a part of the Arduino IDE. It is also available in
the Web IDE. It allows you to send and receive data from the
board connected via USB. This is using the concept of Serial
Communication.
You can send the commands by typing in the window on the top and
pressing 'Enter' or clicking 'Send'. The data from the board is
displayed below that.
This is very useful when debugging the code, or if you need to give
inputs to the board, This is probably the most useful tool in the IDE.
The more you use it, the better you get at testing complex projects
that takes inputs and provides consequent outputs.
Step 4: The Circuit
The connections are as follows:
Vcc to 5V Pin of the Arduino.
Gnd to Gnd Pin of the Arduino.
Trig to Digital Pin 9 .
Echo to Digital Pin 10.
Refer the schematics for more clarity on the connections.
. Few things to remember while building the circuit
Avoid placing the sensor on metal surfaces to avoid short circuits
which might burn the sensor.
It is recommended to put electrical tape on the back side of the
sensor.
You can also directly connect the Ultrasonic sensor to the Arduino
with jumper wires directly.
Step 5: The Code
/*
* Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 interfacing with Arduino.
*/
// defining the pins
const int trigPin = 9;
const int echoPin = 10;
// defining variables
long duration;
int distance;
void setup() {
pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT); // Sets the trigPin as an Output
pinMode(echoPin, INPUT); // Sets the echoPin as an Input
Serial.begin(9600); // Starts the serial communication
void loop() {
// Clears the trigPin
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(2);
// Sets the trigPin on HIGH state for 10 micro seconds
digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(10);
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
// Reads the echoPin, returns the sound wave travel time in
microseconds
duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);
// Calculating the distance
distance= duration*0.034/2;
// Prints the distance on the Serial Monitor
Serial.print("Distance: ");
Serial.println(distance);
Step 6: Uploading and Testing
