Posts tagged with electronics - page 2

ESP8266 WiFi IOT chip | Programing the Firmware

ESP8266 is a cheap WiFi chip you can use in your embedded projects. You can communicate the chip using AT commands through UART. You can setup a WiFi hotspot, connect to an existing WiFi network, act as a web server, send data (TCP/UDP). The real fun is that you can reprogram the whole chip and you don’t need an other micro controller to control it. The ESP8266 ES1 come with 2 GPIO pins. There are other variants of this chip with more GPIO. This ESP 01 cost around Rs. 250 which is so cheap while comparing with other WiFi modules.

Clap Switch

For some time I was thinking of making a simple clap switch for my room. ( Kind of lazy to go and switch off the light and fan every time… :-) ) First get it work on a breadboard.

LED Cube using Atmega328P


Ultrasonic Hover Input Device

This was my Bachelor Project. The project was selected for the Malayala Manorama Yuva Master Mind 2014. This is a video describing the project at the final round in the competition.

AT Commands

AT commands are used for communicating with a modem. AT is the abbreviation of ATtention commands. Every command start with AT. Some of the useful AT commands are listed below. You can call a number, attend a call, hang a call, send sms, read sms, and the list goes on with the features of a particular provider. Some commands are specific to some models. GSM modems can be bought and can be integrated to Micro-controllers or directly to PC. Following list may be helpful to hobbyist or others working on GSM modems for project works.

AT

The response will be OK. This means that the modem is up and ready.

ATD94xxxxxxxx
This command will initiate a voice call to the no 94xxxxxxxx. The semicolon indicates that it is a voice call. If you want to run any USSD codes like *123# for balance enquirey, do the same without semicolon.

ATD*123#

Other Call control commands
Command
Description
ATA
Answer command
ATD
Dial command
ATH
Hang up call

 

Sending an SMS.


First put the modem into text mode. Otherwise output will be in hex format.

AT+CMGF=1


Then

AT+CMGS="+94xxxxxxxx" > This is the text message
Then press Cntrl+z to complete typing message and send it. You will get a response like

+CMGS: 100 OK

 

Reading a message

AT+CMGR=<indexofmessage>

For example

AT+CMGR=1

The response will be the message indexed at 1.

Some other AT commands :
Command
Description
AT+CBC
Battery charge
AT+CSQ
Signal quality

For a whole set of AT commands refer this link..
Link
For a quick overview of some useful commands go to this site.
Link.

For how to communicate (like sending message, calling etc) using a microcontroller and a GSM modem (like SIM300) am gonna write a post soon.