Interaction Design WikiElectrical Engineering

Analog Sensors

These sensors are available for experimenting in the Lab. Some can be connected directly to an analog pin of the Arduino, but many require a voltage divider circuit. 

The analog inputs (pins A0 to A5) of the Arduino Uno use the inbuilt ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) in the microcontroller to give us 10-bit values (between 0 and 1023). The Arduino has 0v and 5v as its reference values, so for example, 0v would give us 0, 5v would give us 1023, and 2.5v would give us about 511. To get these values we use the analogRead(). 

Many analog sensors are Resistive, which means they change their resistance in response to a specific stimulus. We can see that on the multimeter for a quick test, but the ADC on the Arduino on measures voltage, not resistance. We can easily solve this problem with a voltage divider circuit

https://itp.nyu.edu/archive/physcomp-spring2014/sensors/Reports/Reports.html

Sliding/Rotating

Potentiometer

Data Sheet: PC16-SH

Tutorial: AnalogReadSerial

Linear Potentiometer

Data SheetBourns PTA6043-2015DPB254


Movement

Flex Sensor

Data SheetFlex Sensor 4.5
Tutorial: Sensing a Bend

IR Distance Sensor

Data SheetSharp GP2Y0A02YK0F
Tutorial: Are we getting close?


Touch

Pressure sensor

Data SheetFSR Integration Guide
Tutorial: Force Sensitive Sensors

Flexiforce Pressure sensor

Data SheetFlexiForce 100lbs
Tutorial: Sensing Weight


HotPot Foil potentiometer

Data SheetLinear 100mm
Tutorial: Touch Sliders

HotPot Rotary Potentiometer

Data SheetRotary Potentiometer
Tutorial: Touch Sliders

Piezo Element

Data Sheet7BB-20-6LO
Tutorial: Knock Sensor


Environment

Temperature Sensor

Data SheetLM335Z
Tutorial: Using a Temperature Sensor

Photo Resistor

Data SheetPDV-P9203
Tutorial: Simple Light Reading