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1<?php
2        $seiten_id = 'lernprojekte';
3        $version = '$Id';
4        $titel = 'Study projects';
5       
6        require '../lib/technikum29.php';
7?>
8
9<h2>Study projects</h2>
10
11<h3 id="Q1"> technikum29 supports school projects</h3>
12
13<p>Microcontrollers revolutionize
14and influence next to everything. How can schools participate on these
15developments and perform successful and interesting projects?<br>
16Six pupils of Q1 (12th year in school) of the Albert-Einstein secondary
17school were looking for a suitable idea for their so called "project
18week". This project should be connected to mathematics, physics and/or
19computer science. This is where the technikum29 got involved. The idea
20the pupils came up with was to connect technology from the 1950s with
21modern equipment of 2012. Communication spanning time and technology.<br>
22<div class="box left">
23        <img src="/shared/photos/kommunikationstechnik/arduino1.jpg" width="606" height="335" />
24       </div>
25<p>Traditionally such projects required knowledge only accessible to
26computer scientists, engineers and the like. Often they had to spend
27weeks of reading data sheets, writing cryptic assembly code etc. How
28things have changed! Since 2009 a cheap and versatile module named
29"Arduino" is available - a controller based on the well known ATmega
30328 chip featuring 32 kB of memory. Arduino boards are designed not
31for the expert but for the layman and are the perfect base for
32creative people, artists, designers etc.
33 <br>
34This project focuses on connecting computers to the "real world". The
35small Arduino board can be programmed to be used as an interface for
36nearly everything. The pupils decided to connect an early fax machine
37(a Siemens KF108 made in 1958) to a modern PC.   <br>
38This fax machine is based on a rotating drum which holds the sheet of
39paper to be transmitted to the receiving station. The picture is
40scanned in a spiral movement by a photodetector that slowly moves in
41parallel to the axis of the drum. Of course, this is incompatible with
42more recent fax machines.
43
44The Arduino was planned to act as the interface between this historic
45device and a modern PC. Thus the pupils first had to learn how to
46program such a micro controller which turned out to be quite difficult
47for non-programmers. Nevertheless the software approach has its
48advantages: It is more easily debugged compared with a traditional
49hardware based interface. Thus it only took a single week to program
50and interface the Arduino board to the Siemens fax.
51
52<div class="box left">
53        <img src="/shared/photos/kommunikationstechnik/arduino2.jpg" width="606" height="354" />
54       </div>
55           
56<p>The fax machine generates an auido signal with a frequency of 1.5 kHz
57denoting black pixels to be transmitted. To convert this into a binary
58signal with a 5V level an amplifier circuit is needed that is followed
59by an RC-combination. In addition to that a synchronization signal is
60necessary to signal the start of a new line being scanned. This is
61generated utilizing a reed-contact that is triggered by a so called
62"super magnet" that has been glued onto the axis of the scanner drum.
63The reed-contact thus generates a signal for every revolution of the
64drum which corresponds to a single line being scanned.<br>
65
66The control program for the Arduino was developed by the pupils (the
67source code can be found <a href="/de/lernprojekte/arduino-projekt-programme/"> >>HERE</a>). It allows the picture being scanned, a historic Mickey-Mouse drawing, to be transferred to the PC
68where it is displayed slowly line by line with good resolution.
69
70The experiment was a full success and will inspire future projects.
71
72<p class="small">*) Arduino: The name of this board derives from King "Arduino of
73Ivrea" who lived in medieval times in northern Italy where the
74controller was developed.</small> <br>
75
76         
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