Ultrasonic Radar with EPS32

This project explores the potential of combining ESP32 microcontrollers, an ultrasonic sensor, a servo motor, and visualization software to create a radar system.

System Overview

The system starts by uploading Arduino code while visualizing object location on a laptop.
A servo motor-mounted ultrasonic sensor rotates to search for objects.
If an object is detected within a certain proximity threshold, a buzzer sounds.

The system flow chart is illustrated in the following figure.

Project Materials

ESP32
Ultrasonic distance sensor - HC-SR04 with mounting bracket
SG90 9g micro servo motor
Piezoelectronic buzzer

Programming Code

The Arduino code developed to operate the ultrasonic sensor, servo motor, and buzzer is available on GitHub.

For visualization, I used Processing, a Java-based software commonly utilized in Arduino projects. The visualization code will be uploaded to GitHub in the future.

Experimental Results

The following video illustrates the experimental results, showcasing sensor movement and radar visualization on a laptop. The radar system demonstrated high accuracy in object detection and promptly updated object positions, effectively reflecting dynamic changes in the environment.

Discussion

Servo Motor Limitations:

Mounting the servo motor was challenging due to its lightweight construction compared to the sensor it was supporting. No readily available mounting solutions were suitable for this specific application. To address this issue, I temporarily secured the servo motor manually during experiments to ensure stability and functionality.

Visualization Potential:

The integration of Arduino with C# for visualization demonstrated great flexibility, indicating numerous possibilities for future Arduino-based projects.

In conlcusion

This project tested a radar system integrating ESP32 microcontrollers with an ultrasonic sensor, servo motor, and visualization software "Processing". Overall, it successfully demonstrated how a simple, user-friendly radar system can be developed, providing a stepping stone towards more advanced applications in the fields of IoT and mechatronics.