Arduino Based RADAR System

By Anuj Dutt

want to use like in a car, a bicycle or anything else. The use

of Arduino in this provides even more flexibility of usage of
the above-said module according to the requirements.
The idea of making an RADAR came as a part of a study
carried out on the working and mechanism of Automobiles
of Future. Hence this time I was able to get a hold of one of
the Arduino boards, Arduino UNO R3. So, knowing about
the power and vast processing capabilities of the Arduino, I
thought of making it big and a day to day application
specific module that can be used and configured easily at
any place and by anyone.
Moreover, in this fast moving world there is an immense
need for the tools that can be used for the betterment of the
mankind rather than devastating their lives.
Hence, from the idea of the self driving cars came the idea
of self parking cars. The main problem of the people in the
world is safety while driving. So, this gave up a solution to
that by making use of this project to continuously scan the
area for traffic, population etc. and as well as protection of
the vehicles at the same time to prevent accidents or minor
scratches to the vehicles.

Abstract RADAR is an object detection system which

uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or
speed of objects. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of
radio waves or microwaves which bounce off any object in
their path. Arduino is a single-board microcontroller to make
using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible.
This project aims at making a RADAR that is efficient,
cheaper and reflects all the possible techniques that a radar
consists of.

I. INTRODUCTION
RADAR is an object detection system which uses radio
waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of
objects. Radar systems come in a variety of sizes and have
different performance specifications. Some radar systems
are used for air-traffic control at airports and others are used
for long range surveillance and early-warning systems. A
radar system is the heart of a missile guidance system. Small
portable radar systems that can be maintained and operated
by one person are available as well as systems that occupy
several large rooms.
Radar was secretly developed by several nations before
and during the World War II. The term RADAR itself, not
the actual development, was coined in 1940 by United
States Navy as an acronym for Radio Detection and
Ranging.
The modern uses of radar are highly diverse, including air
traffic control, radar, astronomy, air-defense systems,
antimissile systems, antimissile systems; marine radars to
locate landmarks and other ships; aircraft anti-collision
systems; ocean surveillance systems, outer space
surveillance and rendezvous systems; meteorological
precipitation monitoring; altimetry and
flight control
precipitation monitoring; altimetry and flight control
systems; guided missile target locating systems; and groundpenetrating radar for geological observations. High tech
radar systems are associated with digital signal
processing and are capable of extracting useful information
from very high noise levels.

III. COMPONENTS REQUIRED

A. Arduino UNO R3 or Above
The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the
ATmega328. It has 14 digital Input /Output pins (of which 6
can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16MHz
ceramic resonator, USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header and a reset button. It contains everything needed to
support the microcontroller; simply connect it to computer
with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or
battery to get started.
The Uno differs from all preceding boards in that it does
not use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it
features the Atmega16U2 programmed as a USB-to-serial
converter.
Changes in Uno R3:
1. Pin out: added SDA and SCL pins that are near to
the AREF pin and two other new pins placed near
to the reset pin, the IOREF that allow the shields to
adapt to the voltage provided from the board. In
future, shields will be compatible with both the
board that uses the AVR, which operates with 5v
and with the Arduino due that operates with 3.3v.
2. Stronger RESET circuit.
3. ATmega16U2 replace the 8U2.
"Uno" means one in Italian and is named to mark the
upcoming release of Arduino 1.0. The Uno and version 1.0
will be the reference versions of Arduino, moving forward.
The Uno is the latest in a series of USB Arduino boards, and
the reference model for the Arduino platform; for a

II. LITERATURE SURVEY

A. The Idea
Army, Navy and the Air Force make use of this
technology. The use of such technology has been seen
recently in the self parking car systems launched by AUDI,
FORD etc. And even the upcoming driverless cars by
Google like Prius and Lexus.
This setup can be used in any systems the customer may

comparison with previous versions, see the index of Arduino

Boards.

C. Crystal Oscillator
A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that
uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of
piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a
very precise frequency. This frequency is commonly used to
keep track of time (as in quartz wristwatches), to provide a
stable clock signal for digital integrated circuits, and to
stabilize frequencies for radio transmitters and receivers.
The most common type of piezoelectric resonator used is
the quartz crystal, so oscillator circuits incorporating them
became known as crystal oscillators, but other piezoelectric
materials including polycrystalline ceramics are used in
similar circuits.
Quartz crystals are manufactured for frequencies from a
few tens of kilohertz to hundreds of megahertz. More than
two billion crystals are manufactured annually. Most are
used
for
consumer
devices
such
as wristwatches, clocks, radios, computers, and cell phones.
Quartz crystals are also found inside test and
measurement equipment, such as counters, signal
generators, and oscilloscopes.

Figure 1.1 Arduino Board

TABLE I
ARDUINO UNO R3 SPECIFICATIONS
ATmega328
Microcontroller
5V
[1] Operating Voltage
7-12V
[2] Input Voltage
(recommended)
6-20V
[3] Input Voltage (limits)
14 (of which 6 provide
[4] Digital I/O Pins
PWM output)
6
[5] Analog Input Pins
40 mA
[6] DC Current per I/O Pin
50 mA
[7] DC Current for 3.3V
Pin
32 KB (ATmega328) of
[8] Flash Memory
which 0.5 KB used by
bootloader
2 KB (ATmega328)
[9] SRAM
1 KB (ATmega328)
[10] EEPROM
16 MHz
[11] Clock Speed

Figure 1.3 Crystal Oscillator(16 MHz)

D. Servo Motor
A servomotor is a rotary actuator that allows for
precise control of angular position, velocity and
acceleration. It consists of a suitable motor coupled to a
sensor for position feedback. It also requires a relatively
sophisticated controller, often a dedicated module
designed specifically for use with servomotors.
Servomotors are not a different class of motor, on the
basis of fundamental operating principle, but
uses servomechanism to achieve closed loop control with
a generic open loop motor.
Servomotors are used in applications such
as robotics, CNC machinery or automated manufacturing.

B. ATmega328P
The ATmega328 is a single chip micro-controller created
by Atmel and belongs to the mega AVR series. The highperformance Atmel 8-bit AVR RISC-based microcontroller
combines 32 KB ISP flash memory with read-while-write
capabilities, 1 KB EEPROM, 2 KB SRAM, 23 general
purpose I/O lines, 32 general purpose working registers,
three flexible timer/counters with compare modes, internal
and external interrupts, serial programmable usart, a byteoriented 2-wire serial interface, spi serial-port, a 6-channel
10
bit
Analog
to
Digital
converter (8channels)in tqfp and qfn/mlf packages),programmable
watchdog timer with internal oscillator and five software
selectable power saving modes. The device operates
between 1.8-5.5 volts. By executing powerful instructions in
a single clock cycle, the device achieves throughputs
approaching
1 MIPS per
MHz,
balancing
power
consumption and processing speed.

Figure 1.4 Servo Motor

E. Voltage Regulator
A voltage regulator is an electrical regulator designed to
automatically maintain a constant voltage level.
With the exception of shunt regulators, all modern
electronic voltage regulators operate by comparing the
actual output voltage to some internal fixed reference

Figure 1.2 ATmega328P

voltage. Any difference is amplified and used to control

the regulation element. This forms a negative feedback
servo control loop. If the output voltage is too low, the
regulation element is commanded to produce a higher
voltage
The 78XX series of three-terminal positive regulator
are available in the TO-220/D-PAK package and with
several fixed output voltages, making them useful in a
wide range of applications. Each type employs internal
current limiting, thermal shut down and safe operating
area protection, making it essentially indestructible. If
adequate heat sinking is provided, they can deliver over
1A output current.
Although designed primarily as fixed voltage
regulators, these devices can be used with external
components to obtain adjustable voltages and currents.

Figure 1.6 Ultrasonic Sensor

IV. USING ARDUINO SOFTWARE

The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) is
a cross-platform application written in Java, and is derived
from the IDE for the Processing programming language and
the Wiring projects. It is designed to introduce programming
to artists and other newcomers unfamiliar with software
development. It includes a code editor with features such
as syntax highlighting, brace matching, and automatic
indentation, and is also capable of compiling and uploading
programs to the board with a single click. A program or
code written for Arduino is called a "sketch".
Arduino programs are written in C or C++. The Arduino
IDE comes with a software library called "Wiring" from the
original Wiring project, which makes many common
input/output operations much easier.
Users only need define two functions to make a run able
cyclic executive program:
Setup(): a function run once at the start of a program
that can initialize settings
Loop(): a function called repeatedly until the board
powers off.
Open the Arduino IDE software and select the board in
use. To select the board:
Go to Tools.
Select Board.

Figure 1.5 Voltage Regulator

F. Ultrasonic Sensor
Ultrasonic sensors (also known as transceivers when
they both send and receive, but more generally
called transducers) work on a principle similar
to radar or sonar which evaluate attributes of a target by
interpreting the echoes from radio or sound waves
respectively. Ultrasonic sensors generate high frequency
sound waves and evaluate the echo which is received
back by the sensor. Sensors calculate the time interval
between sending the signal and receiving the echo to
determine the distance to an object.
This technology can be used for measuring wind speed
and direction (anemometer), tank or channel level, and
speed through air or water. For measuring speed or
direction a device uses multiple detectors and calculates
the speed from the relative distances to particulates in the
air or water.
To measure tank or channel level, the sensor measures
the distance to the surface of the fluid. Further
applications include: humidifiers, sonar, medical ultra
sonography, burglar alarms and non-destructive testing.
Systems typically use a transducer which generates
sound waves in the ultrasonic range, above 18,000 hertz,
by turning electrical energy into sound, then upon
receiving the echo turn the sound waves into electrical
energy which can be measured and displayed.

Figure 1.7 Arduino IDE

Under board, select the board being used, in this case

Arduino Uno.
Go to Tools and to Port and select the port at which the
Arduino board is connected.
Write the code in the space provided and click on
compile. Once the code is compiled, click on upload to
upload the sketch to the Arduino board.

V. PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION
A. Making On Arduino Board/ Boot-loading ATmega328P
Since, we believe in learning by doing. So, we decided to
make our own arduino board instead of using the readymade
board. So, the steps required to make an arduino board are
as follows:
Boot-loading an Atmega328 using the Arduino
board/AVR Programmer by uploading the boot
loader to the Microcontroller.

Figure 1.10 Connecting Servo Motor

A servomotor is a rotary actuator that allows for precise

control of angular position, velocity and acceleration.
A normal servo motor has three terminals:
1.VCC
2. GND
3. PULSE
A servo motor works at normally 4.8 to 6 volts. Ground is
provided by connecting it to the Ground of the Arduino. The
total time for a servo motor pulse is usually 20ms. To move
it to one end of say 0 degree angle, a 1ms pulse is used and
to move it to other end i.e 180 degrees, a 2ms pulse is
applied. Hence, according to this to move the axis of the
servo motor to the center, a pulse of time 1.5 ms should be
applied. For this, the pulse wire of the servo motor is
connected to the Arduino that provides the digital pulses for
pulse width modulation of the pulse. Hence, by
programming for a particular pulse interval the servo motor
can be controlled easily.

Figure 1.8 Boot-loading ATmega328P

Making the connections on a general purpose PCB,

connecting the crystal osicillator, capacitors,
connectors for the connections to Arduino board
etc.
Providing the power supply, usually 5 volts.
Arduino is Ready to use.

C. Connecting Ultrasonic Sensor

An Ultrasonic Sensor consists of three wires. One for
Vcc, second for Ground and the third for pulse signal. The
ultrasonic sensor is mounted on the servo motor and both of
them further connected to the Arduino board. The ultrasonic
sensor uses the reflection principle for its working. When
connected to the Arduino, the Arduino provides the pulse
signal to the ultrasonic sensor which then sends the
ultrasonic wave in forward direction. Hence, whenever there
is any obstacle detected or present in front, it reflects the
waves which are received by the ultrasonic sensor.
If detected, the signal is sent to the Arduino and hence to
the PC/laptop to the processing software that shows the
presence of the obstacle on the rotating RADAR screen with
distance and the angle at which it has been detected.

Figure 1.9 Boot-Loader Circuit

After you have done all this, then only the minimum
circuitry like crystal oscillator, capacitors, connectors,
power supply is required to complete the board. The same
circuit can be made on the PCB, either designed or general
purpose. Since, Arduino is an Open-Source. Hence, it is
easy to make and can have any enhancements as per the
requirements.
B. Connecting Servo Motor

VII. PROBLEMS FACED

A. Making Own Arduino Board
The Arduino boards are available readily in the electronics
market, but we decided to make our own Arduino board
instead of buying one. So, the first problem was where to
start from to achieve this goal. Since, all parts on an Arduino
board are SMDs, so we had to find a way to replace the
SMDs with DIP ICs and also had to make an AVR
programmer in order to pursue our further work. Hence, it
took us some days to determine and plan our course of
action.
After that we had to boot load the AVR chip so as to make
it compatible with the Arduino IDE software. Hence, we had
to find a way to boot load the Arduino using the AVR
programmer. It took us a long time to make the AVR
programmer by researching on the type of communication
and architecture of the AVR as it is not as same as a 8051
microcontroller.

Figure 1.10 Connecting Ultrasonic Sensor to Arduino

B. Communicating with Arduino through PC

Another major problem related to the Arduino board was
the communication with it from PC. Since, there is a
requirement of an RS-232 to TTL conversion for the
communication, so try some methods:
[1] Firstly I used the MAX-232 IC to communicate
with the Arduino as with the 8051 but due to large
voltage drop and mismatch in the speed, it failed to
communicate.
[2] Next, I tried to use a dedicated AVR as USB to
Serial converter as in the original Arduino board,
the difference being DIP AVR used by us instead
of the SMD Mega16U2 controller. But,
unfortunately I was unable to communicate through
it.
[3] At last I had no other choice but to use the FTDI
FT-232R chip for USB to Serial conversion.
Finally IT WORKED!!!

Figure 1.11 Working of Ultrasonic Sensor

VI. USING PROCESSING SOFTWARE

Processing is an open source programming language and
integrated development environment (IDE) built for the
electronic
arts, new
media
art,
and visual
design communities with the purpose of teaching the
fundamentals of computer programming in a visual
context, and to serve as the foundation for electronic
sketchbooks. The project was initiated in 2001 by Casey
Reas and Benjamin Fry, both formerly of the Aesthetics
and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab. One of
the stated aims of Processing is to act as a tool to get nonprogrammers started with programming, through the
instant gratification of visual feedback. The language
builds on the Java language, but uses a simplified syntax
and graphics programming models.

VIII. APPLICATIONS
The idea of making an Ultrasonic RADAR appeared to us
while viewing the technology used in defense, be it Army,
Navy or Air Force and now even used in the automobiles
employing features like automatic/driverless parking
systems, accident prevention during driving etc. The
applications of such have been seen recently in the self
parking car systems launched by AUDI, FORD etc. And
even the upcoming driverless cars by Google like Prius and
Lexus.

Figure 1.13 Driverless Car by Google

Figure 1.12 Processing 2.0 Software

C. Applications in Army

A. Air Force
In aviation, aircraft are equipped with radar devices
that warn of aircraft or other obstacles in or approaching
their path, display weather information, and give accurate
altitude readings. The first commercial device fitted to
aircraft was a 1938 Bell Lab unit on some United Air
Lines aircraft. Such aircraft can land in fog at airports
equipped with radar-assisted ground-controlled
approach systems in which the plane's flight is observed
on radar screens while operators radio landing directions
to the pilot.

Figure 1.16 RADAR in Army

Two video cameras automatically detect and track

individuals walking anywhere near the system, within the
range of a soccer field. Low-level radar beams are aimed
at them and then reflected back to a computer, which
analyzes the signals in a series of algorithms. It does this
by comparing the radar return signal (which emits less
than a cell phone) to an extensive library of normal
responses.
Those responses are modeled after people of all
different shapes and sizes (SET got around to adding
females in 2009). It then compares the signal to another
set of anomalous responses any anomaly, and horns
go off.
Literally, when the computer detects a threat, it shows
a red symbol and sounds a horn. No threat and the symbol
turns green, greeting the operators with a pleasant piano
riff.

IX. A FINAL LOOK

Figure 1.14 RADAR in Air Force

B. Naval Applications
Marine radars are used to measure the bearing and
distance of ships to prevent collision with other ships, to
navigate, and to fix their position at sea when within
range of shore or other fixed references such as islands,
buoys, and lightships. In port or in harbor, vessel traffic
service radar systems are used to monitor and regulate
ship movements in busy waters.

Figure 1.17 Arduino Board (Self Made)

Figure 1.17 Final Project

Figure 1.15 RADAR in Navy

bombers-from-100-yards/
[13] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/Radara
ccumulationseng.png
[14] http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/BarGraph/
[15] http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/LiquidCrystal/
[16] http://fritzing.org

Figure 1.18 RADAR Screen using Processing 2.0

X. CONCLUSION
This project aims on the use of Ultrasonic Sensor by
connected to the Arduino UNO R3 board and the signal
from the sensor further provided to the screen formed on the
laptop to measure the presence of any obstacle in front of
the sensor as well as determine the range and angle at which
the obstacle is detected by the sensor. For this screen, we
use Processing 2 software by Ben Fry and Casey Rease,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
Also, in addition to it, a set of LEDs connected through the
shift register and a buzzer also tells about the range of the
obstacle. According to the range of the object, the green,
yellow and red LEDs glow up with variations in the buzzer
output.

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