A

SEMINAR PRESENTATION

ON

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RASPBERRY Pi

AND ARDUINO OPERATIONS

PRESENTED BY

ETIM, DORCAS ANIETIE

REG NO: 17165022

SUBMITTED TO

THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

HERITAGE POLYTECHNIC, IKOT UDOTA, EKET,
AKWA-IBOM STATE.

June, 2019

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Table of content

Introduction - - - - - - - - - -3
Definition of raspberry - - - - - - - -4

Definition of arduino - - - - - - - - -4

Applications of arduino - - - - - - - -5
Applications of raspberry - - - - - - - -6

Advantages of arduino over raspberry pi - - - - -8

Advantages of raspberry pi over arduino - - - - -9

Comparative analysis of raspbery and ardunino - - - -12
Conclusion - - - - - - - - - -13
References

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INTRODUCTION

Arduino and Raspberry Pi are the most popular boards among the students,
hobbyists and professionals. Experienced and professionals know the utility and
differences between the two. But beginners and students often get confused
between them, like which board to use for their project or which board is easy to
learn or why should they use Arduino over Pi and vice versa. So here I am
covering mostly all the aspects which make them easy to take the decision over the
choice of Arduino vs. Raspberry Pi.

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DEFINITION OF RASPBERRY

A Raspberry Pi is a general-purpose computer, usually with a Linux operating

system, and the ability to run multiple programs. It is more complicated to use than
an Arduino.

Raspberry Pi is a fully functioned computer, a system-on-chip (SoC) device, which

runs on a Linux operating system specially designed for it, named Rasbian.
Rasbian is the official OS for Raspberry Pi, where other third party OSes like
Firefox OS, Android, RISC OS, Ubuntu Mate etc. can be installed on Pi, even
Windows 10 version is also available for Pi. Like a computer, It has memory,
processor, USB ports, audio output, graphic driver for HDMI output and as it runs
on Linux, most of the linux software applications can be installed on it. It has
several models and revisions like Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi 2, Raspberry Pi
Model B+ etc.

DEFINITION OF ARDUINO

An Arduino is a microcontroller motherboard. A microcontroller is a simple

computer that can run one program at a time, over and over again.

Arduino is a microcontroller, which is not as much powerful as Raspberry Pi, and

can be considered as a one component on computer system. But it is a great
hardware for electronics projects. It doesn’t need any OS and software applications
to run, we just need to write few lines of code to make it use. There are many

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Arduino boards like Arduino UNO, Arduino PRO, Arduino MEGA, Arduino DUE
etc.

 Although they are quite different but there are some similarities in terms of their
inception. They both are invented in European countries, like Raspberry Pi is
developed by Eben Upton in UK and Arduino is developed by Massimo Banzi in
Italy. Both the inventors are teachers and they develop these hardware platforms as
a design learning tool for their students. Raspberry pi was first introduced in year
2012 while Arduino in 2005.

To understand the difference between Arduino and Raspberry Pi, we adopted

an approach where we will discuss the merits and demerits of both the hardwares
over each other. So first we are starting with:

APPLICATIONS OF ARDUINO

 Arduboy: a handheld game console based on Arduino

 Arduinome: a MIDI controller device that mimics the Monome
 Ardupilot: drone software and hardware
 ArduSat: a cubesat based on Arduino.
 C-STEM Studio: a platform for hands-on integrated learning of computing,
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (C-STEM) with robotics.
 OBDuino: a trip computer that uses the on-board diagnostics interface
found in most modern cars
 OpenEVSE: an open-source electric vehicle charger
 XOD: a visual programming language for Arduino

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APPLICATIONS OF RASPBERRY:

 Education

As of January 2012, enquiries about the board in the United Kingdom have been
received from schools in both the state and private sectors, with around five times
as much interest from the latter. It is hoped that businesses will sponsor purchases
for less advantaged schools. The CEO of Premier Farnell said that the government
of a country in the Middle East has expressed interest in providing a board to every
schoolgirl, to enhance her employment prospects.

In 2014, the Raspberry Pi Foundation hired a number of its community members

including ex-teachers and software developers to launch a set of free learning
resources for its website. The Foundation also started a teacher training course
called Picademy with the aim of helping teachers prepare for teaching the new
computing curriculum using the Raspberry Pi in the classroom.

In 2018, NASA launched the JPL Open Source Rover Project, which is a scaled
down of Curiosity rover and uses a Raspberry Pi as the control module, to
encourage students and hobbyists to get involved in mechanical, software,
electronics, and robotics engineering.

 Home automation

There are a number of developers and applications that are leveraging the
Raspberry Pi for home automation. These programmers are making an effort to
modify the Raspberry Pi into a cost-affordable solution in energy monitoring and
power consumption. Because of the relatively low cost of the Raspberry Pi, this

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has become a popular and economical alternative to the more expensive
commercial solutions.

 Industrial automation

In June 2014, Polish industrial automation manufacturer TECHBASE released

ModBerry, an industrial computer based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module.
The device has a number of interfaces, most notably RS-485/232 serial ports,
digital and analogue inputs/outputs, CAN and economical 1-Wire buses, all of
which are widely used in the automation industry. The design allows the use of the
Compute Module in harsh industrial environments, leading to the conclusion that
the Raspberry Pi is no longer limited to home and science projects, but can be
widely used as an Industrial IoT solution and achieve goals of Industry.

In March 2018, SUSE announced commercial support for SUSE Linux Enterprise
on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B to support a number of undisclosed customers
implementing industrial monitoring with the Raspberry Pi.

 Commercial products

OTTO is a digital camera created by Next Thing Co. It incorporates a Raspberry Pi

Compute Module. It was successfully crowd-funded in a May 2014 Kickstarter
campaign.

Slice is a digital media player which also uses a Compute Module as its heart. It
was crowd-funded in an August 2014 Kickstarter campaign. The software running
on Slice is based on Kodi.

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ADVANTAGES OF ARDUINO OVER RASPBERRY PI:

 Simplicity:

It’s very easy to interface analog sensors, motors and other electronic
components with Arduino, with just few lines of code. While in Raspberry pi, there
is much overhead for simply reading those sensors, we need to install some
libraries and softwares for interfacing these sensors and components. And the
coding in Arduino is simpler, while one needs to have knowledge of Linux and its
commands for using the Raspberry pi.

 Robustness:

Raspberry Pi runs on a OS so it must be properly shut down before turning OFF

the power, otherwise OS & applications may get corrupt and Pi can be damaged.
While Arduino is just a plug and play device which can be turned ON and OFF at
any point of time, without any risk of damage. It can start running the code again
on resuming the power.

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 Power consumption:

Pi is a powerful hardware, it needs continuous 5v power supply and it is  difficult

to run it on Batteries, while Arduino needs less power can easily be powered
using a battery pack.

 Price:

Obviously Arduino is cheaper than Raspberry Pi, Arduino costs around $10-20
depending on the version, while price of Raspberry is around $35-40.

ADVANTAGES OF RASPBERRY PI OVER ARDUINO:

One can think that Arduino is the best, after reading its merits over Raspberry Pi,
but wait, it’s completely depends on your project that which platform should be
used. Raspberry Pi’s power and its easiness is the main attraction of it, over
Arduino. Below we will discuss some of its advantages over Arduino:

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 Powerfulness:

This is the main advantage of Raspberry Pi. Pi is capable of doing multiple tasks
at a time like a computer. If anyone wants to build a complex project like an
advanced robot or the project where things need to be controlled from a web page
over internet then Pi is the best choice. Pi can be converted into a webserver, VPN
server, print server, database server etc. Arduino is good if you just want to blink a
LED but if you have hundreds of LEDs needs to be controlled over web page, then
Pi is the best suited.

Raspberry Pi is 40 times faster than Arduino, with PI, you can send mails, listen
music, play videos, run internet etc. Also as we have stated earlier that it has
memory, processor, USB ports, Ethernet port etc. and it doesn’t require external
hardwares for most of the functions. It can be accessed via SSH and file can be
easily transferred over FTP.

 Networking:

Raspberry Pi has the built in Ethernet port, through which you can directly
connect to the networks. Even Internet can easily be run on Pi using some USB
Wi-Fi dongles. While in Arduino, it’s very difficult to connect to network. External
hardwares need to be connected and properly addressed using code, to run network
using Arduino. External Boards called “Shields” needs to be plugged in, to make
Arduino, as functional as Pi, with a proper coding to handle them.

 Don’t need deep electronics knowledge:

For Arduino you definitively need a electronic background, and need to know
about embedded programming languages. But to start with Pi you don’t need to

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dive into the coding languages and a small knowledge of electronics and its
components is enough.

Besides those advantages, one advantage is that OS can be easily switched on the
single Raspberry Pi board. Pi uses SD card as flash memory to install the OS, so
just by swapping the memory card you can switch the operating system easily.

Example:

We can understand the need of Arduino or Pi through example. Like if you want
answer any phone call automatically with a prerecorded message, then Arduino is
the way. But at the same time if you want to block the robocallers or spam callers
then? Then Raspberry Pi comes into picture, which can either filter the spam calls
using spam callers database over the internet or it can also put a captcha type of
verification for human callers.

So Arduino is suited for repeated type of work like open the door while anyone at
the gate but Raspberry Pi can do more complex things like only open the door for
authorized people. Raspberry Pi has huge potential in the world of Internet of
Things, where machines will directly interact and control another machines,
without human intervention.

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF Raspbery and Ardunino

Parameters Arduino Uno Raspberry Pi B+

Processor ATMega328P Quad-core ARM Cortex A53
GPU - Broadcom VideoCore IV with 400 MHz
Operating voltage 5V 5V
Clock speed 16 MHz 1.2GHz
System memory 2kB 1 GB
Flash memory 32 kB -
EEPROM 1 kB -
Communication IEEE 802.11 b/g/n IEEE 802.11 b/g/n IEEE 802.15.4
supported IEEE 802.15.4 433RF BLE 4.0Ethernet Serial
433RF BLE 4.0 via
Shield
environments Arduino IDE Any linux compatible IDE
language Wiring Python C C++ Java Scratch Ruby
I/O Connectivity SPI I2C UART SPI DSI UART SDIOCSI GPIO
GPIO

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Conclusion:

Some people say that Arduino is best for beginners but I don’t agree with it, a
beginner can start with any one of them. Choice is just depend on your project and
your background. I am concluding it with, how to make choice between these two.

 You should choose Arduino if:

 You are from electronics background or if you are a beginner and really
want to learn about electronics and its components.
 Your project is simple, especially networking is not involved.
 Your project is more like a electronics project where software applications
are not involved, like Burglar alarm, voice controlled light.
 You are not a computer geek who is not much interested in softwares and
Linux.

You should choose Raspberry Pi If:

 Your project is complex and networking is involved.

 Your project is more like a software application, like a VPN server or
Webserver
 Don’t have good knowledge of electronics.
 Have good knowledge about Linux and softwares.

Although they both have their own pros and cons, but they can also be used
together to make the best out of them. Like Pi can collect the data over the network
and take decisions, and command the Arduino to take the proper action like rotate
a motor.

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References

Di Nisio, A., et al. "Design of a low cost multipurpose wireless sensor network."
Measurements & Networking (M&N), 2015 IEEE International Workshop
on. IEEE, 2015.

http://espressif.com/sites/default/files/documentation/0aesp8266ex_datasheet_en.p
df

https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1682209.pdf

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/computemodule/RPI-CM-
DATASHEET-V1_0.pdf

Ray, P. P. "A survey on Internet of Things architectures." Journal of King Saud

University-Computer and Information Sciences (2016).

Waher, Peter, et al. "Raspberry Pi as Internet of things hardware: performances and

constraints." design issues 3 (2014).

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