ES Project Documentation Template

This is a general structure of the embedded system project documenta on, which you can use
as a template to follow. In the actual documenta on of your project, you don’t have to, and in
fact you shouldn’t, explicitly iden fy each part of the document, e.g., this the project name,
this is the project descrip on, etc.; however, division into sec ons and subsec ons is required
as it makes it easier to analyze. It is also possible that in your project some addi onal elements
will need to be considered, which are not included in this simple example.
1. Project name (you can come up with your own name):

A simple weather sta on
2. Project descrip on (given):
Describe design of a simple “weather sta on”, which measures temperature and humidity and
displays the values on an LCD screen. The system is based on one or more Arduino boards and
addi onal components. Design the structure of the system, select components and sketch the
structure of the system so ware. (Based on Arduino Project Handbook by Mark Geddes, 2016)
Note: Not all details are specified in the descrip on. For instance, we don’t know where exactly
the system will work, how it will be powered (ba ery or grid), and how o en measurements will
be taken. Resolving these issues is le to you as the designer of the system. However, remember
that each design decision requires a jus fica on.
3. General idea of the solu on:
For such a simple system, one Arduino Uno board will be sufficient. To measure both humidity and
temperature, the DHT11 sensor can be used, and to display the measured values – a 16×2 LCD
display (Hitachi HD44780 compa ble). Measurements will be taken with the 1 s resolu on (every
1000 ms). Since temperature and humidity change slowly, such a me resolu on will be more than
enough to faithfully reflect their current state.
I assume that the system will be placed outside the window in a waterproof clear plas c casing
(except the sensor) and powered from a DC power supply connected inside the house. This
eliminates the necessity of periodic ba ery replacement.
Note: in some systems, a ba ery might be the only viable power source. In such case, you need
to es mate a typical power consump on of the system and select a ba ery with capacity
sufficient to keep the system working a reasonably long period of me, i.e., days not minutes.
4. Component list:
 Arduino Uno board
 12V AC/DC Power Adapter
 16×2 LCD screen (Hitachi HD44780 compa ble)

o Example: h ps://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/universal-solder-electronics-
ltd/LCD-1602-2x16-Blue-White/16821383
o Note: pay a en on to details. In this case, it is necessary to check how you interface
with the LCD (serially or parallelly) and whether a current-limi ng resistor is built in
the device.
 A 50k-ohm poten ometer to control the LCD contrast
o Example: h ps://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bourns-inc/PTV09A-4025F-
B503/3781135
 DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor

o h ps://components101.com/sensors/dht11-temperature-sensor
 Jumper wires
o h ps://blog.sparkfuneduca on.com/what-is-jumper-wire
Notes:
1. More complex components require a short descrip on explaining how they work and how
they communicate with Arduino. In this case, these are the LCD and the DHT11 sensor.
2. Don’t use oversized pictures of components just to inflate the document volume and create
an impression that you did something meaningful. It won’t improve your grade.
3. Es mate the total cost of the system.
5. System schema c
Notes:
1. To draw the system schema c you can use h ps://fritzing.org/ or any so ware tool for
diagram drawing. The most important thing is to be specific, i.e., to show to which Arduino
pins components are connected. If the number of IO pins necessary to connect all required
components is insufficient, you need to come up with a way to increase it either using IO
expanders or more/bigger Arduino boards.
2. It is not required to model the system with TinkerCAD or any other similar tool.
6. So ware architecture
Note: You don’t have to write actual code. Just describe and illustrate with flowcharts how the
so ware works.
To control the LCD, we use the LiquidCrystal library, which comes with the Arduino IDE, and for
DHT11 – the DHT sensor library (h ps://www.arduino.cc/reference/en/libraries/dht-sensor-
library/), which can be installed using the Arduino IDE Library Manager. A er ini alizing both the
LCD and DHT11 in the setup() func on, the program periodically (every second) reads data from
DHT11 checking their sanity. If received data are within an acceptable range, the values are sent to
the LCD to be displayed. Otherwise, an error message is displayed.
7. References
Note: this part is op onal; however, for completeness, you can include the list of sources used in
the process of project prepara on.

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This is a general structure of the embedded system project documenta on, which you can use

1. Project name (you can come up with your own name):

 16×2 LCD screen (Hitachi HD44780 compa ble)

 DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor

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