DIGITAL PROPELLER CLOCK USING ARDUINO

This paper mainly emphasizes on the POV(Persistence Of Vision) technology. In current era in which
energy is the main factor in designing all the applications, maximum and efficient use of the energy is
very important. A POV display has many advantages over a traditional CRT, LCD or LED display, like power
savings, less complexity, easy configuration, attractiveness etc. To overcome the drawback of old
processor we have decided to implement the same display atop a new and advanced microprocessor,
the Arduino duemilanove. This platform brings with it newer coding and a different understanding of
peripherals. ARDUINO INTERFACE BOARDS provide us with a low-cost, easy-to use technology to create
the project. We also aim to build the newer display to work with modern forms of interfaces. To
accomplish this, we will be interfacing the display with an Android device.
Index Terms— POV, Arduino, ATMega 328, USB

Interfacing, LED

I.INTRODUCTION

The core phenomenon on which the entire

project is based is the Persistence of vision. Persistence

of vision is the phenomenon pertaining to the human eye

by which an afterimage is thought to persist for

approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina.

The way this phenomenon of persistence of

vision works is based on the belief that human

perception of motion (brain centered) is the result of

persistence of vision (eye centered).

Any motion that we see around us is the direct

implication of persistence of vision phenomenon at

work. The belief was debunked in 1912 by Wertheimer

but persists in many citations in many classic and

modern film-theory texts. Persistence of vision is still

the accepted term for this phenomenon in the realm of

cinema history and theory. Blinky POV is a

reprogrammable LED kit that uses persistence of vision

to create the illusion of text or a small picture floating in

the air. In the past, it was scientifically proven that a

frame rate of less than 16 frames per second caused the

mind to see flashing images. People still identify motion

a flipbook). The flicker caused by the shutter of a film

projector is distracting below the 16-frame threshold. In

drawn animation, moving characters are often shot "on

twos", that is to say, one drawing is shown for every two

frames of film (which usually runs at 24 frames per

second), meaning there are only 12 drawings per second.

Even though the image update rate is low, the fluidity is

satisfactory for most subjects. However, when a

character is required to perform a quick movement, it is

usually necessary to revert to animating "on ones", as

"twos" are too slow to convey the motion adequately.

The phenomenon of POV is evident in a number of

events like for e.g.: When we rotate a fire cracker stick

at high speed, we observe a continuous circle being

formed as shown in fig.[1.1].

Fig. 1.1: Demonstration of POV effect

A two dimensional POV display is often accomplished by

means of rapidly moving a single row of LEDs along a linear

or circular path. The effect is that the image is perceived as a

whole by the viewer as long as the entire path is completed

during the visual persistence time of the human eye as shown

in fig. [1.2]. A further effect is often to give the illusion of the

image floating in mid-air. A 3 dimensional POV display is

often constructed using a 2D grid of LEDs which is swept or

combination with long camera exposures to produce light.

Fig. 1.2: POV effect demonstrations

II. HISTORY

Persistence of Vision as a visual art form, using an

array of lights, waved back and forth in space, with the lights

controlled by wearable computer. Persistence of vision is the

commonly used term to describe the optical illusion whereby

multiple discrete images blend into a single image in the

human mind and believed to be the explanation for motion

perception in cinema and animated films. I got this idea by

browsing the web. I found by hazard Mr. Bob Blick’s Page

who make the first propeller clock. I began to check how can

I build one my self. Base on Arduino I saw rapidly that my

MCU must be clocked very fast to make all the calculation

needed to light the leds at right place. The speed is at 16Mhz,

4 times faster than other processor.

III. LITERATURE REVIEW

This project was started with a simple principle

which is frequently encountered in our everyday life, which is

Persistence of Vision. This phenomenon makes one feel fast

moving/changing objects to appear continuous. A television is

a common example; in which image is re-scanned every 25

times, thereby appear continuous. Further, a glowing object if

rotated in a circle at fast speed, it shows a continuous circle.

circle, showing 7 concentric circles. But if these LEDs are

switched at precise intervals, a steady display pattern can be

shown.

3.1.1Existing Systems:

Existing systems do employ POV principle, but for

displaying each pixel, individual LED is used. This results in a

huge number of LEDs even for small sized displays. By using

a propeller type display, LED count can be kept to a bare

minimum. Even 8 LEDs can perform a task of over 525 LEDs.

3.1.2Applications:

Applications can find their way into cost effective

solutions for large public displays, information systems. It can

directly replace Railway station information displays, bus

stands and many more places.

3.2 OVERVIEW OF PROJECT

3.2.1PROPELLER:

Propeller is a term associated with a circular rotating

object. As this project needs to rotate whole circuit assembly,

there must be some prime mover attached to it. So, the term

‘Propeller’

3.2.2LED DISPLAY:

This project uses bright light emitting diodes for

displaying the characters and symbols on its assembly. That’s

why this project is named as ‘PROPELLER LED DISPLAY’.

This is the phenomenon which is related to vision

capability of human eye by which an after- image is thought to

persist for approximately 1/25th of a second. So, if someone is

observing the images at a rate of 25 images per second, then

they appear to be continuous. The best example of this

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property is the red circle we observe when we rotate the

firecracker or incense stick in circle

3.3.1 .CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Fig. 2.2: Circuit Diagram

3.3.2. BLOCK DIAGRAM

Fig. 2.1: Block Diagram

3.3.2. OVERVIEW OF BLOCK DIAGRAM

In this section we will emphasize on detailed

overview of each of the block shown in previous block

diagram. In every description of the block respective

schematics and working is explained. The propeller display

consists of following blocks, as shown in the block diagram.

1. Interrupter Module

2. Microcontroller

3. LED module

4. DC motor
5. DC power supply

3.3.2.1Interrupter module:

Interrupter module includes LM158 series

consists of two independent, high gain, internally

frequency compensated operational amplifiers

which were designed specifically to operate from a

single power supply over a wide range of voltages.

Operation from split power supplies is also possible

and the low power supply current drain is

independent of the magnitude of the power supply

voltage.. Following is the complete circuit diagram of our

interrupter module.

3.3.2. Arduino:

Arduino is a single-board microcontroller, which is

used to make the application of interactive objects or

environments more accessible. It is an open source physical

computing platform and a development environment for

writing software for the board. Arduino can be used to develop

interactive objects, taking inputs from a variety of switches or

sensors, and controlling a variety of lights, motors, and other

physical outputs.

3.3.3LED Module:

LED module consisting of 8 bright LED is fixed in

another side of the arm of our project. These LEDs are

connected with each of the port pin of microcontroller, with a

3.3.4. DC Motor:

Repeated scanning of the display is must for

continuous vision. This task is achieved using circular rotation

of the whole circuit assembly. So, we used a DC motor as the

prime mover.

3.3.5 DC Power Supply:

For microcontroller, as well as the DC motor, a

regulated DC power supply is required. We have to provide

+5V to the arduino, while +12V to the motor.

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IV.METHODOLOGY

4.1 Principle of Working

PERSISTENCE OF VISION: Persistence of Vision

as a visual art form, using an array of lights, waved back and

forth in space, with the lights controlled by wearable

computer. Persistence of vision is the commonly used term to

describe the optical illusion whereby multiple discrete images

blend into a single image in the human mind and believed to

be the explanation for motion perception in cinema and

animated films. The causes of Persistence of Vision is a

combination of the phi phenomenon, beta movement and

Flicker fusion. The theory of persistence of vision is the belief

that human perception of motion (brain centred) is the result

disproved in 1912 by Wertheimer but persists in many

citations in many classic and modern film-theory texts. A

more plausible theory to explain motion perception (at least on

a descriptive level) are two distinct perceptual illusions: phi

phenomenon and beta movement. A visual form of memory

known as iconic memory has been described as the cause of

this phenomenon. Although psychologists and physiologists

have rejected the relevance of this theory to film viewership,

film academics and theorists generally have not. Some

scientists nowadays consider the entire theory a myth. In

contrasting persistence of vision theory with phi phenomena, a

critical part of understanding that emerges with these visual

perception phenomena is that the eye is not a camera and does

not see in frames per second. In other words vision is not as

simple as light registering on a medium, since the brain has to

make sense of the visual data the eye provides and construct a

coherent picture of reality. Joseph Anderson and Barbara

Fisher argue that the phi phenomena privileges a more

constructionist approach to the cinema (David Bordwell, Noël

Carroll, Kirsten Thompson), whereas the persistence of vision

privileges a realist approach (André Bazin, Christian Metz,

Jean-Louis Baudry). The discovery of persistence of vision is

attributed to the Roman poet Lucretius, although he only

mentions it in connection with images seen in a dream. In the

Peter Mark Roget in 1824 were also cited as the basis for the

theory.

4.2 Actual Operation

The Main Part of the propeller clock is ARDUINO

.The IR LED, which is stationary, is fixed on the base of

rotating assembly. When the IR rays sent by the IR LED falls

on the photo diode, which is placed on the rotating PCB, it

will generate a low pulse on the interrupt pin of ARDUINO

which results in the generation of desired pattern. Since we are

making use of internal program execution EA (External

Access) pin has to be made high with the help of VCC.A reset

circuit is provided for the reset of microcontroller. The anodes

of LEDs are joined together and connected to 5v supply. Logic

0 level at the output of port0 will result in illumination of

LED. For displaying each number first of all there is a need to

define a standard notation. In this research we are making use

of 5*8 matrix notation.

V.CONCLUSION

The conventional LED displays used in advertisements and

information display uses an individual matrix of LEDs for

each character. For example in a display using 8X4 Led

matrix for a single character, 10X8X4 LEDs would be

required to display a word consisting of 10 characters,

increasing the circuit complexity. Our circuit uses a low

power motor. This technology saves power monumentally.

The display is configurable to show any pattern in any

colour through an Android device that dictates its output as

shown in figure [4.9]. The display is extremely attractive to

look at and gives a sense of being a transparent display. By

using a motor of higher RPM, one can achieve more clarity

in the display.

VI.REFERENCE

[1] Dr. Dobb's Journal, “Atmel's AT89C2051 Microcontroller” July 1997.

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Development, Kuala Lumpur,

MALAYSIA, May 24-26, 2016.

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[2] Sarik, J. ; Kymissis, I. , “Lab kits using the Arduino prototyping platform”

, Publication Year: 2010 , Page(s): T3C-1- T3C-5 , IEEE conference.

[3] Kyuchang Kang ; Dongoh Kang ; Kiryong Ha ; Jeunwoo Lee , “ Android

phone as wireless USB storage device through USB/IP connection” ,

Publication Year: 2011 , Page(s): 289- 290 , IEEE conference.

[4] Varjo, S.; Hannuksela, J.; Silven, O., “ Direct imaging with printed

microlens arrays”, Publication Year: 2012 , Page(s): 1355 – 1358 , IEEE

conference.

[5] Geer, David ; Eclipse becomes the dominant Java IDE, Volume:38, Issue:

7 Digital Object Identifier:10.1109/MC.2005.228,

PublicationYear:2005, Page(s):16- 18, IEEE conference.

[6] Zolkapli, M,AI-Junid S. A. , Othman Z,Manut, , Mohd Zulkifli M.” HighEfficiency

International Conference on Technology, Informatics, Management,

Engineering & Environment (TIME-E 2013) Bandung, Indonesia, June 23-

26,2013

VII. RESULT

Digital propeller clock showing a real time along

with alphabetic display: