week 14

More about FSR
FSR pro’s and con’s:

FSRs are just resistors, so they are easy to work into circuits, and sometimes don’t require any support circuitry. They are also relatively inexpensive and readily available, even Digikey has started carrying the Interlink FSRs. But, unfortunately, that is where the pro’s end. The main drawback to FSRs is a result of its central component – the spongey resistive material in the middle. Just like a sponge, it takes a while to re-inflate after its been compressed. And worse yet, this re-inflation time is a function of how long and how hard you pressed on it.  After you release, the FSR value will come back to 95% of its initial value almost instantly, and then drift that final 5% over the next 10 seconds.

The inner material is also very sensitive to how it is pressed. It has a non-linear pressure response which varies with time, temperature, humidity, and even between parts of the same production batch. This makes the FSR a poor choice where accuracy and repeatability are a concern, especially across many units. Fortunately, a lot of musical applications have a human in the feedback loop who is able to just press harder or softer to get the desired effect, making this inaccuracy of less concern.

Finally, FSRs can also be very fragile. They are made of thin, laminated plastics, and are frequently placed under high forces.

Which FSR should I use?

The main two manufacturers of FSR sensors are Interlink and FlexiForce. Interlink FSRs come in a wide range of shapes, are relatively inexpensive, and fairly robust. On the downside, they vary greatly between units, have a lot of resistance drift over time, and are a bit slow to respond. The FlexiForce sensors, on the other hand, tend to be more accurate and repeatable, but are more expensive and fragile. In applications where exact forces don’t need to be measured, the Interlink products will probably serve you best. For more repeatable results, the FlexiForce sensors will be better (as they rely on the piezoresistive effect). But, if you really need consistent results, an FSR isn’t the best choice, and a load-cell or strain guage should be used.

more details at http://www.openmusiclabs.com/learning/sensors/fsr/

week 13

There has a few video that relate of FSR sensor and arduino.These video just the tutorial of FSR sensor with Arduino.

This figure show one LED. When touch the FSR sensor, the LED will on.

This video used 4 LED,when touch the FSR sensor, the LED will turn on.When in the dark condition,when touch the FSR sensor, the LED also will turn on more clearly.

FSR - Single Zone 0.5" Sensor - Interlink Electronics' patented Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) in a cross shape.

week 13

What is arduino?Arduino is a new microcontroller that very easy and can be understand.Arduino also is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer. It's an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board. To be more detail with arduino software,this website will tell us more detail about it, http://arduino.cc/hu/Guide/Introduction The different between Arduino Uno and Arduino Duemilanove based on this picture

Arduino Uno is the latest version of Arduino Duemilanove. There are more of similarities between the two so that with no questions a Arduino Uno can be used in place of Arduino Duemilanove. The main difference is the substitution of the Atmel ATmega8u2 in place of the older FTDI chip. The '8u2 has been programmed to act like a USB-serial converter. The second difference is the new bootloader which takes up only 512b compared to the original 2k, and is faster. Other than that they aren't notable differences.

week 12

On this week, preparation of presentation FYP.It occur at thursday,12 april 2012 at Gemilang Hall.My no is 64.My assessor are madam Zabariah binti Zakaria(ZBZ) from medical electronic section and sir Azman Abdul Aziz(AAA)from electronic section. There are various question from them that assess me at 4.00P.M. From them, I need to improve my project with add more function to make interesting. I take this comment kindly and insyallah I will do it.

week 11

On this week, i was buy FSR sensor at MyDuino.com. FSR sensor is so difficult to find even at Jalan Pasar. I don't know why. So, I found at this website www.MyDuino.com.
Below is the picture of FSR sensor.

FSR sensor for 1 unit is RM25.00 and I must buy 2 unit,so be RM50.00. PLus, shipping RM7.