Arduino based ultrasonic sensor program, output HIGH to control electric motor

Question

I am brand new to C++ and am working with the Arduino micro controller. The project I've been working on for my university requires me to write code to do the following:

• If the ultrasonic sensor detects a distance within a certain range, output HIGH to activate an electric motor

• If the sensor detects distance outside this range, outputs LOW to deactivate the motor

• I hope to create an array that will average the readings from the ultrasonic sensor over a .5 sec - 1 second interval and then output that average.

• I started with a rangefinder script that went along with a tutorial provided on Arduino's website, so my goal is to modify that script to fit into my goals to output HIGH or LOW based on the code that I've tested and already works well to test for distance.

I am looking for any tips to create an array to average the distance from the sensor, then using a for loop to test whether it is in the interval and output HIGH or LOW.

Any help and direction would be appreciated!

const int TriggerPin = 8; //sensor trigger pin const int EchoPin = 9; //sensor echo pin const int MotorPin = 7; //motor out pin long Duration = 0; void setup(){ pinMode(TriggerPin,OUTPUT); //sets trigger as output pinMode(EchoPin,INPUT); //sets echo as input pinMode(MotorPin,OUTPUT); //sets motor as output Serial.begin(9600); //displays to serial monitor } void loop(){ digitalWrite(TriggerPin,LOW); //trigger pin to 0V delayMicroseconds(2); //waits 2 us digitalWrite(TriggerPin,HIGH); //trigger pin to 5V delayMicroseconds(10); //10 us delay to recieve ping digitalWrite(TriggerPin,LOW); Duration = pulseIn(EchoPin,HIGH); //waits for echo pin to get high //pulseIn returns the Duration in microseconds long Distance_mm = Distance(Duration); //uses function to calc. distance delay(100); //delay half second, do next measurement } long Distance(long time); { long DistanceCalc; //calculation variable DistanceCalc = ((time /2.9) / 2); //want to average this DistanceCalc reading over 10 readings, then use this value to compare to the desired range void loop(){ if (dist_avg < 600 && dist_avg > 400); digitalWrite(MotorPin,HIGH); else digitalWrite(MotorPin,LOW); } //if average distance is within .4-.6 meter range, output HIGH; turns motor on //if avergae distance is outside .4-.6 meter range, outut LOW; turns motor off 

Answer 1

• As per C++ naming convention, only user-defined types and macros in C++ are capitalized. Your constants, global variable, and functions should start with a lowercase letter.

• Since your constants are similar, you can group them into an enum instead:

  enum Pin { Motor=7, Trigger, Echo }; 

  With the first one set to 7, the following ones will be set to 8 and 9 respectively.

  This could also help with code maintenance. If you ever need to add another Pin, you just need to insert it into the enum appropriately, as opposed to creating another constant.

• Duration is only used in loop(), so just initialize and use it there. Having it as a global variable could invite bugs, and is otherwise bad practice. This applies to global variables in general because they're accessible throughout the entire program, meaning they can be changed anywhere.

• You're using "magic numbers" (hard-coded numbers) in places. You should either make them variables or constants, or provide comments to specify their meaning.

• Your indentation is quite inconsistent. You indent a different number of spaces in different functions, but you should stick to one (most common is four spaces). You especially should have indentation within functions, otherwise it may appear that the code isn't contained within that function.

• This isn't syntactically correct:

  if (dist_avg < 600 && dist_avg > 400); digitalWrite(MotorPin,HIGH); else digitalWrite(MotorPin,LOW); 

  There shouldn't be a semicolon after the if condition, otherwise the following statements won't work with it. The second and fourth lines should also be indented.