NH3 monitoring made simple with MQ-137 and STM32L496AG

Guardians of purity: Innovating ammonia sensing solution

Ammonia Click with Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU

Published Jul 22, 2025

Click board™

Ammonia Click

Dev. board

Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

STM32L496AG

Our ammonia sensing solution provides accurate and timely information, enabling industries and communities to manage ammonia levels and maintain safe, breathable air

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Ammonia Click is based on the MQ-137 gas sensor from Winsen, which uses the SnO2 (tin-oxide) alloy, which decreases its resistance while exposed to the NH3 gas. The greater the NH3 concentration is, the more conductive this material becomes. This can be utilized to obtain the NH3 concentration readings. The sensor contains a small heating element connected to a 5V power supply. The heater element can be controlled via a MOSFET power switch connected to the PWM pin on the mikroBUS™ socket for lower power consumption. It needs to be preheated for a minimum of 24 hours before it can perform as specified. A stainless mesh protects The sensor against particles and mechanical damage; however, exposure to excessive moisture and corrosive gases can damage the inner structure. The measuring circuit consists of the MQ-137 sensor, a power source, and a load resistor (RL) between the output pin and GND. With its internal

resistance, the sensor forms a voltage divider with the load resistor. The RL is designed as a variable resistor, allowing the output voltage to be trimmed to the desired value. The calibration should be performed in controlled conditions, as the ambient temperature and humidity affect the sensor's resistance. The sensor can measure relative NH3 concentration change without accurate calibration, which is useful for building applications that can be used as warning systems. The middle tap of the sensor RL voltage divider is routed to an SMD jumper labeled ADC SEL. This jumper can redirect the measuring voltage to the ADC for sampling or the AN pin so that it can be used in an external circuitry (external ADC or some other form of measurement signal conditioning). The MCP3551, a 22-bit sigma-delta ADC from Microchip, is used to sample the sensor output when selected by the ADC SEL jumper. This ADC converts the input voltage, with a very high

resolution of 22 bits and low noise, to digital data, which can be obtained via the SPI interface of the Click board™. This ADC uses the reference voltage, which is the same as the power supply voltage, and in this case, it is powered by 5V from the mikroBUS™ power rail. As already mentioned, the ADC uses a 5V power supply. Therefore, this board needs a level conversion circuitry interfacing with 3.3V MCUs. This Click board™ uses the TXB0106 IC, a 6-bit bidirectional level shifting IC from Texas Instruments, which is used to shift communication logic voltage levels from 5V to 3.3V. This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VCC SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

Features overview

Development board

The 32L496GDISCOVERY Discovery kit serves as a comprehensive demonstration and development platform for the STM32L496AG microcontroller, featuring an Arm® Cortex®-M4 core. Designed for applications that demand a balance of high performance, advanced graphics, and ultra-low power consumption, this kit enables seamless prototyping for a wide range of embedded solutions. With its innovative energy-efficient

architecture, the STM32L496AG integrates extended RAM and the Chrom-ART Accelerator, enhancing graphics performance while maintaining low power consumption. This makes the kit particularly well-suited for applications involving audio processing, graphical user interfaces, and real-time data acquisition, where energy efficiency is a key requirement. For ease of development, the board includes an onboard ST-LINK/V2-1

debugger/programmer, providing a seamless out-of-the-box experience for loading, debugging, and testing applications without requiring additional hardware. The combination of low power features, enhanced memory capabilities, and built-in debugging tools makes the 32L496GDISCOVERY kit an ideal choice for prototyping advanced embedded systems with state-of-the-art energy efficiency.

Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU double side image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

Architecture

ARM Cortex-M4

MCU Memory (KB)

1024

Silicon Vendor

STMicroelectronics

Pin count

169

RAM (Bytes)

327680

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

Analog Output

PA4

RST

SPI Chip Select

PG11

SPI Clock

PI1

SCK

SPI Data OUT

PD3

MISO

MOSI

Power Supply

3.3V

Ground

GND

Sensor Heater Enable

PA0

PWM

INT

SCL

SDA

Power Supply

Ground

GND

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Discovery kit with STM32H750XB MCU front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU as your development board.

Thermo 21 Click front image hardware assembly

Thermo 21 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly

Board mapper by product7 hardware assembly

Discovery kit with STM32H750XB MCU NECTO MCU Selection Step hardware assembly

Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Ammonia Click driver.

Key functions:

ammonia_heater - Sensor heater function
ammonia_data_read - Read data function

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * \file
 * \brief Ammonia Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This example shows the value of ammonia measurement aquired from Ammonia Click board.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Calls functions for driver initializaton used for data conversion and results reading.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * Reads the level of ammonia in the air every with repetition of 1 second.
 * This driver is able to get the level of ammonia gas in the range from 5 to 200 ppm.
 * #note#
 * Be sure that you correctly set the AD convertor which you want to use.
 *
 * \author Nemanja Medakovic
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "ammonia.h"

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static ammonia_t ammonia;
static log_t logger;

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init... ----" );

    ammonia_cfg_t ammonia_cfg;

    //  Click initialization.

    ammonia_cfg_setup( &ammonia_cfg );
    AMMONIA_MAP_MIKROBUS( ammonia_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );

    if ( ammonia_init( &ammonia, &ammonia_cfg ) == AMMONIA_INIT_ERROR )
    {
        log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init Error. ----" );
        log_info( &logger, "---- Please, run program again... ----" );

        for ( ; ; );
    }

    log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init Done. ----\n" );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    uint16_t nh3_ppm;

    if ( ammonia_read_measurement( &ammonia, &nh3_ppm ) == AMMONIA_OK )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, "  NH3 [ppm] : %u\r\n", nh3_ppm );
        Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    }
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    /* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
    #ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
    preinit();
    #endif
    
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END