Beginner
10 min

Achieve accurate and reliable line tracking with QRE1113 and PIC18F57Q43

On the right track: Elevate your app's capabilities

Line Follower Click with Curiosity Nano with PIC18F57Q43

Published Feb 13, 2024

Click board™

Line Follower Click

Dev Board

Curiosity Nano with PIC18F57Q43

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC18F57Q43

Seamlessly integrate line following into your application to enhance automation processes, improving efficiency and reducing errors

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Line Follower Click is based on the QRE1113, a miniature reflective object sensor from ON Semiconductor. The array of the QRE1113 sensors is close to each other and points in the same direction, thus covering the more expansive space completely. The QRE1113 sensor is a no-surface contact sensing device and uses a phototransistor for output. By default, the sensor outputs a high logic level until it encounters a white surface, which changes the output signal to a low

logic state. Since there are five adjacent sensors, you can deduce the position or thickness of the white line from the combination of their outputs. The best results this Click board™ achieves are at a few millimeters from the surface to the sensors. The Line Follower Click communicates with the host MCU by sending logical states to the corresponding pins of the mikroBUS™ socket. Each QRE1113 sensor has its own digital output; each routed through a single mikroBUS™ pin: U1,

U2, U3, U4, and U5 (in place of default mikroBUS™ pins RST, AN, PWM, RX, and TX, respectively). This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the PWR 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.

Line Follower Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

PIC18F57Q43 Curiosity Nano evaluation kit is a cutting-edge hardware platform designed to evaluate microcontrollers within the PIC18-Q43 family. Central to its design is the inclusion of the powerful PIC18F57Q43 microcontroller (MCU), offering advanced functionalities and robust performance. Key features of this evaluation kit include a yellow user LED and a responsive

mechanical user switch, providing seamless interaction and testing. The provision for a 32.768kHz crystal footprint ensures precision timing capabilities. With an onboard debugger boasting a green power and status LED, programming and debugging become intuitive and efficient. Further enhancing its utility is the Virtual serial port (CDC) and a debug GPIO channel (DGI

GPIO), offering extensive connectivity options. Powered via USB, this kit boasts an adjustable target voltage feature facilitated by the MIC5353 LDO regulator, ensuring stable operation with an output voltage ranging from 1.8V to 5.1V, with a maximum output current of 500mA, subject to ambient temperature and voltage constraints.

PIC18F57Q43 Curiosity Nano double side image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC

MCU Memory (KB)

128

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

48

RAM (Bytes)

8196

You complete me!

Accessories

Curiosity Nano Base for Click boards is a versatile hardware extension platform created to streamline the integration between Curiosity Nano kits and extension boards, tailored explicitly for the mikroBUS™-standardized Click boards and Xplained Pro extension boards. This innovative base board (shield) offers seamless connectivity and expansion possibilities, simplifying experimentation and development. Key features include USB power compatibility from the Curiosity Nano kit, alongside an alternative external power input option for enhanced flexibility. The onboard Li-Ion/LiPo charger and management circuit ensure smooth operation for battery-powered applications, simplifying usage and management. Moreover, the base incorporates a fixed 3.3V PSU dedicated to target and mikroBUS™ power rails, alongside a fixed 5.0V boost converter catering to 5V power rails of mikroBUS™ sockets, providing stable power delivery for various connected devices.

Curiosity Nano Base for Click boards accessories 1 image

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

Output 2
PA0
AN
Output 1
PA7
RST
NC
NC
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
Output 5
PB0
PWM
NC
NC
INT
Output 4
PC2
TX
Output 3
PC3
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Schematic

Line Follower Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Curiosity Nano Base for Click boards front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Curiosity Nano with PIC18F57Q43 as your development board.

Curiosity Nano Base for Click boards front image hardware assembly
Barometer 13 Click front image hardware assembly
PIC18F57Q43 Curiosity Nano front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
Curiosity Nano with PICXXX MB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
Necto image step 5 hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
PIC18F57Q43 Curiosity MCU Step hardware assembly
Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Debug Image Necto Step hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

After loading the code example, pressing the "DEBUG" button builds and programs it on the selected setup.

Application Output Step 1

After programming is completed, a header with buttons for various actions available in the IDE appears. By clicking the green "PLAY "button, we start reading the results achieved with Click board™.

Application Output Step 3

Upon completion of programming, the Application Output tab is automatically opened, where the achieved result can be read. In case of an inability to perform the Debug function, check if a proper connection between the MCU used by the setup and the CODEGRIP programmer has been established. A detailed explanation of the CODEGRIP-board connection can be found in the CODEGRIP User Manual. Please find it in the RESOURCES section.

Application Output Step 4

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Line Follower Click driver.

Key functions:

  • linefollower_data_track - Get status of all pin function

Open Source

Code example

This example can be found in NECTO Studio. Feel free to download the code, or you can copy the code below.

/*!
 * \file 
 * \brief Line Follower Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * Line Follower click carries an array of five QRE1113 
 * miniature reflective object sensors,
 * reading staus of AN, RST, PWM, TX and RX pins and reading tracking data.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Application Init performs logger and click Initialization.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * Application Task shows the functionality of the Line Follower click.
 * Each one of the QRE1113 sensors consist of an
 * infrared transmitter and infrared receiver. 
 * By default the sensor output a Logic Level 1, until they encounter a 
 * white surface which changes the output signal to 0.
 * 
 * \author Nenad Filipovic
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "linefollower.h"

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

static linefollower_t linefollower;
static log_t logger;

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

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    linefollower_cfg_t 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_printf( &logger, "----------------------\r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " - Application Init -\r\n" );

    //  Click initialization.
    linefollower_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    LINEFOLLOWER_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    linefollower_init( &linefollower, &cfg );
    
    log_printf( &logger, "----------------------\r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " Line Follower  Click \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "----------------------\r\n" );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    linefollower_direction_t data_track;
    
    linefollower_data_track ( &linefollower, &data_track );
    
    log_printf( &logger, " %u\t%u\t%u\t%u\t%u\r\n", 
                (uint16_t) data_track.u1, 
                (uint16_t) data_track.u2, 
                (uint16_t) data_track.u3, 
                (uint16_t) data_track.u4, 
                (uint16_t) data_track.u5);
    
    Delay_ms ( 100 );
}

void main ( void )
{
    application_init( );

    for ( ; ; )
    {
        application_task( );
    }
}


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

Additional Support

Resources

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