HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENE AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF MECHATRONIC ENGINEERING

-----*-----

SENSORS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING

SUBJECT
UTILIZING COLOR SENSORS

TEACHER: Ph.D Trần Văn Hướng

STUDENT : Nguyễn Thái Sơn – 20215752

Trần Đức Đào Nguyên – 20215743
Phạm Khắc Toàn – 20215765

CLASS : 152279

Contents :
SENSORS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING

SUMMARY OF PROJECT

1.Outline the objectives, significance, and requirements of

project.

The course aims to provide for students basic knowledge and fundamental of
sensors, along with signal processing circuits, post-sensor signal processing
methods and sensor pairing with processing stages. next in measurement,
control and mechatronic systems. Common types of sensors are classified and
presented in groups with similar characteristics in circuit and signal processing
methods after the sensor, in order to help students easily grasp and synthesize
knowledge. The content of the module is the basis for students to carry out
projects and other specialized subjects.
2.Summary of Achievements:

Students will gain numerous benefits when using color sensors in the Sensors
and Signal Processing course. Specifically, students will: Understanding the
principles of operation and applications of color sensors.
Developing programming skills and signal processing abilities.
Examples of applications of color sensors:
- Color detection.
- Object classification.
- Motion tracking.
3.The tasks

NO FULL NAME Tasks NOTES

1 Nguyễn Thái Sơn Analyze the operating
principle, draw the circuit
2 Trần Đức Đào Programming , calculation,
Nguyên experiment …
3 Phạm Khắc Toàn writing report , complete final
product,...

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PROBLEMS

Concept

How to classify product in the industry , quality control of the product?

We can use color sensors
In this project , we work with and operate the TCS 230 color sensor

1. TCS 230 sensor

Description

The TCS230 programmable color light-to-frequency converter combines

configurable silicon photodiodes and a current-to-frequency converter on single
monolithic CMOS integrated circuit. The output is a square wave (50% duty
cycle) with frequency directly proportional to light intensity (irradiance). The
full-scale output frequency can be scaled by one of three preset values via two
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control input pins. Digital inputs and digital output allow direct interface to a
microcontroller or other logic circuitry. Output enable (OE) places the output in
the high-impedance state for multiple-unit sharing of a microcontroller input
line. The light-to-frequency converter reads an 8 x 8 array of photodiodes.
Sixteen photodiodes have blue filters, 16 photodiodes have green filters, 16
photodiodes have red filters, and 16 photodiodes are clear with no filters. The
four types (colors) of photodiodes are interdigitated to minimize the effect of
non-uniformity of incident irradiance. All 16 photodiodes of the same color are
connected in parallel and which type of photodiode the device uses during
operation is pin-selectable. Photodiodes are 120 µm x 120 µm in size and are on
144-µm centers.
Features:
- High - Resolution Conversion of Light
- Intensity to Frequency
- Programmable Color and Full-Scale Output TFrequency
- Communicates Directly With a Microcontroller
- Single-Supply Operation (2.7 V to 5.5 V)
- Power Down Feature
- Nonlinearity Error Typically 0.2% at 50 kHz
- Stable 200 ppm/°C Temperature Coefficient
- Low - Profile Surface-Mount Package
Terminal

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Terminal No I/O Description

Power supply ground. All voltages are
GND 4 referenced to GND.
OE 3 I Enable for fo (active low).
OUT 6 0 Output frequency (fo).
1,
SO, Sl 2 I Output frequency scaling selection inputs.
7,
S2, S3 8 I Photodiode type selection inputs.
VDD 5 Supply voltage

The operating principle

The light-to-electric signal conversion process in the TCS230 sensor can be

broken down into two main steps:
Step 1: Light Absorption
When light strikes the sensor, it gets absorbed by electrons within the material.
An absorbing electron receives energy from a photon of light, entering an
excited state.
Step 2: Signal Generation
The excited electrons release their gained energy as an electric current.
This current is then converted into an electrical signal.

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Function block diagram

Digital inputs and digital output allow direct interface to a microcontroller or

other logic circuitry.
Output enable (/OE) places the output in the high-impedance state for
multiple-unit sharing of a microcontroller input line.
The output is a square wave (50% duty cycle) with frequency (fO) directly
proportional to light intensity (irradiance).
The full-scale output frequency can be scaled by one of three preset values
and off, via two control input pins (S0, S1).
Four types of photodiodes - Red, Green, Blue and Clear (no filter) - are pin-
selectable (S2, S3) to read the individual components of the color detected
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Selectable options of output frequency scaling

S0 S1 OUTPUT FREQUENCY SCALING (fo) S2 S3 PHOTODIODE TYPE

L L Power down L L Red

L H 2% L H Blue

H L 20% H L Clear (no filter)

H H 100% H H Green

Photodiode spectral responsivity

The table above shows the

spectral response of a
photodiode. The spectral
response is a graph that
shows the intensity of light
emitted or absorbed by a
material at different
wavelengths. In this case,
the photodiode is
stimulated by light with
wavelengths from 300 to
1100 nanometers (nm).The x-axis of the graph is the wavelength of light,
expressed in units of nanometers. The y-axis is the relative sensitivity of the
photodiode, expressed as a number from 0 to 1. The number 1 corresponds to
the highest sensitivity, while the number 0 corresponds to the lowest
sensitivity.As you can see, the photodiode is most sensitive to light with a
wavelength of 680 nm. This is the wavelength of red light. The photodiode is
also sensitive to light with a wavelength of 500 nm, corresponding to green
light. However, its sensitivity to blue and violet light is much lower.The spectral
response of a photodiode can be used to identify the type of photodiode. For
example, photodiodes with the highest sensitivity to red light are often used in
applications such as color sensors.
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Operating Characteristics at VDD = 5 V, TA = 25°C, S0 = H, S1 = H

TEST CLEAR BLUE GREEN RED
CONDITIONS PHOTODIODE PHOTODIODE PHOTODIODE PHOTODIODE
PARAMETER S2 = H, S3 = L S2 = L, S3 = H S2 = H, S3 = H S2 = L, S3 = L UNIT
MIN TYP MAX MIN TYP MAX MIN TYP MAX MIN TYP
MAX
Ee = 47.2 16 20 24 11.2 16.4 21.6 kHz
mW/cm2,
λp = 470 nm
Ee = 40.4 16 20 24 8 13.6 19.2 kHz
mW/cm2,
λp = 524 nm
Ee = 34.6 16 20 24 14 19 kHz
fO ( Output mW/cm2, 24
frequency) λp = 640 nm
fD (Dark Ee = 0 2 12 2 12 2 12 2 12 Hz
frequency)
λp = 470 nm 424 348 81 26
λp = 524 nm 495 163 337 35
Irradiance Re λp = 565 nm 532 37 309 91 Hz/
responsivity (mW/
(Note 8) λp = 640 nm 578 31 29 550 cm2)
λp = 470 nm 1410 1720
λp = 524 nm 1210 1780
Saturation λp = 565 nm 1130 1940
irradiance mW/
(Note 9) λp = 640 nm 1040 1090 cm2
λp = 470 nm 565 464 108 35
λp = 524 nm 95 31 65 7
Illuminance Rv λp = 565 nm 89 6 52 15
responsivity
(Note 10) λp = 640 nm 373 20 19 355 Hz/lx
fO = 0 to 5 kHz ± 0.1% ± 0.1% ± 0.1% ± 0.1% %F.S.

fO = 0 to 50 kHz ± 0.2% ± 0.2 ± 0.2 ± 0.2 %F.S.

% % %
fO = 0 to 500 ± 0.5% ± 0.5% ± 0.5% ± 0.5% %F.S.
Nonlinearity
kHz
(Note 11)
Recovery from 100 100 100 100 ms
power down

Response time 100 100 100 100 ns

to out- put
enable (OE)

NOTES:
8. Irradiance responsivity Re is characterized over the range from zero to 5 kHz.
9. Saturation irradiance = (full-scale frequency)/(irradiance responsivity).
10. Illuminance responsivity Rv is calculated from the irradiance responsivity
by using the LED luminous efficacy values stated in notes
4, 5, and 6 and using 1 lx = 1 lm/m2.

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11. Nonlinearity is defined as the deviation of fO from a straight line between

zero and full scale, expressed as a percent of full scale
INTERPRETING SENSOR DATA

The output is a square wave (50% duty cycle) with frequency (fO) directly
proportional to light intensity:
Fo=fd+(Re)(Ee)
where fo is the output frequency; fd is the output frequency for dark condition
(when Ee = 0); Re is the device responsivity for a given wavelength of light in
kHz/(mW/cm2); Ee is the incident irradiance in mW/cm2.
fd is an output frequency resulting from leakage currents. As shown in the
equation above, this frequency represents a light-independent term in the total
output frequency fo. At very low light levels (dark colors), this dark frequency
can be a significant portion of fo. The dark frequency is also temperature
dependent.
As fo is directly proportional to frequency, it is possible to map between the
frequency and RGB color value (0-255 for each of R, G and B) using linear
interpolation.

Two points on the RGB line are well determined – pure Black (RGB 0, 0, 0)
and pure White (255, 255, 255). The values returned by the sensor can be read
using easily obtainable color swatches:

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A black color card gives us the dark condition constant fd. This is the origin
(zero value) for the RGB straight line conversion.
A white color card gives us the extreme RGB point fw, also known as white
balance. Knowing fd, this value can be used to scale all intermediate
frequencies to a corresponding RGB value.
The proportional relationship is expressed by the standard straight line
equation y = mx + b where
y is the reading obtained (in our case fO)
x is the normalised RGB value
b is the value of y when x is 0 (in our case fD)
m is the slope, or proportionality constant, of the line (in our

case ).
The resulting equation is

fo= fd+ x
or, rearranging to give us the desired RGB value
f 0 −fd
x=255
( fw−fd )

Hardware components

Number Name Quantity

1 ARDUINO LEONARDO 1
2 LCD 1602 1
3 MODULE I2C 1
4 JUMPER WIRES 11
5 TCS 230 1

1.ARDUINO LEONARDO

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Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware

and software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger
on a button, or a Twitter message - and turn it into an output - activating a
motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. You can tell your
board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the
board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring),
and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.

Over the years Arduino has been the brain of thousands of projects, from
everyday objects to complex scientific instruments. A worldwide community of
makers - students, hobbyists, artists, programmers, and professionals - has
gathered around this open-source platform, their contributions have added up to
an incredible amount of accessible knowledge that can be of great help to
novices and experts a like
2.LCD 1602 + I2C
LCD modules are very commonly used in most embedded projects, the reason
being its cheap price, availability and programmer friendly. Most of us would
have come across these displays in our day to day life, either at PCO’s or
calculators. The appearance and the pinouts have already been visualized above
now let us get a bit technical.

16×2 LCD is named so because; it has 16 Columns and 2 Rows. There are a lot
of combinations available like, 8×1, 8×2, 10×2, 16×1, etc. but the most used one
is the 16×2 LCD. So, it will have (16×2=32) 32 characters in total and each
character will be made of 5×8 Pixel Dots. A Single character with all its Pixels
is shown in the below picture.

Now, we know that each character has (5×8=40) 40 Pixels and for 32
Characters we will have (32×40) 1280 Pixels. Further, the LCD should also be
instructed about the Position of the Pixels. Hence it will be a hectic task to
handle everything with the help of MCU, hence an Interface IC like HD44780is
used, which is mounted on the backside of the LCD Module itself. The function
of this IC is to get the Commands and Data from the MCU and process them to
display meaningful information onto our LCD Screen. You can learn how to
interface an LCD using the above mentioned links. If you are an advanced
programmer and would like to create your own library for interfacing your

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Microcontroller with this LCD module then you have to understand the
HD44780 IC is working and commands which can be found its datasheet.
Schematic

Source code :

First we need to define the pins to which the sensor is connected and define a
variable for reading the frequency. In the setup section we need to define the
four control pins as outputs and the sensor output as an Arduino input. Here we
also need to set the frequency-scaling, for this example I will set it to 20%, and
start the serial communication for displaying the results in the Serial Monitor.

In the loop section, we will start with reading the red filtered photodiodes. For
that purpose we will set the two control pins S2 and S3 to low logic level. Then
using the “pulseIn()” function we will read the output frequency and put it into
the variable “frequency”. Using the Serial.print() function we will print the
result on the serial monitor. The same procedure goes for the two other colors,
we just need to adjust the control pins for the appropriate color.1

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#include <LiquidCrystal_I2C.h>
LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x27,16,2);

#define S0 4
#define S1 5
#define S2 6
#define S3 7
#define OUT 8

int RED_freq = 0;
int GREEN_freq = 0;
int BLUE_freq = 0;

void setup() {
pinMode(S0, OUTPUT);
pinMode(S1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(S2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(S3, OUTPUT);

pinMode(OUT, INPUT);

digitalWrite(S0,LOW);
digitalWrite(S1,HIGH);// 1600 800 2300

// digitalWrite(S0,HIGH);
// digitalWrite(S1,LOW); //200 4 300

// digitalWrite(S0,HIGH);
// digitalWrite(S1,HIGH);

Serial.begin(115200);

lcd.init();
lcd.backlight();
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print("Color Detecting");
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print("Initializing..");
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(S2,LOW);
digitalWrite(S3,LOW);

RED_freq = pulseIn(OUT, LOW);

Serial.print("R = ");
Serial.print(RED_freq);
delay(500);

digitalWrite(S2,HIGH);
digitalWrite(S3,HIGH);

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GREEN_freq = pulseIn(OUT, LOW);

Serial.print(" G = ");
Serial.print(GREEN_freq);
delay(500);

digitalWrite(S2,LOW);
digitalWrite(S3,HIGH);
BLUE_freq = pulseIn(OUT, LOW);
Serial.print(" B = ");
Serial.println(BLUE_freq);
delay(500);

int R = RED_freq;
int G = GREEN_freq;
int B = BLUE_freq;

if ((R > 1500 && R < 3000) && (G > 4000 && G < 9000) && (B > 5000 &&
B < 9990)){
Serial.println("=> Red Detected");
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print("=> Red ");
}
else if (R > 6000 && (G > 2000 && G < 6000) && (B > 1000 && B <
5000)) {
Serial.println("=> Blue Detected");
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print("=> Blue ");
}
else if ((R > 5000 && R < 9000) && (G > 500 && G < 2000) && (B > 1000
&& B < 9000) ){
Serial.println("=> Green Detected");
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print("=> Green ");
}
else if ((R > 0000 && R < 2000) && (G > 0000 && R < 2000) && (B >
3000 && B < 5000)) {
Serial.println("=> Yellow Detected");
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print("=> Yellow ");
}
else{
Serial.println("None Color Detected");
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print("=> None Color ");
}
}

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RESULT

Now if we run the Serial Monitor we will start getting some values. These
values depend on the selected frequency-scaling, as well as from the
surrounding lighting
Note here that three values differ due to the different sensitivity of each
photodiode type, as seen from the photodiode spectral responsivity diagram
from the datasheet of the sensor.
Nevertheless, now let’s see how the values react when we will bring different
colors in front of the sensor. So for example, if we bring red color, the initial
value will drop down, in my case from around 1500 to around 3000.
The result displayed on the Arduino

IDE's
Serial Monitor shows three basic
color
parameters:
R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue).
By combining these three values,
we obtain the desired color
representation

Calibrate :

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At the data collection step, you need to perform the following steps:
1. Prepare objects with basic colors (red, green, blue, white, black) or the colors
you want to calibrate accurately.
2. Place these objects in front of the TCS230 sensor in a stable lighting
condition.
3. Use the current code to measure the pulse width (PW) value of the sensor for
each reference color.
4. Note the PW value of each reference color.
For example, to collect data for the color green, you can perform the following
steps:
1. Prepare a green object.
2. Place this object in front of the TCS230 sensor in a stable lighting condition.
3. Run the code and record the PW value of the sensor.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for other green objects.
After collecting data for all reference colors, you can use this data to determine
the color threshold for each color.
Here are some tips for collecting data:
* Make sure that the colored objects are placed in front of the sensor in the same
position. This will help ensure that the PW measurements are accurate.
* If possible, try to collect data in a variety of lighting conditions. This will help
you determine more accurate color thresholds for different lighting
environments.
* Check the collected data to ensure that they are accurate. If you see any
abnormal PW values, remove them from your dataset.
* You can use a spreadsheet or graphing software to help you analyze the data.
This will help you identify trends and patterns in the data.
* You can use a statistical analysis tool to help you determine the best
thresholds for each color.

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the utilization of the TCS230 sensor in the context of signal

processing has proven to be both insightful and promising. Through our
experimentation, we successfully integrated the TCS230 sensor into our setup,
aiming to explore its capabilities and applications.
The TCS230 sensor, with its principle of operation based on color sensing,
demonstrated reliable performance in capturing and processing signals related
to the intensity and frequency of incident light. The obtained results revealed a
clear correlation between the sensor's output and the characteristics of the
applied stimuli.
Our analysis of the data highlighted the sensor's strengths in accurately
detecting and quantifying color variations. The versatility of the TCS230 was
evident as it provided consistent results across a range of test scenarios. This
reliability positions the sensor as a valuable tool for applications requiring
precise color recognition.
However, it's essential to acknowledge certain limitations encountered during
our experimentation. Factors such as ambient light conditions and sensor
calibration proved to influence the sensor's output, prompting consideration for
further refinement in real-world applications.
Despite these challenges, the TCS230 sensor holds great potential in various
practical applications. Its effectiveness in color sensing opens avenues for
integration into fields such as industrial automation, robotics, and quality
control processes.
In the future, advancements in sensor calibration techniques and noise reduction
methods could enhance the TCS230's performance further. Additionally,
exploring collaborative applications with other sensors and technologies may
unlock new possibilities for comprehensive signal processing solutions.
In summary, our exploration of the TCS230 sensor in the realm of signal
processing has provided valuable insights into its capabilities and limitations.
As we continue to refine and expand our understanding of this technology, the

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TCS230 stands poised as a reliable and adaptable tool for a wide range of
applications in color sensing and signal processing.

REFERENCE MATERIALS

1. Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions (TAOS). (2003). TCS230

Programmable Color Light-to-Frequency Converter Datasheet.
2. Author unknown. (n.d.). Design and Implementation of a Color Sensing
System Using TCS3200. International Journal of Engineering Research
& Technology (IJERT).
3. TutorialsPoint. (n.d.). Understanding TCS230/TCS3200 Color Sensor.
4. Adafruit Learning System. (n.d.). How to Use Color Sensors in Arduino
Projects.
5. Instructables. (n.d.). Using TCS230 with Arduino.

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