INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) PROJECTS USING PYTHON

(CSE 4110)
(LECTURE – 5)
 What is a Switch?
A switch is a device which is used to make or break an electric circuit automatically or manually.

Switches are a part of the control system and without it, control operation cannot be achieved. A switch can
perform two functions, namely fully ON (by closing its contacts) or fully OFF (by opening its contacts).
 Working of an Electrical Switch
The controlling operation of a switch can be defined by its “Pole” and “Throw“. A Pole represents the
number of operations controlled by a single switch. The Throw indicates the number of contacts in a switch.

For example, the NO (Normally Open) and NC (Normally Closed) are Single Throw which is used to control
the circuit by making/breaking contacts of the switch.

The intermediate and changeover switches are Double Throw which is used to control the two way operation
of the circuit by closing/opening contacts of the switches which is used to divert the flow of current from
one circuit to another.

A Single-Pole-Single Throw (SPST) switch is known for controlling a single circuit (e.g. ON/OFF) per
operation. This way, the number of poles and throws are used to represent the controlling process of a
switch.
 Types of Switches
 Mechanical (activated physically, by moving, pressing,

releasing, or touching its contacts.)

 Electronic (do not require any physical contact in order

to control a circuit)

 Electro-Mechanical

The number of poles on a switch defines how many

separate circuits the switch can control. So a switch with
one pole, can only influence one single circuit. A four-pole
switch can separately control four different circuits.

A switch’s throw-count defines how many positions each

of the switch’s poles can be connected to. For example, if a
switch has two throws, each circuit (pole) in the switch can
be connected to one of two terminals.
 Mechanical Switch
 Momentary Switches (like push buttons, for example) are used to make momentary contact (for a brief

time or as long the button is pressed).

 Latched Switches, maintain the contact until it is forced to the other position.

SPST (Single Pole Single Throw)

 A simple ON/OFF switch commonly found in our homes for

lighting circuits and small load appliances as well as
computers and devices.
 It is also called a “One Way” or “Single Way” Switch
 It controls single operation in a circuit
 The contact of the SPST switch can be either NO (Normally
Open) for OFF position or NC (Normally Closed) for ON
position.
 Mechanical Switch
SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw)
 SPDT switch has mainly three pins (terminals) and an extra as
ground terminal. The input terminal is known and used as
“common” which is also called a Two-Way Switch
 Two circuits can be controlled at the same time while using this
switch.
 The remaining two terminals are called travelers (output terminals).

DPST (Double Pole, Single Throw)

 DPST switch is basically two SPST switches in one package and
can be operated by a single lever.
 This switch is mostly used where both ground and line need to be
broken (or closed) at the same time, same as the operation of a 2-
Pole breaker.
 It has two poles i.e. it can control two circuits (Hot and Neutral) and
a Single Throw i.e. it can only make one operation e.g. ON or OFF.
 Double Pole, Single Throw switch has four terminal pins i.e. 2 as
Input and the rest of 2 as output. DPST switches are used to control
a single circuit while both the contacts are needed to be actuated.
 Mechanical Switch
DPDT (Double Pole Double Throw)
 DPDT switch is equivalent to two SPDT switches packaged in one
unit.
 This switch has two common pins and four signal pins (total of 6
terminals).
 Total four different combinations of signals can be applied to the
input pins of this switch.
 DPDT switches are used to control two different electric circuits at
the same time. While it has a common lever for both operations, It
can be used for two different operation i.e. ON & OFF positions.
DPMT (Double Pole Multi Throw)
These kinds of switches consist of 2-poles and multiple throw i.e.
they can be used to control two independent circuits. These types of
switches with a common lever are used as changeover and
selectors switches for multiway switching.
 Mechanical Switch
Single Pole Single Throw Switch (SPST) Single Pole Double Throw Switch (SPDT)
 Mechanical Switch
Double Pole Single Throw Switch (DPST)
 This switch consists of four terminals: two input
contacts and two output contacts.
 It behaves like a two separate SPST configurations,
operating at the same time.
 It has only one ON position, but it can actuate the
two contacts simultaneously, such that each input
contact will be connected to its corresponding
output contact.
 In OFF position both switches are at open state.
 This type of switches is used for controlling two
different circuits at a time.
 Also, the contacts of this switch may be either
normally open or normally closed configurations.
Double Pole Double Throw Switch (DPDT)

 This is a dual ON/OFF switch consisting of two ON positions.

 It has six terminals, two are input contacts and remaining

four are the output contacts.

 It behaves like a two separate SPDT configuration, operating

at the same time.

 Two input contacts are connected to the one set of output

contacts in one position and in another position, input

contacts are connected to the other set of output contacts.

 Mechanical Switche

SPST, also known as 1P1T DPST also known as 2P1T SPDT also known as 1P2T 3PST also known as 3P1T
Single pole, single throw Double pole, single throw Single pole, double throw Three pole, single throw
 Mechanical Switch
Toggle Switch
 Toggle switches are latched type of switches which are actuated by
a lever angled in one or more directions.
 This switch is stable in state and remains in that state unless or
until the lever is pushed in another direction.
 Most of all household applications (such as lighting control
switches) have toggle switch and it can fall into any category as
mentioned above e.g. SPST, DPDT, DPST, DPDT etc.
 They are available for high current applications up to 30+ amperes
and can be used for small current switching operations.

Slide Switch
 A slide switch uses a slider as actuator which slides back and
forth to make and break the contacts.

SPDT (single pole double throw) slide switch

 Mechanical Switch
Push Buttons Switch
 push buttons are momentary switches which are operated by
pressings (put a pressure by pushing) it for a while. The spring
mechanism for the actuator inside it is used to close or open the
circuit for OFF and ON operation.
 When a pushbutton switch is pressed, the movable contacts
attached to the button make sure to connect the static (stationary
or stable) contacts in series to make the circuit. When the pressure
is released, contacts of the pins are detached and the circuit
operation returns back to the first position either ON or OFF.
 They are generally NO, NC or double acting which is used to
control two different circuits. Examples of push-button switches
are drills, blowers and doorbells etc.
 Push Button Switch
Push-Buttons ( Momentary Switch) are normally-open tactile switches. When we pressed the button it
makes the circuit connected and when released the button it makes the circuit connection breaks. We can
see from outside this switch is consists of four terminals. but both side of the terminal is internally
connected.
Push Button Switch
 GPIO of Raspberry Pi as Input
 If the Raspberry Pi wants to read the value from an external device, the corresponding GPIO pin must

be declared as an Input Pin.

 But when a GPIO Pin of the Raspberry Pi is declared as Input, it must be ‘tied’ to High or Low or else it

is called as a Floating Input Pin. A Floating Input is a pin which is defined as input and left as it is.

 Any Digital Input Pin is very sensitive and catches even the slightest changes and will pick up the

stray capacitances from your finger, breadboard, air etc.

 In order to avoid this, a Digital Input Pin must be tied to VCC or GND with the help of Pull-up or Pull-

down resistors.
 Pull-Up and Pull-Down Resistor
Pull-up Resistors If we connect the push button switch directly to Raspberry Pi
to get digital input, It means switch one pin is connected to
Ground or 5v Vcc and another pin connected to Raspberry Pi
digital pin. In this case, the Raspberry Pi is read unstable input
from the push button.

So, we need to connect a “pull-up” or “pull-down” resistors

circuit to stabilizes the input, when using the switch.

If the push button one pin is connected to the Vcc through a

resistor and the other pin is connected to the ground, this
circuit known as the pull-up resistor circuit. In this case, the
push button output is High (1) when the button is open, and the
output of the push button is Low (0) when the button is pressed.
 Pull-Up and Pull-Down Resistor
Pull - down Resistor If the push button one pin is connected to

the ground through a resistor and the other pin is connected

to the Vcc, this circuit known as the pull-down resistor circuit.

In this case, the push button output is Low(0) when the button

is open, and the output of the push button is High(1) when the

button is pressed.

The Raspberry pi pico already has internal pull-up and pull-down

resistors built-in which are automatically triggered when a digital

input is read by the Raspberry pi pico meaning that we don’t

need to add any extra resistors to our circuit.

When to use Pull-Up and Pull-Down Resistor?
 Trouble-shooting Pull-Up and Pull-Down Resistor
There are two common troubles that beginners usually get into:

1. Floating Input Problem

 Symptom: The reading value from the input pin is not matched with the button’s pressing state
 Cause : Input pin is NOT used pull-up and pull-down resistors.
 Solution: Use Pull-up and Pull-down resistor.

2. Chattering Phenomenon
It should be considered in only some application that needs to detect exactly number of the pressing.
 Symptom: Button is pressed once, but Raspberry Pi code detects several times.
 Cause : Due to mechanical and physical issues, the state of button (or switch) is quickly toggled
between LOW and HIGH several times.
 Solution: Debounce
 Trouble-shooting Pull-Up and Pull-Down Resistor
What is Switch Bouncing?
When we press a pushbutton or toggle switch or a
micro switch, two metal parts come into contact to short
the supply. But they don’t connect instantly but the
metal parts connect and disconnect several times
before the actual stable connection is made. The same
thing happens while releasing the button. This results
the false triggering or multiple triggering like the button
is pressed multiple times. Its like falling a bouncing ball
from a height and it keeps bouncing on the surface,
until it comes at rest.
Switch bouncing is the non-ideal behavior of any switch which generates multiple transitions of a single
input. Switch bouncing is not a major problem when we deal with the power circuits, but it cause problems
while we are dealing with the logic or digital circuits. Hence, to remove the bouncing from the
circuit Switch Debouncing Circuit is used.
 Trouble-shooting Pull-Up and Pull-Down Resistor
Switch De-Bouncing
There are three commonly used methods to prevent the circuit
from switch bouncing.
 Hardware Debouncing (In the hardware debouncing technique
we use an S-R flip flop to prevent the circuit from switch
bounces. This is the best debouncing method among all.)
 RC Debouncing (The R-C is defined by its name only, the
circuit used a RC network for the protection from switch
bounce. The capacitor in the circuit filter the instant changes in
the switching signal. When the switch is in open state the
voltage across the capacitor remain zero. Initially, when the
switch is open the capacitor charge through the R1 and R2
resistor.)
 Switch Debouncing IC (Some of the debouncing ICs are
MAX6816, MC14490, and LS118.)
 Electrical & Electronic Switches
 Electrical and mostly electronic switches are solid-state devices based on semiconductor materials

with fast response, accurate operation and small in size as compared to mechanical and

electromechanical switches. The solid state switches are based on the basic components such as

diodes, SCR, MOSFET, GTO, IGBT, transistors, and relays etc.

 Electronic switches have no physical contacts or moving parts and can be automatically operated by

electric signals or programmed circuits like microcontroller or microprocessor. They are precise in

operation for stability and reliability of the system without noise of switching operation.

 They are used in many modern applications such as variable frequency drive (VFD) drives for motors,

HVAC & in industrial, automation, automotive, aerospace, robotic and many more commercial

applications.
 Electrical & Electronic Switches
Diode as a Switch

 A basic PN junction diode can be used as a switch. The

diode in forward bias acts as a closed switch while it acts as

an open switch in case of reverse bias.

switching operations of a diode.

 Forward Bias: If positive signal applied to the Anode terminal and cathode is negative, the diode is

forward biased, hence it acts as a closed switch.

 Reverse Bias: If the negative signal applied to the Anode and cathode is positive, the diode is in

reverse biased, thus it acts as an open switch.

 Electrical & Electronic Switches
BJT Transistors as a switch:

 Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT) can be used as normal

switches as they are able to block or pass the flowing of

electric current in different modes of operations.

NPN Transistor as a Switch

 When the input to the inverter is high “+5V/+3.3V”, the

NPN transistor is saturated and its output is low

“≈0V”. When the input to the inverter is low, the

transistor is cut-off and its output is high.

 In the saturation region, it is “ON” like a closed switch

 In the cut-off region, it is “OFF” like an open switch.

 Reading Button Value (Pull-Down Mode)
Buttons require pull-up resistors or pull-down resistors. If there is no pull-up or pull-down

resistor, the main controller may receive a ‘noisy’ signal which can trigger even when you’re not

pushing the button.

Pull-down Working Mode

 Reading Button Value (Pull-Down Mode)
Pull-down Working Mode
 Reading Button Value (Pull-Up Mode)
Buttons require pull-up resistors or pull-down resistors. If there is no pull-up or pull-down

resistor, the main controller may receive a ‘noisy’ (floating) signal which can trigger even when you’re

not pushing the button.

Pull-up Working Mode

 Reading Button Value (Pull-Up Mode)
Pull-Up Working Mode
 Interface Push Button with Raspberry Pi Pico and Control LED
Objective:
If you press the push button, the LED will glow and if you leave the push button, a LED will remain off.
Interface Push Button with Raspberry Pi Pico and Control LED
Interface Push Button with Raspberry Pi Pico and Control LED
With the internal pulldown resistor of the digital input
With the internal pulldown resistor of the digital input
With the internal pullup resistor of the digital input
With the internal pullup resistor of the digital input
 Push Button as reset button in Raspberry Pi Pico
When you press and hold the BOOTSEL button and connect your Pico to your computer, it mounts as a

mass storage volume. You can then just drag and drop a UF2 file onto the board. Sometimes it is not

convenient to keep unplugging the micro USB cable every time you want to upload a UF2 onto the Pico.

Having a reset button on your Raspberry Pi Pico resolves this problem.

•Place the Pico on the breadboard.

•Place the button on the breadboard.

•Connect a jumper from one button pin to a GND pin

on the Pico, we used pin 38.

•Connect a jumper wire from the other button pin

to RUN, pin 30 on the Pico.

 Push Button as reset button in Raspberry Pi Pico
Now, rather than unplugging and replugging the USB

cable when you want to load code:

 Push and hold the reset button.

 Push the BOOTSEL button.

 Release the reset button.

 Release the BOOTSEL button.

If your board is in BOOTSEL mode and you want to

restart code already loaded:

 Briefly push the reset button.

If we press the button on the breadboard it will pull the RUN pin down to 0V, forcing the Pico to reset. Press
the Stop button to reconnect to the MicroPython shell. If your code ever locks up then this trick will help get
you back to work.
 Controlling an LED using a Push Button as Toggle Switch
Objective:

press once – LED is ON

Push Button as Toggle Switch
press again – LED is OFF and so on.
Controlling an LED using a Push Button as Toggle Switch
 Controlling an LED and a buzzer using a Push Button

 Transistor is a semiconductor device that controls a large current through a small current. Its function is
to amplify weak signals into larger amplitude signals, and can also be used as a non-contact switch.
 Some components use high-current (such as Buzzer). If the power is directly supplied from the GPIO of
the microcontroller, the power may be insufficient or the microcontroller may be damaged. Then, the
transistor has played a “dam” role here. Transistor receives the weak electrical signal from the GPIO pin
to control the turn-on and turn-off of the large current (from VCC to GND). In this way, high-current
components can be driven and the microcontroller can be protected.
 When a High level signal goes through an NPN transistor, it is energized. But a PNP one needs a Low
level signal to manage it. Both types of transistor are frequently used for contactless switches.
 The base is the gate controller device for the larger electrical supply.
 In the NPN transistor, the collector is the larger electrical supply and the emitter is the outlet for that
supply, the PNP transistor is just the opposite.
 Controlling an LED and a transistor using a Push Button

When we press the button, Pico will send a high-level signal to the transistor (i.e., LED or BUZZER will be
ON) ; when we release it, it will send a low-level signal (i.e., LED or BUZZER will be OFF).

Replace the LED with BUZZER

 Controlling an LED and a transistor using a Push Button

 The circuit using the NPN transistor will light up when

the button is pressed, which means it is receiving a high-

level conduction circuit;

 The circuit that uses the PNP transistor will light up

when it is released, which means it is receiving a low-

level conduction circuit.

 Application of Transistor:

1) as an Amplifier

2) as a switch
 A basic three-light traffic light system
Traffic lights are used to direct traffic operation and are generally composed of red, green, and yellow lights.

Step-by-step, turning the LEDs on and off.

 a red light to tell the traffic to stop
 an amber or yellow light to tell the traffic the light is about to change,
 a green LED to tell the traffic it can go again

A simple traffic light Control system without proper control

 Mini pedestrian crossing system
Objective:
The traffic light will switch in the order of red for 5 seconds, yellow for 2 seconds, green for 5 seconds,
and yellow for 2 seconds.
Puffin Crossing (Mini pedestrian crossing system with proper control)
Through a push-button switch, the pedestrian can ask the lights to let them cross the road; and a buzzer,
so the pedestrian knows when it’s their turn to cross. If we (pedestrians) press the button, the red LED will
be extended to 15 seconds, which will give us more time to cross the road.
Puffin Crossing (Mini pedestrian crossing system with proper control)
In puffin crossing our program should able to record whether the button has been pressed in a way that

doesn’t interrupt the traffic lights. To make that work, you’ll need a new library: _thread.
Thread 1
Multithreading Concept
(Task – 1)

Thread 2
(Task – 2)

Busy
MOM
Thread 3
(Task – 3)
 Multiple action without threading

calculate square numbers

square: 4
square: 9
square: 64
square: 81
calculate cube of numbers
Execute this in THONNY and cube: 8
cube: 27
check the processing time cube: 512
cube: 729
done in : 8.065548181533813
Hah... I am done with all my work now!
Multiple action without threading
Multiple action with threading (MULTITHREADING)
calculate square numbers
calculate cube of numbers
square:cube: 48
The RP2040 microcontroller which powers
cube:square: 279
our Pico has two processing cores
square:cube: 64512
Thread 1
square:cube: 81729 (Task – 1)

done in : 4.064005613327026
Hah... I am done with all my work
now! Thread 2
(Task – 2)

Execute this MULTITHREADING in

THONNY and check the processing time
Multiple action with threading (MULTITHREADING)
Puffin Crossing (Mini pedestrian crossing system with proper control)
In puffin crossing our program should able to record whether the button has been pressed in a way that

doesn’t interrupt the traffic lights. To make that work, you’ll need a new library: _thread.

A simple traffic light Control system with proper control

 controls the lights, as the main thread
 New thread to pass information back to the main thread – and you can do this using global variables.
The variables working with prior to this are known as local variables, and only work in one section of
program; a global variable works everywhere, meaning one thread can change the value and another can
check to see if it has been changed.
Puffin Crossing (Mini pedestrian crossing system with proper control)
Objective:

The traffic light will switch in the order of red for 5 seconds,
yellow for 2 seconds, green for 5 seconds, and yellow for 2
seconds. If we (pedestrians) press the button, the red LED will be
extended to 15 seconds, which will give us more time to cross
the road.

A simple traffic light Control system with proper control

(With BUZZER)
 Puffin Crossing (Mini pedestrian crossing system with proper control)
Objective:
The traffic light will switch in the order of red for 5 seconds, yellow for 2 seconds, green for 5 seconds,
and yellow for 2 seconds. If we (pedestrians) press the button, the red LED will be extended to 15
seconds, which will give us more time to cross the road.
while True:
import machine if button_status == 1:
import utime led_red.value(1)
import _thread utime.sleep(15)  When the program is just running, button_status is assigned a
global button_status
value of 0, which means that the button has not been pressed.
button_status = 0
led_red = machine.Pin(15, machine.Pin.OUT)  In the new thread–button_thread, when the program detects that
led_yellow = machine.Pin(14, machine.Pin.OUT) led_red.value(1)
led_green = machine.Pin(13, machine.Pin.OUT) utime.sleep(5) the button is pressed, button_status is assigned the value 1.
button = machine.Pin(16, machine.Pin.IN) led_red.value(0)
 At the beginning of each cycle, it will detect whether the button has
global button_status led_yellow.value(1)
been pressed, if the button is pressed (button_status == 1), the
button_status = 0 utime.sleep(2)
led_yellow.value(0) red light will be on for 15 seconds. Then button_status switch to 0,
def button_thread():
global button_status led_green.value(1) and wait for the next button press.
while True: utime.sleep(5)
if button.value() == 1: led_green.value(0)  The function of global button_status is to tell the program that we
button_status = 1 are going to modify the value of button_status, but if we just want
led_yellow.value(1)
utime.sleep(2) to read the variable value, this line is not needed.
led_yellow.value(0)
_thread.start_new_thread(button_thread, ())
Puffin Crossing (Mini pedestrian crossing system with proper control)
 Simple Reaction Timing Game (Single Player)
The study of reaction time is known as mental chronometry
Your reaction time – the time it takes your brain to process the need to do something and send the signals
to make that something happen – is measured in milliseconds: the average human reaction time is around
200–250 milliseconds. People with quick reaction time have a huge advantage in the game!

A single-player game

Objective:

When the program starts, the LED will turn off within 5 to 10 seconds. You need to press the button as fast
as possible, and the program will tell you what your reaction time is.
 Interrupt Requests, or IRQs
EXAMPLE:
 You are reading a book page by page, as if a program is executing a thread. At this time, someone came
to you to ask a question and interrupted your reading. Then the person is executing the interrupt request:
asking you to stop what you are doing, answer his questions, and then let you return to reading the book
after the end.
 MicroPython interrupt request also works in the same way, it allows certain operations to interrupt the
main program.  Here, a callback function (button_press) is first defined, which is
called an interrupt handler. It will be executed when an interrupt
request is triggered. Then, set up an interrupt request in the main
program, it contains two parts: trigger and handler.
 In this program, the trigger is IRQ_RISING, which means that the
value of the pin rises from low level to high level (That is, pressing
the button).
 handler is the callback function button_press we defined before.
 In this example, you will find a
statement button.irq(handler=None) in the callback function, which is
equivalent to canceling the interrupt.
 Interrupt Requests, or IRQs
 The job of the interrupt handler is to service the device and stop it from interrupting. Once the handler
returns, the CPU resumes what it was doing before the interrupt occurred.
 The urandom library is loaded here. Use the urandom.uniform(5,10) function to generate a random
number, the ‘uniform’ part referring to a uniform distribution between those two numbers.

 The utime.ticks_ms() function will output the number of milliseconds that have passed since
the utime library started counting and store it in the variable timer_light_off.
 utime.ticks_diff() is used to output the time difference between two time nodes. The two time nodes in
this function are utime.ticks_ms(), the current program time (press the button) and the reference time
(light off) stored in the variable timer_light_off.

 These two functions are usually used together to calculate the execution time of the program. Here we
use it to calculate the time from when the light turns off to when the button is pressed.

 Finally, this time will be printed out.

print("Your reaction time was " + (rection_time) + " milliseconds!")
 Simple Reaction Timing Game (Single Player)
A single-player game
 Simple Reaction Timing Game (Two Player)
Objective:

Playing with your friends will be more fun, why not add buttons and see who can press the buttons the
fastest?

A two-player game
 Simple Reaction Timing Game (Two Player)
A two-player game

 Press the Run button and wait for the LED to

go out – but don’t press either of the push-
button switches just yet.
 You’ll see that the Shell area remains blank,
and doesn’t bring back the >>> prompt; that’s
because the main thread is still running, sitting
in the loop you created.
 Simple Reaction Timing Game (Two Player)
More Exciting two-player game
Objective:

To know which of the two players was the

first to press the button.

 Simple Reaction Timing Game (Two Player)
A two-player game
 Changing the LED flashing rate – using pushbutton interrupts

Objective:

Pushbutton at GP1 is named Faster and pressing this button flashes the LED faster. Similarly,
pushbutton at GP2 is named Slower, and pressing this button flashes the LED slower.

At the beginning of the program LED is assigned to pin GP0,

and pushbuttons Faster and Slower are assigned to ports
GP1 and GP2 respectively. The default flashing rate is set to
one second. The program is external – interrupt - based.
Pressing either of the pushbuttons creates an interrupt.
Changing the LED flashing rate – using pushbutton interrupts
Changing the LED flashing rate – using pushbutton interrupts
 Changing the LED flashing rate – using pushbutton interrupts
Using the internal pull-up resistors

Change in the Program

Faster = Pin(1, Pin.IN, pull=Pin.PULL_UP)

Slower = Pin(2, Pin.IN, pull=Pin.PULL_UP)

Changing the LED flashing rate – using pushbutton interrupts
 Electronic Dice
Objective:
7 LEDs are arranged in the form of the faces
of a dice and a pushbutton switch is used.
When the button is pressed, the LEDs turn
ON to display numbers 1 to 6 as if on a real
dice. The display is turned OFF after 3
seconds, ready for the next game.
Electronic Dice
Electronic Dice
Electronic Dice
 Lucky Day of the Week
Objective:

7 LEDs are positioned in the form of a circle. Each LED is assumed to represent a day of the week.

Pressing a button generates a random number between 1 and 7 and lights up only one of the LEDs. The

day name corresponding to this LED is assumed to be your lucky day of the week.
Lucky Day of the Week
Lucky Day of the Week
Lucky Day of the Week