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LDR Example

The following code shows a method of reading analogue sensors on the digital input only Pi.  A Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) varies its resistance according to the incident light intensisty.

SETUP

fritzing diagramThe LDR used is a Cadmium Sulphide device with a 1MOhm dark resistance and 2-4KOhm at 100 lux.  The capacitor is a 104 ceramic.

One end of the capacitor is connected to Pi ground.

One end of the LDR is connected to Pi 3V3.

The other ends of the capacitor and LDR are connected to a spare gpio.

Here P1-1 is used for 3V3, P1-20 is used for ground, and gpio 18 (P1-12) is used for the gpio.

photo of set-up

CODE

#include <stdio.h>

#include <pigpio.h>

/* -----------------------------------------------------------------------

   3V3 ----- Light Dependent Resistor --+-- Capacitor ----- Ground
                                        |
                                        +-- gpio


  cc -o LDR LDR.c -lpigpio -lpthread -lrt
  sudo ./LDR

*/

#define LDR 18

/* forward declaration */

void alert(int pin, int level, uint32_t tick);

int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
   if (gpioInitialise()<0) return 1;

   gpioSetAlertFunc(LDR, alert); /* call alert when LDR changes state */
    
   while (1)
   {
      gpioSetMode(LDR, PI_OUTPUT); /* drain capacitor */

      gpioWrite(LDR, PI_OFF);

      gpioDelay(200); /* 50 micros is enough, 200 is overkill */

      gpioSetMode(LDR, PI_INPUT); /* start capacitor recharge */

      gpioDelay(10000); /* nominal 100 readings per second */
   }

   gpioTerminate();
}

void alert(int pin, int level, uint32_t tick)
{
   static uint32_t inited = 0;
   static uint32_t lastTick, firstTick;

   uint32_t diffTick;

   if (inited)
   {
      diffTick = tick - lastTick;
      lastTick = tick;

      if (level == 1) printf("%u %d\ ", tick-firstTick, diffTick);
   }
   else
   {
      inited = 1;
      firstTick = tick;
      lastTick = firstTick;
   }
}

BUILD

cc -o LDR LDR.c -lpigpio -lrt -lpthread

RUN

sudo ./LDR >LDR.dat &

While the program is running you can capture the waveform using the notification feature built in to pigpio.  Issue the following commands on the Pi.

pigs no
pig2vcd  </dev/pigpio0 >LDR.vcd &
pigs nb 0 0x40000 # set bit for gpio 18

Change the light falling on the LDR for a few seconds (e.g. shine a torch on it or shade it with your hands).

pigs nc 0

The file LDR.vcd will contain the captured waveform, which can be viewed using GTKWave.

Overview

LDR waveform 1

Reading circa every 10ms

LDR waveform 2

One reading, circa 400us

LDR waveform 3

The file LDR.dat will contain pairs of timestamps and recharge time (in us).  The following  script will convert the timestamps into seconds.

awk '{print $1/1000000, $2}' LDR.dat >LDR-secs.dat

Gnuplot is a useful tool to graph data.

plot [14:24] 'LDR-secs.dat' with lines title 'LDR'

Gnuplot readings 14-24 seconds

gnuplot 1

plot [18:21] 'LDR-secs.dat' with lines title 'LDR'

Gnuplot readings 18-21 seconds

Gnuplot 2
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Updated: 29/04/2020