See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: [Link]

net/publication/377952697

Light Emitting Diode (LED) Matrix Display Board

Article · January 2022

CITATIONS READS

0 4,034

1 author:

C. I. Onah
Federal University of Technology Owerri
29 PUBLICATIONS 12 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by C. I. Onah on 03 February 2024.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Publication of the Astronomical Society of Nigeria (PASN) 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

Light Emitting Diode (LED) Matrix Display Board

C.I. Onah ? ,
Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

Accepted 30 June, 2022, Received March 01, 2022, Published July 23, 2022

ABSTRACT
We designed and constructed a solar powered light emitting diode (LED) matrix dis-
play that can be updated wirelessly via Bluetooth board using local materials. The
system consist of display unit: 3 sets of P10 module was used in which one consist
of a 16 x 32 LED linearly connected to form the display unit. An arduino Nano
micro-controller was used to control and manage the whole process with its inbuilt
Atmega16uP chip, (HC-06). Bluetooth module was used to interface the android mo-
bile app with the system. When the device is on, it shows a default text: “WELCOME
TO PHYSICS DEPARTMENT, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY OW-
ERRI. This continues to scroll through with aid of the embedded shift register until
it is being updated remotely with a range of 10m then the recent updated text starts
to display as the defaults disappears temporarily. The complete work was designed
and analysed graphically, by determining the charging rate and discharging rate as
the solar panel sends 6V 6watt at 1A to charge the 12000mAH internal Li-ion battery
which supplies 5V to the system with aid of a boost converter at 2.6A. The connection
and testing was ascertain to have a long display time when fully charged for 3 hours
working satisfactorily.
Key words: light – emitting - diode, matrix – display - board, design and construction
– general

1 INTRODUCTION

Communication has become inevitable and vital thing in the present age. It is even believed to be a commodity meant for
consumption by any targeted audience. One of the importance qualities possessed by all animals is the ability to communicate
with each other or one another to a given time. A display model is another faster way of providing information and is used
as an object for notification. It can be used for both indoor and outdoor which makes it universally fit for any form of alert.
Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is one of the world most popular platform with its added value service,
short message services (SMS) and other applications (Amerada and Niranjane, 2017). This is due to its user friendly features
and accessibility throughout the world. Since past decade the use of GSM has increased tremendously and the concept of this
communication platform is then being embedded into different systems and application in order to streamline operation to
get the ultimate results which is cost and time saving. Light Emitting Diode (LED) information disply board is used due to
its [Link] overall idea of the system work in a way that message will be sent through SMS type phone to GSM
Bluetooth and the message will be encrypted in the microcontroller and the information will be displayed on the LED board
(Kumar and Surektta, 2016). The extent of development in information dissemination has made it possible that the well-
known method of displaying information using sign post, placards, notice boards, etc. has to be modified by using electronic
information board. In the previous years, the means by which adverts and information are display have been through the use
of static mode of sign display such as banners, flyers etc. These methods are becoming boring and unattractive. Electronic
scrolling message display advertisement is designated to catch people’s attention and create a memorable impression very
quickly, leaving the reader thinking about the advertisement after they have driven past it. They have to be readable in a very
short time because, they are usually read while being passed at high speed. This piece of digital technology can be found in

? E-mail: cossyonah@[Link](CIO)

© 2022 The Authors

2 C.I. Onah

Figure 1. Block Diagram of the System

a number of places and are being used at different purposes. In banks, it is used to display interest rates as well as exchange
rate. In hotels and pubs, it is used to display the menu and prices. In schools, it is used to display information related to the
school programme and update news. In the last time, information display board are mostly based before the invention of LED
display board and this has created inconvenience of showing the targeted people’s information during raining days because
the papers would be wet and wear out. Beside there would be a possibility that the paper is not pasted on the board properly
and dropped easily. After LED is introduced to the public it is cleverly used to show information to public. However, the
problem arise when human’s resources time and cost are wasted to change the information on display board placed at different
locations one by one. This system is created to improve the conventional method in such a way that the same message can
be sent to multiple LED display board from one main system. The paramount aim of this research work is to design and
construct an outdoor scrolling message display board (96.2*16 size) with back-up battery (mainly solar panel) which can be
used to pass across information such as emergency phone contacts in form of scrolling message to staff, students and general
public within the school premises. Also to develop and implement how a microcomputer can be interface with a LED dot
matrix display board. Again, to have a good knowledge and understanding of the software/firmware needed to control the
hardware section. Finally, to acquire more knowledge about digital world. This report contain four sections. Section one is the
introduction, two is materials and methodology while section three is analysis and results. Finally, section four is summary
and conclusion.

2 MATERIALS AND METHOD

The material used in construction and design of this LED matrix display board are as follows: Power supply (battery),
Microcontroller (arduino), Bluetooth, the p10 module and Solar panel

2.1 System description

This system is comprised of a red colour matrix display panel. It also includes an executive program that runs on the ATMEGA
328 microcontroller for the display control of data information on the display board. LED provides several advantages over
traditional light bulbs, such as small size and longer life. A red colour LED can be used to advertise even day-light conditions.
The LED display board displays images and messages entered by using a microcontroller. The LED display board is very
efficient and cost effective way to spread messages to thousands of people, without any personal contact or door to door
sales. An arduino board which is an ATMEGA 328 - based microcontroller development board acts as controller to drive
the LED display panel (Kumar and Surektta, 2016). Along with these is a power supply unit and supporting hardware for
microcontroller. The block diagram of the system is shown in Figure 1.
This system is actually divided in two main parts via: the message transmission section which is android phone and
another is reception and displaying section. The Android phone is the device which is used to transmit the text message which
is to be displayed on LED board. At the input/transmitter side the android phone is used to generate input to the system. The
software used is Arduino development tool. In that tool APK application is used for sending texts or numbers using Bluetooth

pasn 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

 Light Emitting Diode (LED) Matrix Display Board 3

Figure 2. ISMPS Power Supply Circuit (sources: [Link] .us/)

access. The message sent by Bluetooth is in the form of ASCII codes. At the receiver side Bluetooth is used. It receives ASCII
codes from transmitter which it relays to the Arduino development board controlled by ATMEGA328 controller. The board
is connected to 3 sets 16 rows x 32 columns LED display through SPI interface. The LED board displays this message using
scrolling technique. So required information displayed on that board.

2.2 Hardware design

The display system mainly comprises of a moving message display, which can be used as the digital notice board, and also
a Bluetooth module, which is one of the latest technology used for communication between the mobile and the embedded
devices. When the user wants to display or update the notice board, the user has to send the message from his mobile defining
the message. The microcontroller inside the system is programmed in such a way that when the Bluetooth module receives
an ASCII message, the text is isolated by the microcontroller and interpreted into dot matrix format which is then passed to
the LED dot matrix display panel.

2.2.1 Power supply

The SMPS used is SU-40A which acts as power Supply. It is an important part of a circuit. It provides required supply to
different blocks of the circuit from input 230V AC. The main blocks include transformer, rectifier circuit, filter circuit, and
regulator circuit. The microcontroller and other devices get power supply from AC to DC adapter through an embedded 5V
regulator in the SMPS, else the adapter output voltage would be 12V DC non-regulated which is capable of damaging the
microcontroller board (Gowrishankar et al. 2014).

2.2.2 Microcontroller unit

The Arduino platform has become quite popular with people just starting with electronics, and for good reason. Unlike most
previous programmable circuit boards, the Arduino does not need a separate piece of hardware in order to load new code
onto the board – one can simply use a USB cable. Additionally, the Arduino IDE uses a simplified version of C++ making it
easier to learn to program. Also, Arduino provides a standard form factor that breaks out the functions of the micro-controller
into a more accessible [Link] Uno is one of the more popular boards in the Arduino family and a great choice for most
applications (see Fig.3)
The microcontroller inside the system is programmed in such a way that when the Bluetooth module receives any message,
the microcontroller will read the message form serial port, then it will start displaying the messages on the LED display system.
LED is connected to microcontroller as 4 bit data mode, before displaying anything on the LED, initialization has to be done,
so microcontroller will control the LED initialization and select the data register and command register according to the
purpose .

PASN 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

4 C.I. Onah

Figure 3. The Arduino microcontroller development board

2.2.3 Bluetooth (HC-06) module

It is easy to use Bluetooth serial port protocol (SPP) module, TTL interface, designed for transparent wireless serial connection
setup which can configure as either master or slave.

2.2.4 LED Display

Here P10 LED module was used with 3 sets 16 rows x 32 columns to display the scrolling message (see Fig. 4).
The data will be sent from the Arduino serially via socket HUB1.2 then received by serial to parallel IC 74595. If the P10
module is more than 1, then the circuit is formed as a cascade such that any additional module’s input will be taken from last
74595 output which is connected to X2-OUT socket. The supply current is given by the power amplifier IC VT1, [Link]
(Gowrishankar et al. 2014). To select which column is lit is enabled by IC multiplexer (see Fig. 5)

2.3 Hardware requirement

The hardware board contains microcontroller AT89c51 which is the heart of the system, a Bluetooth module, LED display,
Max 232 and Power supply.

2.4 Software requirement

2.4.1 Express PCB

Express PCB is free PCB software and is a snap to learn and use. Designing circuit boards is simple for the beginner and
efficient for the professional. The board manufacturing service makes top quality two and four layer PCBs.

2.4.2 Arduino Compiler and Processing (EMBEDDED C)

This work made use of the Arduino programming IDE for programming the microcontroller. Embedded C is used for micro-
controller programming. There is a large and growing – international demand for programmers with ’embedded’ skills, and
many desktop developers are starting to move into this important area.

2.5 Flowchart

In the chart below the strings of technelogy is being sent to the micro-controller via Bluetooth with an android app interface
designed by MIT app inventor 2. It is an online platform for android app development for robotics and internet of things
(IOT). The Bluetooth receives the text then process and sends it to the matrix LED as output with the aid of the arduino
micro-controller (UNO/Nano).
In the connection of p10 seven pins are connected to the arduino micro-controller as shown the Figure 7.

pasn 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

 Light Emitting Diode (LED) Matrix Display Board 5

Figure 4. The P10 schematic diagram

Figure 5. The P10 Dot Matrix Display Panel

PASN 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

6 C.I. Onah

Figure 6. The Overall Schematic Diagram

The initial result (see Fig 8) has a text of character with the default strings “WELCOME TO PHYSICS DEPARTMENT,
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY OWERRI”.
The android app interface which serves as an input source can only send strings of data after Bluetooth has been paired
and connected to the app.

2.6 Construction/Working principle

2.6.1 Step 1: Materials and Tools

(i) Bread Board

(ii) 2pcs Of DMD (dot-matrix-display)
(iii) Arduino UNO or NANO
(iv) HC-06 Bluetooth module
(v) Jumper Wires
(vi) Wire stripper
(vii) Screwdriver
(viii) 5 Volt DC adapter (Higher the Amp better the brightness ”max-5 amp”)

pasn 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

 Light Emitting Diode (LED) Matrix Display Board 7

Figure 7. The pin out configuration P10

Figure 8. The default LED display output

2.6.2 Step 2: Circuit

Connect the DMD pins as shown in the circuit diagram and connect the output of the first module to the input of the second
module and also connect the VCC and GND of the both panel using wires. Connection of led panel with arduino UNO
OE — D9
A — D6
B — D7
C — No connection
CLK — D13
SCLK — D8
R — D11
GND – GND of arduino (any one)

PASN 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

8 C.I. Onah
[h!]

Table 1. This table gives the details of the components used in this project

S/N NAME DESCRIPTION

1. Casing 96.2 x 16 x 5 (cm)

2. Buffer speed 1 Character in 4sec
3. Battery Pack 5V, 12000mAH
4. Bluetooth Range 10meter
5. Solar Power rating 6V, 10W

Bluetooth Connection Connect the TX of the Bluetooth module to the RX (D0) pin of the arduino and RX of Bt.
module to TX (D1) of arduino UNO. You can also change the Password and Name of the Bluetooth module using AT
command to change the password and name connect TX of Bt. module to TX of UNO and RX to RX and Open Arduino
IDE and open Serial monitor Type AT command. You can find all AT command of HC-06 Module on internet “search for
AT commandof HC − 060 onGoogle
N OT E The program cannot be uploaded while Bluetooth is connected to the arduino.

2.6.3 Step 3: Upload the Program

Before uploading, sketch to arduino disconnect the Bluetooth module from arduino to avoid compiling error. Download the
zip file which contents Timer One and DMD library and the arduino Sketch, and extract the zip file. Copy the libraries to the
library folder of arduino and open the arduino sketch. One can change the max characters length and message on the program
as one requires. Chose the board type and serial port and click upload. After uploading the Bluetooth module is connected
and then be ready for sending message using smartphone.

2.6.4 Step 4: Installation of the App and Connection of the Power Supply

The 5 volt DC power supply is connected to LED panel and the power is set on. Then the Bluetooth control app is installed
from Google play store. This is done by opening the play store and searching for ”Arduino Bluetooth Control” and installing
the app and opening and connecting with Bluetooth module. Finally the message is sent.

3 RESULT DISCUSSION

The LED matrix system requires a 5V input and 2.50A for bright output display of the LED matrix while the microcontroller
and the Bluetooth module requires a total of 100mA and 5V as input. The total number of character the system can hold as
default and that can be send from the mobile app interface 256 and 128 respectively.

3.0.1 Result discussion

The LED matrix system requires a 5V input and 2.50A for bright output display of the LED matrix while the microcontroller
and the Bluetooth module requires a total of 100mA and 5V as input. The total number of character the system can hold as
default and that can be send from the mobile app interface 256 and 128 respectively.

3.0.2 Charge and Discharge rate charts

Below shows the power rating with respect to the capacity of the charging rate if solar power rate is high and low.
Input voltage = 5V
Battery Cap. = 12000mAH (1500mAHx8)
Min. Energy: 12x3.7 = 44.4
Max. Energy: 12x4.2 = 48.4J
Power = 2.6Ax5V = 13W
Total time frame: 3.5 Hrs.
NB: At 60min i.e. 1hr 13W was consumed thus Time = Energy / Power since Energy = Power x Time
However, while charging with the solar panel with this rating: 6W at 6V will definitely supply 1000mA, at a high solar
luminosity. The time frame for recharging the system can be deduced pictorially as follows: In the table below you observe

pasn 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

 Light Emitting Diode (LED) Matrix Display Board 9
[h!]

Table 2. Rate of discharged with respect to time

Time frame (min) Energy Consumed

30 6.5
60 13
90 19.5
120 26
150 32.5
180 39
210 48.4

Figure 9. The Discharging rate chat

[h!]

Table 3. Rate of discharged with respect to time

Quantity of charges (mAh) Time fame (min) Energy Consumed (J)

1000 30 6.5
1500 60 13
2500 90 19.5
4000 120 26
6500 150 32.5
9000 180 39
12000 210 48.4

that at every 1 hour the 1A of current is being delivered. For instance in 60 minutes i.e. 1hr the next 30mins it is going to
increase as given in Figure 10.
Finally from our arduino serial plotter which has a bus speed of about 4 minutes per character, this may vary depending
on the number of module being used. Hence, in our project we used only 3 modules, where each as 16x32 array of LEDs which
makes a total of 1536 LEDs.

PASN 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

10 C.I. Onah

Figure 10. The recharging rate chat

4 CONCLUSION

Our LED Matrix display was as success story, as it could perform optimally not only that it uses a renewable energy source
to get recharged but it is also cost effective and can be mass produced. In this work all the features mentioned have been
successfully implemented in our design. The mobile app Bluetooth interface was demonstrated and the output was verified,
compare to existing LED Matrix systems that can be used for advertisement, publicity, announcement etc. Our techniques
has an advantage since updates can be made wirelessly to the system using your android phone via Bluetooth unlike the
conventional techniques that will need re-programming which can be made by a technical expert anytime it calls for that.

References
Amerada, A., Niranjane, Sagne (2017). An SMS based notice board incorporating the widely used GSM, International Journal of computer
application. Electronics engineering, 3, 12
Foran, Anubbhar, Pritish (2013). The GSM Base Display Board. Advance in Electric and Electronics, 5, 10.
Gowrishankar, K., Mritha, R., Chandra S. (2014). Design of a dual power supply switchable between solar power system and Alternating
Current (AC) from utility supply. International journal of computational sciences. Information Technology and Control Engineering
(IJC SITCE), 1, 3
Kumar, P., Surektta R. (2016). A GSM display made up of regulated 5v, 500mA power supply. International Journal of Advanced
Technology and Innovative Research, 4, 9
Naveea, Jilten, Kumar B. (2017). A display board using the GSM technology and solar power is used as a source. Engineering Technology
(IJS SET), 3, 20
Rahol K., Preeti A. (2013). Design and develop a GSM based multiple LED display board. International Journal of Computer application,
9, 32
Raj, H. (2014), GSM Alphanumeric Scrolling Display. International Journal of computational science, Information Technology and control
engineering, 3, 30

pasn 07, 29 - 38 (2022)

View publication stats