Experiment 10: Student Lab Manual

American International University – Bangladesh (AIUB)

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Title: Familiarization with the Raspberry Pi

Introduction:
The objective of this experiment is to get familiarized with Raspberry Pi.

Theory and Methodology:

The Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board computers developed in the United Kingdom by the
Raspberry Pi Foundation to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and in developing
countries. The most important thing about different versions of Raspberry Pi is that it is a computer that costs
$5 to $75.

Hardware:

Figure 1: Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B

In this laboratory version, Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B will be used. Thus, only the hardware specifications of
Raspberry Pi 3 – Model B are discussed.

Technical Specifications
1. Processor
 Broadcom BCM2387 chipset.
 64-bit 1.2 GHz Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A53.

2. 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1 (Bluetooth Classic and LE)
 IEEE 802.11 b / g / n Wi-Fi. Protocol: WEP, WPA WPA2, algorithms AES-CCMP (maximum key
length of 256 bits), the maximum range of 100 meters.
 IEEE 802.15 Bluetooth, symmetric encryption algorithm Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a
128-bit key, a maximum range of 50 meters.

3. GPU
 Dual Core Video Core IV® Multimedia Co-Processor. Provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated
Open VG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode.
 Capable of 1 Gpixel/s, 1.5 Gtexel/s, or 24 GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure.

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 Experiment 10: Student Lab Manual

4. Memory
 1 GB LPDDR2.

5. Operating System
 Boots from a Micro SD card, running a version of the Linux operating system or Windows 10 IoT.

6. Dimensions
 85 x 56 x 17mm

7. Power
 Micro USB socket 5 V, 2.5 A

8. Ethernet
 10/100 Base T Ethernet socket.

9. Video Output
 HDMI (rev 1.3 & 1.4)
 Composite RCA (PAL and NTSC)

10. Audio Output

 Audio Output 3.5 mm jack
 HDMI
 USB 4.0 x USB 2.0 Connector

11. GPIO Connector

 40-pin 2.54 mm (100 mils) expansion header: 2 x 20 strip
 Providing 27 GPIO pins as well as +3.3 V, +5 V, and GND supply lines as shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 2: Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B GPIO pin

12. Camera Connector

 15-pin MIPI Camera Serial Interface (CSI-2)

13. Display Connector

 Display Serial Interface (DSI) 15-way flat flex cable connector with two data lanes and a clock lane

14. USB
 Four built-in USB ports provide enough connectivity for a mouse, keyboard, or anything else that you
feel the RPi needs.

15. Antenna
 There’s no need to connect an external antenna to the Raspberry Pi 3. Its radios are connected to this
chip antenna soldered directly to the board.

16. HDMI connector:

 The HDMI port provides digital video and audio output. 14 different video resolutions are supported,
and the HDMI signal can be converted to DVI (used by many monitors), composite (analog video
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 Experiment 10: Student Lab Manual

signal usually carried over a yellow RCA connector), or SCART (a European standard for connecting
audio-visual equipment) with external adapters.

17. Status LED

There are five status LEDs on the corner of the board.
ACT Green Light is ON when the SD card is accessed/used
PWR Red Steady ON when Pi is connected to 3.3 V power
FDX Green ON if the network adapter is a full duplex
LNK Green Network activity light ON when Ethernet is connected
100 Yellow ON if the network connection is 100 Mbps

The status LEDs give information about the operating condition and any problems of the board e.g.
Status LED Possible Problem
The red power LED does not The power is not properly connected
light, and nothing is on display
The red power LED light is The red power LED should never blink. A blinking red LED
blinking (PWR) means the 5 V power supply is dropping out.
Use a different power supply.
The red power LED is ON, and The power supply is OK. But faint and steady green light
the green LED is glowing (ACT) means the SD card has some problem in starting the
faintly and steadily operating system (no boot code).

Setting Up the Raspberry Pi:

You need the following items-
[1] Raspberry Pi Board
[2] Monitor
[3] Display and Connectivity Cable (HDMI/DVI)
[4] Keyboard and Mouse
[5] Power Supply (good-quality power supply that can supply at least 2 A at 5 V for the Model 3B)
[6] SD Card (minimum 4 GB)
[7] Ethernet (network) cable (Optional)
[8] Audio Lead (without an HDMI Cable an audio lead is necessary to produce sound)

Figure 3: Apparatus for Setting up Raspberry Pi

Operating Systems
When setting up Raspberry Pi, always keep in mind that you are setting up a small PC. Like a PC set up Pi must
be set up with Operating System (OS). Raspbian is the official operating system for all models of the
Raspberry Pi. However, there are third-party operating systems, like Ubuntu Mate, Snappy Ubuntu Core,
Windows 10 IoT core, OSMC, Libreelec, Pinet, and RISC OS. Logos of different OS for Pi is shown in
following Fig. 4.

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 Experiment 10: Student Lab Manual

Figure 4: Logos of Different Operating Systems

Getting an operating system

The recommended operating system for use with the Raspberry Pi is called Raspbian. Raspbian is a version of
GNU/Linux, designed specifically to work well with the Raspberry Pi.

Download and image Raspbian directly: This is a faster process and is great if you need to image multiple
cards for a workshop or class. The steps are given below:
[1] Using a computer with an SD card reader, visit the official Raspberry Pi Download page. Link:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/
[2] Go to the following link to know the step-by-step process to install the Raspberry Pi imager first:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntaXWS8Lk34
[3] The following link will help to know step by step process to configure the Raspberry Pi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjWZhV1v3Pk
[4] The following link will help to know step by step process to update the Raspberry Pi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9KlLxtMTOA

Power on your Raspberry Pi for the first time

Remember that after booting the Pi, the user credentials like the ‘username’ and ‘password’ will be asked.
Raspberry Pi comes with a default username and password and so always use it whenever it is being asked. The
login credentials are:

login: pi
password: raspberry

LAB Exercise: Simply Glowing an LED

Introduction:
In this experiment, an LED will be controlled by using Raspberry Pi. Python will be used to blink an LED. This
experiment will give a basic idea of Python language as well as import GPIO pins of Raspberry Pi. This
experiment will be done from a Linux environment thus enabling to use of terminal and shell scripting. As
Raspberry Pi runs on a Linux environment, it is always advised to use text editors, like Gvim, Nano Editor,
Emacs Editor, and Pico Editor. However, when you installed your Raspbian it comes with Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) for Python.

Apparatus:
[1] Activated Raspberry pi
[2] LED
[3] Resistor (220 )
[4] Breadboard
[5] Jumper wires

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 Experiment 10: Student Lab Manual

Experimental Procedures:
Lab Task # 1: LED Blinking
1) The first step of this lab task is to set up the circuit as shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 5: Setting up the circuit for the LED blinking program.

2) After setting up the circuit, Raspberry Pi should be powered on and interfaced with Monitor, Mouse,
and Keyboard.
3) Open the terminal.
4) Write your code according to the following code example in the terminal.

Python Program:

nano blinkLED.py # to create a text file under the name blinkLED

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO # RPi.GPIO library will allow us to control the GPIO pins.
import time # time library contains the sleep()
LEDPin = 14 # Set the name of GPIO14 to LEDPin

GPIO.setwarnings(False) # to disable warnings

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM) # BCM pin numbering is used
GPIO.setup(LEDPin,GPIO.OUT) # to set GPIO14 as an output

while (True):

GPIO.output(LEDPin,GPIO.HIGH) # to specify the GPIO 14 as high

print ('LED on') # show message to Terminal
time.sleep(1.0) # delay for two seconds

GPIO.output(LEDPin,GPIO.LOW) # to specify the GPIO 14 as low

print ('LED is off') # show message to Terminal
time.sleep(1.0) # delay for two seconds

To save the program, press “Ctrl+X” then “Y” then “enter”.

To simply run the program type:

sudo python blinkLED.py

The LED will turn on for two seconds and then turn off.
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 Experiment 10: Student Lab Manual

Lab Task # 2: LED controlling with a push button switch

Figure 6: Setting up the circuit for the LED controlling experiment using a button switch.

Python code for controlling LED with the button on Raspberry Pi 4

The Python code for controlling the LED with the button on Raspberry Pi 4 is simple, we will first make a file
with the name “LED_withButton.py” and open it with the nano editor:

Type the following python code in the file to control the LED with the button:

Explanation of the code:

In the above code, we simply import the libraries of LED and Button from the gpiozero. Then we used the two
variables led and button to which we assigned GPIO pin 4 for the LED and GPIO pin 17 for the button. After
declaring these variables, in an infinite while loop, we have turned the LED ON by pressing the button, and on
releasing the button, the LED is turned off.
Save the nano editor’s file by pressing CTRL+S and exit the editor by using the shortcut key CTRL+X. To
execute the code file of LED_withButton.py, use the command:

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 Experiment 10: Student Lab Manual

Lab Task # 3: Simple Traffic Control System

Design a traffic control system using RED, YELLOW, and GREEN LEDs.

#trafficlight
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
# seting-up the raspberrypi pins
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setwarnings(False)
GPIO.setup(14,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(15,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.setup(18,GPIO.OUT)

while (True):
# for green led
GPIO.output(14,GPIO.HIGH)
print("Green LED is ON")
time.sleep(3)
GPIO.output(14,GPIO.LOW)
time.sleep(2)
print("Green LED is OFF")
# for yellow led
for i in range(3):
GPIO.output(15,GPIO.HIGH)
print("Yellow LED is ON for "+ str(i+1))
time.sleep(0.5)
GPIO.output(15,GPIO.LOW)
time.sleep(0.5)
print("Yellow LED is OFF")

# for red led

GPIO.output(18,GPIO.HIGH)
print ("Red LED is ON")
time.sleep(5)
GPIO.output(18,GPIO.LOW)
print ("Red LED is OFF")
time.sleep(5)

Questions for report writing:

1) Include all codes and scripts in the lab report
2) Include simulation methodology in proteus simulation tool after learning from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIP7a_y0zCo

Reference(s):
1) Raspberry pi datasheet.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 7