Project report
Project Title: Arduino Uno Based Smart Radar System for Object Detection
Submitted by: T. M. Rafew Sadab(242016019)
Injamamul Ahamed(242016010)
Fahmid Zamal Dipto(242016002) Date: 27 April 2025
Nazmul Islam Mahim(242016015)
Introduction
In today’s world, detecting objects — whether living or non-living — is crucial for many
applications such as security, automation, and navigation. This project presents the design
and implementation of a Smart Radar System based on Arduino Uno, integrated with
Processing 4 software for simulation on a laptop. The radar system detects objects within a
defined range and angle and visualizes the detection on the laptop screen in real-time.
The system is designed to be low-cost, scalable, and educational, aimed at providing a clear
understanding of basic radar concepts using accessible hardware and software tools.
Objective
● To build a smart radar system capable of detecting living and non-living objects.
● To visualize the radar detection on a laptop using Processing 4 software.
● To learn the integration between hardware (Arduino) and software (Processing)
platforms.
● To demonstrate real-time object detection and tracking in a simulated environment.
Components Required
Sr. No. Component Quantity
1 Arduino Uno 1
2 Ultrasonic Sensor (HC-SR04) 1
3 Servo Motor (SG90) 1
4 USB Cable for Arduino 1
5 Jumper Wires As
needed
6 Breadboard (optional) 1
7 Laptop (with Processing 4) 1
Methodology
1. Hardware Setup
● The HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor is mounted on the Servo Motor.
● The Servo Motor rotates within a predefined angular range (for example, 0° to 180°).
● At each angle, the Ultrasonic Sensor measures the distance to the nearest object.
● Arduino Uno controls the servo and reads the sensor’s distance data.
2. Software Setup
Arduino IDE is used to upload code to the Arduino board.
Processing 4 software is used to visualize the radar system simulation on the laptop.
Arduino sends distance and angle data via serial communication to the laptop.
Processing reads the serial data and plots it graphically like a radar screen.
Working Principle
● The servo motor rotates the ultrasonic sensor.
● For each rotation angle, the ultrasonic sensor measures the distance to any object.
● Arduino sends the angle and distance data serially.
● Processing software reads this data, maps it on a semi-circular radar screen, and
displays objects detected at their respective positions.
● The system continuously scans and updates the radar display in real-time.
Arduino Code (Summary)
● Control the Servo Motor movement.
● Measure distance using the HC-SR04 sensor.
● Send angle and distance data over the serial port.
// Includes the Servo library
#include <Servo.h>.
// Defines Tirg and Echo pins of the Ultrasonic Sensor
const int trigPin = 10;
const int echoPin = 11;
// Variables for the duration and the distance
long duration;
int distance;
Servo myServo; // Creates a servo object for controlling the servo motor
void setup() {
pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT); // Sets the trigPin as an Output
pinMode(echoPin, INPUT); // Sets the echoPin as an Input
[Link](9600);
[Link](12); // Defines on which pin is the servo motor attached
void loop() {
// rotates the servo motor from 15 to 165 degrees
for(int i=15;i<=165;i++){
[Link](i);
delay(30);
distance = calculateDistance();// Calls a function for calculating the distance measured by the
Ultrasonic sensor for each degree
[Link](i); // Sends the current degree into the Serial Port
[Link](","); // Sends addition character right next to the previous value needed later in
the Processing IDE for indexing
[Link](distance); // Sends the distance value into the Serial Port
[Link]("."); // Sends addition character right next to the previous value needed later in
the Processing IDE for indexing
// Repeats the previous lines from 165 to 15 degrees
for(int i=165;i>15;i--){
[Link](i);
delay(30);
distance = calculateDistance();
[Link](i);
[Link](",");
[Link](distance);
[Link](".");
// Function for calculating the distance measured by the Ultrasonic sensor
int calculateDistance(){
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(2);
// Sets the trigPin on HIGH state for 10 micro seconds
digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(10);
digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH); // Reads the echoPin, returns the sound wave travel time
in microseconds
distance= duration*0.034/2;
return distance;
Processing 4 Code (Summary)
● Read serial data from Arduino.
● Map the angle and distance to screen coordinates.
● Draw radar lines, detected objects, and refresh the display continuously.
import [Link].*; // imports library for serial communication
import [Link]; // imports library for reading the data from the serial port
import [Link];
Serial myPort; // defines Object Serial
// defubes variables
String angle="";
String distance="";
String data="";
String noObject;
float pixsDistance;
int iAngle, iDistance;
int index1=0;
int index2=0;
PFont orcFont;
void setup() {
size (1980, 1080); // ***CHANGE THIS TO YOUR SCREEN RESOLUTION***
smooth();
myPort = new Serial(this,"COM3", 9600); // starts the serial communication
[Link]('.'); // reads the data from the serial port up to the character '.'. So actually
it reads this: angle,distance.
}
void draw() {
fill(98,245,31);
// simulating motion blur and slow fade of the moving line
noStroke();
fill(0,4);
rect(0, 0, width, height-height*0.065);
fill(98,245,31); // green color
// calls the functions for drawing the radar
drawRadar();
drawLine();
drawObject();
drawText();
void serialEvent (Serial myPort) { // starts reading data from the Serial Port
// reads the data from the Serial Port up to the character '.' and puts it into the String variable
"data".
data = [Link]('.');
data = [Link](0,[Link]()-1);
index1 = [Link](","); // find the character ',' and puts it into the variable "index1"
angle= [Link](0, index1); // read the data from position "0" to position of the variable
index1 or thats the value of the angle the Arduino Board sent into the Serial Port
distance= [Link](index1+1, [Link]()); // read the data from position "index1" to
the end of the data pr thats the value of the distance
// converts the String variables into Integer
iAngle = int(angle);
iDistance = int(distance);
void drawRadar() {
pushMatrix();
translate(width/2,height-height*0.074); // moves the starting coordinats to new location
noFill();
strokeWeight(2);
stroke(98,245,31);
// draws the arc lines
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.0625),(width-width*0.0625),PI,TWO_PI);
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.27),(width-width*0.27),PI,TWO_PI);
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.479),(width-width*0.479),PI,TWO_PI);
arc(0,0,(width-width*0.687),(width-width*0.687),PI,TWO_PI);
// draws the angle lines
line(-width/2,0,width/2,0);
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(30)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(30)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(60)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(60)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(90)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(90)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(120)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(120)));
line(0,0,(-width/2)*cos(radians(150)),(-width/2)*sin(radians(150)));
line((-width/2)*cos(radians(30)),0,width/2,0);
popMatrix();
void drawObject() {
pushMatrix();
translate(width/2,height-height*0.074); // moves the starting coordinats to new location
strokeWeight(9);
stroke(255,10,10); // red color
pixsDistance = iDistance*((height-height*0.1666)*0.025); // covers the distance from the
sensor from cm to pixels
// limiting the range to 40 cms
if(iDistance<40){
// draws the object according to the angle and the distance
line(pixsDistance*cos(radians(iAngle)),-pixsDistance*sin(radians(iAngle)),(width-width*0.505)
*cos(radians(iAngle)),-(width-width*0.505)*sin(radians(iAngle)));
popMatrix();
void drawLine() {
pushMatrix();
strokeWeight(9);
stroke(30,250,60);
translate(width/2,height-height*0.074); // moves the starting coordinats to new location
line(0,0,(height-height*0.12)*cos(radians(iAngle)),-(height-height*0.12)*sin(radians(iAngle)));
// draws the line according to the angle
popMatrix();
void drawText() { // draws the texts on the screen
pushMatrix();
if(iDistance>40) {
noObject = "Out of Range";
else {
noObject = "In Range";
fill(0,0,0);
noStroke();
rect(0, height-height*0.0648, width, height);
fill(98,245,31);
textSize(25);
text("10cm",width-width*0.3854,height-height*0.0833);
text("20cm",width-width*0.281,height-height*0.0833);
text("30cm",width-width*0.177,height-height*0.0833);
text("40cm",width-width*0.0729,height-height*0.0833);
textSize(40);
text("ULAB EEE ", width-width*0.875, height-height*0.0277);
text("Angle: " + iAngle +" ", width-width*0.48, height-height*0.0277);
text("Distance: ", width-width*0.26, height-height*0.0277);
if(iDistance<40) {
text(" " + iDistance +" cm", width-width*0.225, height-height*0.0277);
textSize(25);
fill(98,245,60);
translate((width-width*0.4994)+width/2*cos(radians(30)),(height-height*0.0907)-width/2*sin(
radians(30)));
rotate(-radians(-60));
text("30 ",0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate((width-width*0.503)+width/2*cos(radians(60)),(height-height*0.0888)-width/2*sin(r
adians(60)));
rotate(-radians(-30));
text("60 ",0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate((width-width*0.507)+width/2*cos(radians(90)),(height-height*0.0833)-width/2*sin(r
adians(90)));
rotate(radians(0));
text("90 ",0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate(width-width*0.513+width/2*cos(radians(120)),(height-height*0.07129)-width/2*sin(
radians(120)));
rotate(radians(-30));
text("120 ",0,0);
resetMatrix();
translate((width-width*0.5104)+width/2*cos(radians(150)),(height-height*0.0574)-width/2*si
n(radians(150)));
rotate(radians(-60));
text("150 ",0,0);
popMatrix();
Applications
● Military and civilian radar systems.
● Home security systems (object/motion detection).
● Autonomous vehicles for obstacle detection.
● Robotics for environmental mapping.
● Educational purposes to understand radar technology.
Advantages
● Low Cost: Uses easily available components.
● Simple to Understand: Ideal for students and hobbyists.
● Customizable: Easy to extend by adding features like object classification, alarms, etc.
● Real-Time Feedback: Immediate visualization of detected objects.
Limitations
● Detection limited by the range and angle of the ultrasonic sensor.
● Performance may degrade in very noisy environments.
● Limited accuracy compared to professional radar systems.
Future Enhancements
● Use multiple sensors for 360° scanning.
● Integrate Machine Learning for object classification.
● Add GSM or IoT module for remote alerts.
● Improve the graphical interface with 3D visualization.
● Implement obstacle avoidance algorithms.
Conclusion
The Arduino Uno-based Smart Radar System provides a simple yet effective way of detecting
and visualizing objects. The project successfully demonstrates how microcontrollers and
basic sensors can be integrated with software visualization tools to create interactive,
real-time systems. It serves as an excellent foundation for further studies in robotics,
automation, and embedded systems.
References
● Arduino Official Documentation
● Processing 4 Official Documentation
● HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor Datasheet
● Servo Motor SG90 Datasheet
● Various online tutorials and forums