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6.4 - IR Remote Control

In consumer electronics, remote controls are used to operate devices such as televisions and DVD players. In some cases, remote controls allow people to operate devices that are out of their reach, such as central air conditioners.

IR Receiver is a component with photocell that is tuned to receive to infrared light. It is almost always used for remote control detection - every TV and DVD player has one of these in the front to receive for the IR signal from the clicker. Inside the remote control is a matching IR LED, which emits IR pulses to tell the TV to turn on, off or change channels.

• Infrared Receiver

Required Components

In this project, we need the following components.

It’s definitely convenient to buy a whole kit, here’s the link:

Name	ITEMS IN THIS KIT	PURCHASE LINK
Kepler Kit	450+	Kepler Ultimate Kit

You can also buy them separately from the links below.

SN	COMPONENT INTRODUCTION	QUANTITY	PURCHASE LINK
1	Raspberry Pi Pico W	1	BUY
2	Micro USB Cable	1
3	Breadboard	1	BUY
4	Jumper Wires	Several	BUY
5	Infrared Receiver	1	BUY

Schematic

Wiring

Code

Note

• You can open the file 6.4_ir_remote_control.ino under the path of kepler-kit-main/arduino/6.4_ir_remote_control.

• Or copy this code into Arduino IDE.

• Then select the Raspberry Pi Pico board and the correct port before clicking the Upload button.

• The IRremote library is used here, you can install it from the Library Manager.

  

The new remote control has a plastic piece at the end to isolate the battery inside. You need to pull out this plastic piece to power up the remote when you are using it. Once the program is running, when you press the remote control, the Serial Monitor will print out the key you pressed.

How it works?

This code is designed to work with an infrared (IR) remote control using the IRremote library. Here’s the breakdown:

1. Including the library and defining constants. First, the IRremote library is included, and the pin number for the IR receiver is defined as 2.

   #include <IRremote.h>
   const int IR_RECEIVE_PIN = 17;
   

2. Initializes serial communication at a baud rate of 9600. Initializes the IR receiver on the specified pin (IR_RECEIVE_PIN) and enables LED feedback (if applicable).

   void setup() {
       Serial.begin(9600);                                     // Start serial communication at 9600 baud rate
       IrReceiver.begin(IR_RECEIVE_PIN, ENABLE_LED_FEEDBACK);  // Start the IR receiver
   }
   

3. The loop runs continuously to process incoming IR remote signals.

   void loop() {
      if (IrReceiver.decode()) {  // Check if the IR receiver has received a signal
         bool result = 0;
         String key = decodeKeyValue(IrReceiver.decodedIRData.command);
         if (key != "ERROR") {
           Serial.println(key);  // Print the readable command
           delay(100);
         }
      IrReceiver.resume();  // Prepare the IR receiver to receive the next signal
     }
   }
   

   • Checks if an IR signal is received and successfully decoded.

   • Decodes the IR command and stores it in decodedValue using a custom decodeKeyValue() function.

   • Prints the decoded IR value to the serial monitor.

   • Resumes IR signal reception for the next signal.

   
   

4. Helper function to map received IR signals to corresponding keys

   

   // Function to map received IR signals to corresponding keys
   String decodeKeyValue(long result) {
     // Each case corresponds to a specific IR command
     switch (result) {
       case 0x16:
         return "0";
       case 0xC:
         return "1";
       case 0x18:
         return "2";
       case 0x5E:
         return "3";
       case 0x8:
         return "4";
       case 0x1C:
         return "5";
       case 0x5A:
         return "6";
       case 0x42:
         return "7";
       case 0x52:
         return "8";
       case 0x4A:
         return "9";
       case 0x9:
         return "+";
       case 0x15:
         return "-";
       case 0x7:
         return "EQ";
       case 0xD:
         return "U/SD";
       case 0x19:
         return "CYCLE";
       case 0x44:
         return "PLAY/PAUSE";
       case 0x43:
         return "FORWARD";
       case 0x40:
         return "BACKWARD";
       case 0x45:
         return "POWER";
       case 0x47:
         return "MUTE";
       case 0x46:
         return "MODE";
       case 0x0:
         return "ERROR";
       default:
         return "ERROR";
     }
   }