Morsi

Inspiration

The Defence Forces, particularly inter-ship maritime forces, often ran into situations, when they had to send a message across a distance using the Morse Code. Morse Code consists of only dashes and dots. Even though, traditionally, Morse Code has been conveyed through sounds, i.e. long beeps for dashes and short beeps for dots, I wondered that sometimes it may be possible that audio message may not be well received by the other end due to disturbance. Taking my cue from the movie 'Executive Decision', in which Kurt Russell, the protagonist, uses the tail lights of an airplane to get his message across as a Morse Code, I decided to use my newly learnt skills and do the same.

What it does

This Arduino-based project helps in generating Morse Code based on any string a user has entered. It does so both by producing audio beeps and visual light ups with a perfectly aligned frequency.

How I built it

Only a day-old to programming Arduinos, I understood the basic components of an Arduino including the micro-chip, serial registers for inputs and outputs, both digital and analog. After doing so, I played along with a Light Emitting Diode, trying to experiment with the different 'delay', 'digitalWrite', 'analogWrite' commands etc. When I planned to build a Morse Code generator, I had to write commands to convert each letter into its Morse Code representation. Lastly, I had to make sure that the Arduino program read the user-entered string, character by character, to give its Morse Code equivalent.

Challenges I ran into

I did run into a few challenges! After I was almost completed with my project, I learned that there is a proper description of the time gap between each element that is related to the 'dis and dahs' produced by the Morse Code. I had to incorporate respective changes into the Arduino software, taking into consideration that I do not mess up the visual and audio frequencies.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

One thing I am definitely proud of is the fact that I was able to build this fairly complex circuit, involving an Arduino, with very little knowledge, but with a lot of understanding!

What I learned

In this Hackathon, I learned the basic concepts of an Arduino and how it is programmed. After several failed attempts at making the Arduino do the assigned job, I realised my programming and logic mistakes; this definitely made me a better programmer than earlier.

What's next for Morse Code Translator

Currently, I am trying to fit an Infrared Transmitter and Receiver into my project. This would help in wireless transfer of data in a safe format. This project would be able to take in any user entered string convert it into Morse Code, transfer it in a safe format. I also plan to replace the input method from keyboard entry to a voice entry system. This would make this project more convenient to use, with far-reaching applications.