{"id":4665,"date":"2026-07-23T09:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/?p=4665"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:30:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:00:01","slug":"interfacing-the-apds-9960-sensor-with-vega-aries-iot-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/interfacing-the-apds-9960-sensor-with-vega-aries-iot-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Implementing The APDS-9960 Sensor With Vega Aries IoT Board"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This tutorial demonstrates the use of the onboard APDS-9960 sensor available on the ARIES IoT Board. The APDS-9960 is a multi-function digital sensor that supports gesture recognition, proximity detection and RGB color sensing, enabling a wide range of interactive and IoT applications without requiring any external hardware connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Aries IoT v2.0 Board<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ARIES IoT is a fully indigenous and a \u201cMade in India\u201d product to get started with basic microprocessor programming and embedded systems. This board is built upon a RISC-V ISA compliant VEGA Processor with easy-to-use hardware and software. For more details about ARIES IoT boards please refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/ariesiot.php\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/ariesiot.php\">ARIES development boards and Ecosystem.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"335\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboard.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboard.png 335w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboard-300x192.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">APDS-9960<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">The APDS-9960 onboard sensor available on the ARIES IoT Board provides gesture recognition, proximity sensing and RGB color detection through an I\u00b2C interface. It enables the board to detect hand movements such as up, down, left and right gestures, measure the distance of nearby objects and identify the intensity and color composition of ambient light. The sensor integrates an IR LED and multiple photodiodes, allowing touchless human-machine interaction and environmental sensing applications. In the ARIES IoT board, the APDS-9960 is connected internally to the dedicated I\u00b2C bus along with other onboard sensors, eliminating the need for external wiring and making it easy to develop gesture-controlled, smart automation, robotics and IoT applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"467\" height=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/apds9960.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5073\" style=\"width:148px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/apds9960.png 467w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/apds9960-300x258.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 467px) 100vw, 467px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prerequisites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Windows 10 or above\/Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or above<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arduino IDE<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>VEGA ARIES Board support package<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Components Required<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ARIES IoT v2.0 Board<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>USB type C cable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Circuit Diagram<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No external connections required to test this code. You can directly connect Aries IoT board through USB and upload the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"570\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardusb-570x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4689\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.5562484014874937;width:261px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardusb-570x1024.jpg 570w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardusb-167x300.jpg 167w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardusb-768x1381.jpg 768w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardusb-854x1536.jpg 854w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardusb-1139x2048.jpg 1139w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardusb-scaled.jpg 1424w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Libraries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arduino libraries are an extension of the standard Arduino API and consists of thousands of libraries, both official and contributed by the community. Libraries simplifies the use of complex codes. Every version of Arduino IDE has a library manager for installing Arduino software libraries. The libraries required for this projects are<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arduino_APDS9960 (Version 1.0.4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To install the libraries directly from library manager required for this project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Go to <strong>Tools<\/strong> -&gt; <strong>Manage Libraries<\/strong> -&gt; and search with the library name mentioned above<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Click on <strong>Install<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Procedure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Setup VEGA Ecosystem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Download and install <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arduino.cc\/en\/software\/\">Arduino IDE 2.3.10<\/a><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once installed Open Arduino IDE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Open <strong>File-&gt;Preferences<\/strong>, Add below JSON in \u201cAdditional Boards Manager URL\u201d, Press OK<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gitlab.com\/riscv-vega\/vega-arduino\/-\/raw\/main\/package_vega_index.json\">https:\/\/gitlab.com\/riscv-vega\/vega-arduino\/-\/raw\/main\/package_vega_index.json<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"798\" height=\"529\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4676\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.png 798w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4-768x509.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Open<strong> Tools-&gt;Boards-&gt;Board manager<\/strong>, Search for &#8220;vega&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Install \u201cVEGA ARIES Boards\u201d with latest version<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"548\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5-1024x548.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5-1024x548.png 1024w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5-768x411.png 768w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Select <strong>ARIES IoT<\/strong> Board from <strong>Tools -&gt; Board -&gt; VEGA Processor: ARIES Boards -&gt; ARIES IoT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"629\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardselectcommon-2-1024x629.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardselectcommon-2-1024x629.png 1024w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardselectcommon-2-300x184.png 300w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardselectcommon-2-768x472.png 768w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iotboardselectcommon-2.png 1136w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check your ARIES board whether the <strong>BOOT SEL<\/strong> pin is shorted using a jumper or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"770\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bootseliot-2-edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4764\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.6623239084256476;width:294px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bootseliot-2-edited.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bootseliot-2-edited-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bootseliot-2-edited-1024x616.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bootseliot-2-edited-768x462.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If<br>BOOT-SEL jumper (J12) is shorted :<br>Select<strong> Tools<\/strong> -&gt;&nbsp;<strong>Upload method<\/strong>&nbsp;-&gt;&nbsp;<strong>VEGA FLASHER<\/strong><br>Else<br>Select <strong>Tools<\/strong> -&gt;&nbsp;<strong>Upload method<\/strong>&nbsp;-&gt;&nbsp;<strong>VEGA XMODEM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here the BOOT SEL pin is shorted, so we have selected <strong>VEGA FLASHER<\/strong> from <strong>Upload method<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"625\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/flasherselectcommon-1-1024x625.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/flasherselectcommon-1-1024x625.png 1024w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/flasherselectcommon-1-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/flasherselectcommon-1-768x469.png 768w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/flasherselectcommon-1.png 1135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also select appropriate port from <strong>Tools -&gt; Port -&gt; COM*<\/strong> <strong>(ARIES Board) for windows and dev\/tty\/USB*(Aries Board) for ubuntu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"825\" height=\"818\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/portselcommon.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4768\" style=\"width:774px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/portselcommon.png 825w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/portselcommon-300x297.png 300w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/portselcommon-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/portselcommon-768x761.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, Open <strong>Files -&gt; Examples<\/strong> -Under <strong>Examples for ARIES IoT -&gt; VEGA_ARIES_IoT -&gt; APDS9960 -&gt; Full Example<br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1017\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2-1017x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2-1017x1024.png 1017w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2-298x300.png 298w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2-768x773.png 768w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.png 1041w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1017px) 100vw, 1017px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally <strong>Upload<\/strong> the code to ARIES IoT board<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Output<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After successfully uploading the code to the ARIES IoT board and opening the Serial Monitor at 115200 baud, the APDS-9960 sensor continuously displays proximity and RGB color values. The sensor also detects hand gestures such as UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT and prints the corresponding gesture information on the Serial Monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"501\" src=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3-1024x501.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3-1024x501.png 1024w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.png 1041w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This tutorial demonstrates the use of the onboard APDS-9960 sensor available on the ARIES IoT Board. The APDS-9960 is a multi-function digital sensor that supports gesture recognition, proximity detection and RGB color sensing, enabling a wide range of interactive and IoT applications without requiring any external hardware connections. Aries IoT v2.0 Board The ARIES IoT [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,97],"tags":[99,76,77,24],"class_list":["post-4665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aries-with-arduinoide","category-training","tag-aries-iot-v2-0-board","tag-c-dac","tag-thejas-32","tag-vegaprocessor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4665"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5074,"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4665\/revisions\/5074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegaprocessors.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}