Simple Serial Monitor

Simple Serial Monitor is yet another stand alone replacement for the Arduino serial monitor. It is text only and is far from being a fully fledged terminal app. It does have a couple of features that make it a little better than the regular Arduino serial monitor, especially when used with UART modules like the … Read more

Arduino and Visual Basic Part 3: Send And Receive Serial Data Between An Arduino And Visual Basic

Although Part 2 was more advanced than part 1, part 2 still only sent data one-way, from the Arduino to the Visual Basic app, and the data was very basic. It’s time to spice things up with more complex commands and 2-way communication. Although I used the sketch and Visual Basic app from the previous … Read more

Arduino Serial Part 4: ASCII data and using markers to separate data

This page has been updated. Please see the following newer guides:

Introduction, Using The Serial Monitor, and More
A Look at the Different Serial Libraries
Serial Commands Explained
Serial Data
Getting Started With Using Serial Communication To Send Commands
ASCII Data and Using Markers to Separate Data

 
 
 
 

In part 3 we sent and received single characters to control LEDs using a fairly simple technique. If all you need is to remotely turn a few things on and off then this method is probably the best. It is simple, easy to program, and reliable. Sometimes though single characters are not enough and we need to use more complex commands or we may want to send sensor data that comprises more than one character.

In this post I look at a few different techniques for sending complex data and commands; starting with functions that are built in the Arduino language and moving to our own functions that, IMHO, perform better and allow for better code.

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Arduino Serial Part 3: Getting started with serial communication

This page has been updated. Please see the following newer guides:

Introduction, Using The Serial Monitor, and More
A Look at the Different Serial Libraries
Serial Commands Explained
Serial Data
Getting Started With Using Serial Communication To Send Commands
ASCII Data and Using Markers to Separate Data

 
 
 
 

In the last post I briefly talked about different data formats and how I recommend keeping things as simple as possible. With this is mind for a first project let’s create a simple blinking LED. We will have one Arduino controlling an LED on a second Arduino. Controls to turn the LED on or off will be sent via serial from the first Arduino to the second Arduino. This is as basic as it gets. Arduino Blink by remote control. The LED has only two states so simple control codes can be used and to start I am using 1 of on and 0 for off.

In these examples I am using Arduino Nanos but any kind of Arduino can be used and for this series I am using Arduino to Arduino communication. The techniques are exactly the same for any UART to UART device. For example, in Arduino to Arduino by Bluetooth I use exactly the same serial communication techniques wirelessly over Bluetooth.

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Arduino Serial Part 2: Serial Data

This page has been updated. Please see the following newer guides:

Introduction, Using The Serial Monitor, and More
A Look at the Different Serial Libraries
Serial Commands Explained
Serial Data
Getting Started With Using Serial Communication To Send Commands
ASCII Data and Using Markers to Separate Data

 
 
 
 

In the previous post I went through the basics of using serial on an Arduino and ran through the different commands. In this post I want to talk about different types of serial data and some of the things you should consider before starting to create code. The type of communication you use or can use will depend largely on the project but there are things that can be considered before starting.

  • Type of communication? 1-way or 2-way
  • Type of data? Values or strings? Simple or complex?
  • How much data and how frequent? A couple of values every few seconds or a high rate continuous stream.
  • Is the data critical? Must you be sure you receive all the data or can you afford to lose some of it.

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