Serial communications over stlink with stm32f4discovery, is it possible? - serial-port

I have the following: STM32F407G-DISC1. My goal is to communicate (sending strings back and forth) between my pc and the mcu over serial and I currently am able to do so using the micro-usb (otg) port, while powering separately using the mini-usb st-link port (so using two cables).
Is it possible to use the mini-usb port for serial communications? (eliminating one of the cables)
I have read the user manual and my interpretation is that this is not possible without physical modifications. But I am a beginner and would like to verify I am correct in this interpretation. I have researched thoroughly however most sources seem to not refer to this specific board and it is my understanding with the newer version of st-link it uses this should be achievable.

It is possible - just send the messages via the USART2
You need to solder those two wires as they screw up the design.

Related

Communication b/w two WiFi modules using Arduino Ide

Firstly, I'll just give you a brief introduction about our project... its "Speech controlled Home Automation System" where we are controlling the Home appliances by the voice or speech commands. We're successfully done with the voice recognition module. But our problem is with achieving the communication between the transmitter {where the user gives the voice command} and receiver {where the home appliances are present} through WiFi i.e. we have got 2 ESP8266 12E modules interfaced with Arduino both at the transmitter and receiver side and these two WiFi modules need to be communicated(To interchange some data sent by Arduinos).So please let us know which Arduino code need to be used at transmitter side wifi module and at Receiver side wifi module and also about the header files or additional softwares(if any)to be used.
you can achieve this by starting one of wifi modules in Access Point Mode and the other one has to be set to Station Mode in order to connect to the first one.
In case you want to add a router, just set both ESP8266 modules to Station Mode and connect them to the router.
And then transfer any data you want through AT commands of ESP8266.
Here is the refrence to them.
https://room-15.github.io/blog/2015/03/26/esp8266-at-command-reference/
If you are newbie to Esp8266 and Arduino , this will help you.
http://www.teomaragakis.com/hardware/electronics/how-to-connect-an-esp8266-to-an-arduino-uno/
Good Luck !
I worked on a similar system a year ago. I was developing a remote controlled toy. My main difference was I used the ESP8266 without an Arduino attached.
One ESP worked as a a WiFi hotspot and the other connected to it, sending messages through UDP.
For some reason, I could not get the two ESP modules to connect (I think it was a problem with the board I had), but I sent messages from my computer, and it worked out fine. I will not burden you with all of the code, but here is the GitHub link.
All that needs to happen is they will be on the same WiFi network, and then you can use the ESP8266 WiFi library to send messages between the two. Like I said above, I used UDP, which is good for high speed, with no error checking. But there is also TCP (higher up, has error checking code), or you can use the server/client part of the library to set up a full web server and read/write data to it. Without knowing what type of data, I cannot comment on what would be the best method.
As for headers, you will need WiFi.h, and if you are using UDP you will need WiFiUdp.h
You should not need any external software besides the Arduino IDE.
I taught myself from scratch for this product, using two main resources: the Arduino library reference, and the docs on the ESP8266 Arduino GitHub page

How to send data from 8051 input ports to esp8266?

Please pardon me if this question comes as a little too basic but I have tried searching almost everywhere but haven't found a clue.
I am using the esp8266 module and have uploaded the firmware in it. I have also set it as "Access point" so that other modules are able to connect with it. My problem is that I want to control it pro-grammatically through an 8051 micro-controller. I have searched online and there is a lot of documentation on how it program it through arduino, but that doesn't solve it for me. I want to use assembly language to build a serial protocol that communicates the data from 8051 to esp8266 and then to the connected modules (such as Android device).
My question really is, "would it be possible to just connect TX/RX of 8051 to RX/TX of esp8266 and write a code in assembly that transfers data as I desire to esp8266? Or, do I have to do something else?".
At the moment the only documented way for a host controller (the 8051 in your case) to talk to the ESP8266 is to use the serial port (there is a slave SPI port but the mechanism for driving it isn't known yet). So you will have to make up a little protocol to send and receive commands and data (assuming that the standard support for an enhanced AT command set isn't sufficient for you).
The baud rate can go a lot higher than the default 115200bps, if you need it to (although I'm not sure if the 8051 could keep up).

Serial communication using USB

I am trying to connect ATmega128 uart to PC using USB-to-RS232 converter so that PC can receive and transmit data from microcontroller using hyper terminal. I set the correct stop bits and baud rate in hyper terminal. It doesn't seem to work.
Can any one tell me if this is possible by USB-to-RS232 converter and if not what other options are there for serial communication between PC and microcontroller ?
You should be able to do this without any issues. I'd suggest putting your USB-to-RS232 cable in loopback mode first (if possible) to ensure you can communicate, then connect it back up to your MCU.
If you aren't seeing what you expect the first thing to look at are the settings, specifically the baud rate. Since your USB-to-RS232 cable is from a third party vendor I'd assume that your settings on the host side are OK. So you should look in to your MCU code to ensure that all your clocks are running at the proper speed and you have indeed performed the correct calculations to achieve your desired baud rate. Debugging here to ensure you are transmitting data out of the device is important.
Additionally, there are tools that can help you debug. Portmon is a tool from Microsoft that lets you look at the serial data path on the host side. I'd also recommend a USB analyzer, such as an Ellisys, that will allow you to view data going across the line from your MCU to the host.

Using GPRS and GSM Simulatneously

I am trying to use GPRS functionality of the GSM/GPRS modem for sending data to the remote server but i am unable to do so.I had posted a question on Arduino Forum but didn't get any reply.Here is the link for the question.
Well my Main concern is i) I am using a GPRS/GSM Modem and i am not sure about the Power requirements of the Modem.At present i am using a 9V and 1 amp supply but the network LED on the modem is dignifying that Modem is not getting the network. So can this be because of the insufficient supply to the modem?
I very much doubt it's a power thing. Although I have limited experience with Arduino boards.
You can verify that the general GSM stuff is working by executing AT+CREG commands to check if it is connected to the mobile operator.
If you need more detailed help then I think it makes sense for you to post what AT commands are being sent to the modem. And what the modem on the firmware/software side is saying.
Below some information about dealing with GPRS and AT Commands (aka GSM stuff).
With GSM modems there are commonly three ways of getting GPRS and executing AT commands (GSM) simultaneously.
1) Inline multiplexing
As far as I am aware you can switch contexts within the AT command console. This is a little challenging when it comes to writing code. I would advise against this.
2) Mulitplexing over a single serial interface
This is done via drivers that support the GSM 27.010 specification. Some manufacturers provide MUX drivers for this purpose.
The standard command is AT+CMUX. I strongly suggest taking a look at the modem reference manual to find out exactly how to execute this command. You can get a rather information also via AT commands. By executing AT+CMUX=? to see what parameters are expected.
Effectively then you would have two serial connections open to the same serial port. One for GPRS and one for AT Commands.
Negative impact is that the performance (speed of command execution) is significantly reduced depending on how the hardware copes with it.
3) Multiplexing over multiple serial interfaces
The GSM modems that I know of provide multiple serial interfaces (UART). Therefore one can be used for executing standard AT commands. And another can be used for GPRS communications.
I'm not entirely sure if this is possible with the SIM900A. There you would have to look at the hardware information.

App that analyses COM1 activity

There's a old piece of software we run in our company that manages RFID cards tapping in/out to open doors.
We want to create an app who identifies who just touched in on a specific place (we have the id for that) and grab their 1st name, to say "Hi [NAME]" on a screen.
As I mentioned, the software is quite old and there are no APIs. It communicates with the RFID hardware via a serial port (COM1).
I was wondering if the best way to get the data I need is to somehow intercept the COM1 traffic and extract/look for the data I want.
Does this sound like the best way to go about it? Would it work, or would it be impossible to get names and numbers from the data being transferred?
Cheers,
Andre
Can you configure the software to use a port other than COM1, or configure the hardware so it's physical serial port is assigned to a different COM port?
If so, take a look at com0com. It's a Windows driver that creates two COM ports on your PC with a virtual NULL modem between them. Data going in on one side comes out on the other.
Here's how you'll set things up:
RFID Reader connected to physical COM port (COMx)
your program bridging COMx to COMy and sniffing the traffic
com0com linking COMy (for your program) to virtual COM1 (for the legacy software)
legacy software
You'll need to write a program to pass data between COMx and COMy while monitoring it for the information you're looking for. Make it simple yet robust, since if it goes down you're reader will stop working.
A Simpler Solution
If you only need to monitor one side of the communications, create a cable that connects the GND and RX pin of COM1 to another COM port. Now your program can monitor that side of the conversation, without interfering with the legacy software.
Well, generally, you can look at RS232 signals, if that's the way you want to do it. It's tricky because you need to "sniff" the signals, which means buying or making a rig that allows the original signals to go through, and then gives you a way to attach to them as well. And, you need to send the transmit and the receive signals to TWO serial ports (on the RX lines). Then you'll probably want to get some "sniffing" software that allows you to look at what you're getting in time sequence (ideally, with time-stamps). Some cutesy protocols also will use modem lines, so you may need to monitor those as well.
Or, try searching for "free serial port monitor" or "serial sniffer".
Good luck!

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