Hope everyone had a great start to the new year! I am writing in this group to seek some help with sending PWM signal to Arudino over serial via Simulink
Problem description :
I am working on a personal project which involves building closed loop PID control loop, where I need to send PWM signals to fan, in order to control the position of a ball at a fixed height. The feedback signal is generated via a USB camera, which detects the position of the ball.
Since Arduino can't process the image, I am running my model in Simulink and sending the signal via serial to Arduino. But, the signal somehow doesn't reach or gets processed by the board.
Here is a step by step information on the process I followed to test debug
I upload a serial recieve model on the Arduino. It probes the serial port for the data. Once data is found, it is routed to the pin 9 as shown in the image
In the simulink environment, to debug, I configured a serial send port (from instrument control toolbox) to transfer the desired PWM signal. However, this does not work. I tried debugging the pin 9, but no Voltage signal was recieved.
In the model above, I added a serial recieve block from the instrument control toolbox. This somehow slowed down the simulation. Each time step was being executed with some delay, but the PWM signals were getting transferred. The blower speed could be changed in accordance with the PWM signal. However this method is too slow for my control loop to work with
Can someone please help me point out the possible error that I am making. I am very curious to find a workaround!
Looking forward to hearing from the group
Cheers!
Masoom
Related
As you probably guessed this question is not about a programming language but about arduino.
I'm making a big project which includes a GSM SIM900A module but it draws too much power.
I've looked up the datasheet but I didn't understand a lot as it references a DTR pin, something my module doesn't have.
Can someone tell me how to put it to sleep mode?
Any help will be grately appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
The GSM standard AT command for the setting of modem's level of functionality is AT+CFUN.
According to SIM900 AT commands guide its syntax is
AT+CFUN=fun[,rst]
Where:
fun: is the power saving mode
rst: is the reset flag
There are several possible values of fun parameter that can be supported or not depending on the modem vendor.
In order to reduce power consumption, SIM900A offers two possibilities:
AT+CFUN=0, means that the device is in sleep mode, and the AT interface is not accessible. Usually it keeps its network paging activities and its registration status to the network (it's not really clear from SIM900 guide). The device is woken up as soon as a wake up event occurs (for example an incoming SMS). Test it on your device.
AT+CFUN=4, that disable both TX and RX RF circuits. The AT interface remains reachable.
Usually first solution results in a bigger reduction of power consumption, but I suggest trying both of them in your specific board in order to understand what is the better choice for you.
I'm working on an Arduino Uno + ESP8266 project.
I try to use them as a web server on Wi-Fi network to control a motor that connects to Arduino - basically a trigger system that receives signals via Wi-Fi. Currently, I've successfully connected ESP8266 to my access point by sending AT commands from Arduino. Another client on the same network can statically access ESP8266's assigned IP address.
However, when I try to catch some HTTP queries (I want to use them as conditions to control the motor) I occasionally encountered the non-ASCII characters in HTTP request. I use serial comm to debug, please look at the screenshot in the link below:
Arduino - Computer serial communication for debugging
The line ",519:POST ..." should contain a complete number following "/?", but there's some strange characters instead. So I cannot determine the input data to control motor. Once in a blue moon, the expected format of request shows up as follows:
The correct data received
There's no issue with the HTTP response part, even though I got the uninterpretable request, I can still send the JSON error message back to client.
Attempt Note:
The Arduino uses different serial ports to talk to computer and ESP8266. Since the connection can be established, and the data being sent, I believe that the baud rate is simply correct on both side. (115200 for ESP8266, 9600 for computer - also tried 115200 for both and got the same result)
I use V3.3 from Arduino as power source for ESP8266. But I also use voltage regulator to smooth out the current as many people suggest that. The problem still remains.
I'm struggled with this issue for a few days, just want to know if anybody had the similar experience, or could give some clue for the next step.
After a considerable effort to stabilize the circuit, I switched to NodeMCU and got the system working perfectly. I assume that ESP8266 alone is somehow not robust enough without other components, which I unfortunately have no knowledge on.
So I'd like to close this thread with a short recommendation for anybody struggling with the same issue to switch to NodeMCU (which would replace both Arduino and ESP8266); if that could support the requirement.
I am using an Arduino Pro Mini 328P (3.3v, 8Mhz) with Xbee series 1. I have set the frequency to 1 Mhz and the baudrate to 9600. Also I have set baudrate to 9600 in the Xbee. I have also tested that at this baudrate Xbee is sending the data properly in a normal scenario.
Now what I have done in my project:
I have registered my Xbee with the gateway and then it will go to sleep (I have used pin hibernate mode) then it will wake up by a digital pin of the Pro Mini. I have put a delay of 19ms, after which the Xbee will try to send data. After sending the data it will go back to sleep.
The problem is that it behaves randomly when sending data to the gateway (which also has the same Xbee series1). Sometimes it sends the data perfectly, sometimes sending fails. I have also enabled RR to retry 6 times in case the Xbee fails to send the data the first time.
I have no idea how to solve this problem because of the randomness in sending the data.
I have put two Xbees nearer (I have two nodes with the same hardware and the same code). There is an interval between of around 4 minutes. So when one Xbee sends the data perfectly, after that 4 minutes gae (time difference of two RTC on different nodes) the other one fails to send the data. In this condition what can I conclude?
As a side note, the Xbee will try to send the data every hour. To calculate that hour I have to use an RTC, which seems to work fine (I am sure because I have taken the logs, the RTC never fails to generate an interrupt).
So I am wondering what could be the possible reason and how can I fix this problem (without restarting anything if it is possible then nothing will be better than that).
And I have no choice to restart my controller.
How to debug this?
A few things. If possible, increase your baud rate so you spend less time sending data to/from the XBee. If you have a limited power budget, faster baud rates save time and energy. I don't know how the UARTs work on the Arduino, so I can't say whether 115,200bps is possible with a 1MHz CPU clock.
Second, make sure you wait for the XBee to assert CTS back to the Arduino after you wake it up. Never send to the XBee unless it's "clear to send".
Third, if you use API mode, you can watch for a "Transmit Status" frame from the local XBee back to the Arduino which will let you know when the module has successfully sent the frame, and it's safe for you to put it back to sleep.
I came across this website when trying to find a reliable way to use the watchdog for preventing failures (code lock ups) and saving battery using an Arduino.
I tried the code and it worked fine. However, i would also like to use the serial monitor. I tried adding Serial.begin(9600); in the setup, however, most of what is shown in the serial monitor (from the code within the main loop) are strange characters (the baud rate is set to 9600). Is this something to do with the function to configure the wdt and the placement of Serial.begin(9600) in the code?
I'd also like to use an external interrupt (via a button on Digital pin 3) to wake the board from sleep. How can be achieved based on the current code? I know how to implement using a different method of making the board go to sleep without using any watchdog at all, however, i have been unsuccessful in making it work with this code.
Many thanks for any help.
As said above, the serial communication should work fine. Are you sure you are able to make your serial communication work fine without the watchdog part of the code? I have used the watchdog tips given on the website along with serial communications without any problem on Arduino Uno, so I would guess the serial communication problem lies somewhere else in your code.
Can you write a bare bone example of your code with the watchdog management part, a serial communication or two somewhere in your loop(), and if you want some delays / infinite loops to test the watchdog firing, post it here, test it on your board and indicate if / where you have problems?
I have never used a pin interrupt, but it seems that google gives some nice results with example code. Have you tried the results given by google?
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/AttachInterrupt
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/using-interrupts-on-arduino/
You will have to be careful regarding the choice of the pin on which you put the interrupt, as explained in the Arduino Reference only pins 2 and 3 support interrupt on the Uno.
The ArduinoIDE writes firmware to my Arduino UNO but I want to handle logic and code outside the microcontroller on the computer with the microcontroller strictly being a sensor and the computer handling the logic.
How can I have the computer handle the logic and listen to sensors (output data to a computer) and respond (input commands to the board)?
Is this done with serials? How do I get started with this?
I know how to code, I just need help understanding how to get the hardware to talk to one another. Arduino to computer, computer to arduino.
For example, I have a thermal sensor on the board, how can I have bi-directional communication where the output of temperature would go to a program on my computer and respond to the board to turn on an LED or other command based on statements on the computer.
All help is appreciated.
There is a tutorial on arduino.cc how to read a sensor on arduino en display the values in processing.
There is also a tutorial to turn on a led with a command from a pc.
If you want to do real complicated things I suggest that you take a look at Firmata