OpenEnergyMonitor

ArduinoComm

ArduinoComm is used for all the basic sensor setups as the first step on the computer side to read the data coming in from the arduino and output it to terminal for viewing. You may need to change a few lines of code to get this to run with your configuration, Ive detailed how the program works and the important lines that you may need to change below.

Running ArduinoComm

1. Download the ArduinoComm java program here.
2. Unzip ArduinoComm.tar.gz
3. Compile the program by typing $ javac *.java
   
4. Run the program with $ java Program

For a 'How to' on compiling and running java programs have a look here. (It also details installation of rxtx library)

If its all working you should see something like this appear in your terminal window (assuming the arduino is sending 5 different data types labeled A to E - more details below)

128.43 153.25 0.84 242.62 0.63
126.76 151.31 0.84 243.17 0.62
128.24 153.42 0.84 242.9 0.63
....

You can then write these values to a file by running the program with $ java Program >filename.dat

This file can then be opened in real time by KST for graphing which is detailed here.

How ArduinoComm works

In the ArduinoComm folder there are two files:

Program.java contains the all important public static void main(String args[]).

ArduinoComm.java is were everything really happens. 

Lets say our arduino sketch is calculating real and apparent power and we want to send these values to the computer for logging.

On the Arduino we need to enter:

realPower = 100.0

apparentPower = 200.0

Serial.print(realPower);
Serial.print("A");
Serial.print(apparentPower);
Serial.print("B");     

In ArduinoComm.java in the serialEvent method just underthe line    double value = Double.parseDouble(rawStr); we need:

if (ch=='A') System.out.print(value+" ");
if (ch=='B') System.out.println(value+" ");

This will give an output in terminal of the form:

100.0 200.0

Say we now wanted to add another value, say powerFactor.

We add to the arduino sketch

Serial.print(powerFactor);
Serial.print("C");     

and in ArduinoComm.java

if (ch=='C') System.out.println(value+" ");

our terminal output will now look like this:

100.0 200.0 0.5

ArduinoComm's default setting is to recieve 5 unique data values from A to E but you can add and subtract as many as you need for your application.

For further detailed description of how ArduinoComm works the code is annotated or please comment with any questions.