Posts

Posted on

XBee to USB modules

Droids.it has a breakout board for XBee radios, and a USB-to-Xbee board available.

The USB board is nice, because in addition to having a built-in 5V-to-3.3V regulator and indicator LEDs, it’s got all the pins of the XBee broken out on the side of the board. Makes development of XBee projects easier.

The breakout board also has its own regulator on board, making it easy to interface with a 5V project. It’s also got the serial pins broken out to a single row, making it easy to mount on the side of a breadboard.

The prices on both are reasonable for the European market. As the US dollar continues to sink, they’re a bit pricier for US customers, but still reasonable, for now.

Thanks to Rob Faludi and Jeff LeBlanc for testing help, and to Luigi Carnevale for supplying sample boards.

Technorati Tags: , ,

Posted on

Peak finding in Processing

In a previous example, I showed how to detect a peak in a changing analog value on a microcontroller. This example shows how to do it in Processing, assuming the microcontroller is just sending you binary values from 0 to 255. It graphs the incoming bytes, and when a peak is detected, it draws an ellipse and prints a message in the message pane.

Thanks to Matt Young for helping me debug this.

Technorati Tags: , ,


Continue reading “Peak finding in Processing”

Posted on

Data graphing program that saves to a file

This Processing sketch takes data from the serial port, graphs it, and writes it to a text file with a time stamp if there’s a significant change in any of the incoming values. It expects five values between 0-255 in ASCII, separated by tabs, and ended by a carriage return and newline.

The text file it generates is tab-delimited, and can be read easily in a spreadsheet.

A Wiring/Arduino program to send data to this sketch follows at the end.

Continue reading “Data graphing program that saves to a file”

Posted on

Ascii to Number in Max/MSP

This patch receives an ASCII-encoded decimal string that ends with a linefeed and carriage return in the serial port, and converts it to a number. A Wiring/Arduino program to send data to it follows. It’s based on an example by Jamie Allen.

To use the patch, copy the text and paste it into a new max patch window.

Thanks to David Mellis and Jamie Allen for the collaboration. These patches were written for a one-day Arduino workshop at NIME 07 hosted by the three of us. The Arduino program comes from the Arduino example files, by David Mellis.

Continue reading “Ascii to Number in Max/MSP”

Posted on

Serial Graphing application for Max/MSP

This Max patch takes in serial data and graphs it. It’s useful for seeing the changes in an analog sensor. An Arduino code sample that works with it follows the patch.

To use the patch, copy the text and paste it into a new max patch window.

Thanks to David Mellis and Jamie Allen for the collaboration. These patches were written for a one-day Arduino workshop at NIME 07 hosted by the three of us. The Arduino program comes from the Arduino example files, by David Mellis.

Technorati Tags:


Continue reading “Serial Graphing application for Max/MSP”

Posted on

XBee Radio Received Signal Strength Graphing Program

This Processing program takes a string of values in the serial port. It assumes the string is the API string from a Maxstream XBee radio. It parses the string and graphs the signal strength. See the XBee product manual for more info on the protocol.

The XBee radio in this program is attached to the computer’s serial port using an FTDI USB-to-serial module like this one from Spark Fun.

Technorati Tags: , ,


Continue reading “XBee Radio Received Signal Strength Graphing Program”

Posted on

Xbee Radio Received Signal Strength and Data Graphing Program

This Processing program takes a string of values in the serial port. It assumes the string is the API string from a Maxstream XBee radio. It parses the string and graphs the signal strength and the analog values represented in the string. See the XBee product manual for more info on the protocol.

The XBee radio in this program is attached to the computer’s serial port using an FTDI USB-to-serial module like this one from Spark Fun.

Technorati Tags: , ,


Continue reading “Xbee Radio Received Signal Strength and Data Graphing Program”