Send numbers to arduino via serial port using python

Question

I have a file with numbers called fginputs.txt. For example it could be something like this:

4958
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4154
4958

I want python to send each number to arduino via serial port. After each number is received, arduino should print back an acknowledgment number, indicating that it got a valid number, and then store that number in a dynamic array, because I could create larger files. When there are no more numbers left, send a '-1' to finish transmission.

Here's my arduino code:

// save some unsigned ints 
uint16_t SIZE, *inputList, cont = 0;
boolean inputsReady = false;

void setup()
{
 // initialize serial communication at 9600 bits per second:
 Serial.begin(9600);
  
 //free dynamic array memory
 free(inputList); 
 //counter for how many numbers I've received starts at 0
 cont = 0;
 //This is true when there are no more numbers to receive, meanwhile false
 inputsReady = false;
 setupInputList();
 }

/* If there's not enough space, resize the array by one unit and store the number 
   */
void growAndInsert(int currentSize, int newInt){
    if(currentSize > SIZE)
        inputList = (uint16_t *)realloc(inputList, (currentSize + 1)*sizeof(uint16_t));
    inputList[currentSize] = newInt;
}
/**
  init inputList with 100 blocks
 */
void setupInputList(){
  SIZE = 10;
  inputList = (uint16_t *)malloc(sizeof(uint16_t) * SIZE);
}

void clearBuffer(){
while(Serial.available() > 0)
    Serial.read();
}

/**
Listens in serial port for an integer that represents a new input and returns it.
If it doesn't get anything useful from serial, return 0
*/
  int getNewInputFromSerial(){
   if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    delay(100);
    // look for the next word 
    int cmd = Serial.parseInt();
    clearBuffer();

    if(cmd == 4958)
        Serial.write("4");
    else if(cmd == 4154)
        Serial.write("5");
    else
        Serial.write("0");
    return cmd;
   }
  return 0;

}

void loop()
{
     if(!inputsReady){
        int newInput = getNewInputFromSerial();
        if(newInput == 0)
            return;
        if(newInput != -1)
            growAndInsert(cont++, newInput);
        else{
            inputsReady = true;
            //initTimer(); 
        }
    }


}

and the python script:

global arduino
PORT = '/dev/ttyACM0'
FILENAME = "fginputs.txt"
#Read file with inputs
with open(FILENAME) as f:
        content = f.readlines()
#init serial port
arduino = serial.Serial(PORT, 9600, timeout=1);
time.sleep(2);

#write
for input in content:
    arduino.flush()
    arduino.write(input)
    time.sleep(.1);
    resp = arduino.read();
    print "i got " + resp

#Finish transmission with -1
arduino.flush()
arduino.write("-1")
#done
arduino.close();

The fist time I execute the script I get this:

i got 4
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 5
i got 4

Which is great. But if I run it a second time I get this:

i got 0
i got 4
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0
i got 0

Which is terribly wrong because the file hasn't changed. I don't know what is going on here. If I unplug and plug back in the USB cable, transmission works flawlessly again.

Answer 1

// save some unsigned ints 
uint16_t SIZE, *inputList, cont = 0;
boolean inputsReady = false;

void setup()
{
 // initialize serial communication at 9600 bits per second:
 Serial.begin(9600);

 //free dynamic array memory
 free(inputList); 

You are freeing a NULL pointer which is an undefined operation not necessary here, since it was never allocated.

---

  if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    delay(100);
    // look for the next word 
    int cmd = Serial.parseInt();
    clearBuffer();

This is going to just throw data away, I'm not surprised stuff goes missing.

Read this: How to process incoming serial data without blocking - you need to get rid of the delay, and the clearBuffer() for a start.

---

Example code for reading from Serial without blocking and without using delay:

// how much serial data we expect before a newline
const unsigned int MAX_INPUT = 50;

void setup ()
  {
  Serial.begin (115200);
  } // end of setup

// here to process incoming serial data after a terminator received
void process_data (const char * data)
  {
  // for now just display it
  // (but you could compare it to some value, convert to an integer, etc.)
  Serial.println (data);
  }  // end of process_data

void processIncomingByte (const byte inByte)
  {
  static char input_line [MAX_INPUT];
  static unsigned int input_pos = 0;

  switch (inByte)
    {

    case '\n':   // end of text
      input_line [input_pos] = 0;  // terminating null byte

      // terminator reached! process input_line here ...
      process_data (input_line);

      // reset buffer for next time
      input_pos = 0;  
      break;

    case '\r':   // discard carriage return
      break;

    default:
      // keep adding if not full ... allow for terminating null byte
      if (input_pos < (MAX_INPUT - 1))
        input_line [input_pos++] = inByte;
      break;

    }  // end of switch

  } // end of processIncomingByte  

void loop()
  {
  // if serial data available, process it
  while (Serial.available () > 0)
    processIncomingByte (Serial.read ());

  // do other stuff here like testing digital input (button presses) ...

  }  // end of loop

In process_data in my example is where you would call atoi to convert the incoming string into an int (or atol if it is going to be longer).

Answer 2

You could have a look at this.

It's a python program which does record/playback of key-presses, through an UNO.

It already implements:

• serial communication with error checking
• ACK: each message has its own ID, so you can keep track of what was lost, should anything bad happen
• synchronization, in case your Arduino is powered up after the python program is started