Arduino and SIM900 unavailable all the time

Question

I have the a problem with my arduino MEGA 2560 and the SIM900 module. I want to save the outputs of the AT commands, but I never get a chance. If I print mySerial.available() I only get 0. Sending SMS works fine on the other hand.

Initializing...
AT+CMGF=1
AT+CNMI=2,2,0,0,0

OK
Done
AT+CMGL="REC UNREAD"

OK
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

This is the sketch I use:

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

//Create software serial object to communicate with SIM900
SoftwareSerial mySerial(11, 10); //SIM900 Tx & Rx is connected to Arduino #7 & #8
String incoming="";
String incoming2="";
String messages="Test";
String auth_num="+49xxxxxxxxx";
char incoming_char=0;

String response = "";

const byte numChars = 32;
char receivedChars[numChars];
boolean newData = false;

int period = 6000;
unsigned long time_now = 0;


void setup()
{
  //Begin serial communication with Arduino and Arduino IDE (Serial Monitor)
  Serial.begin(9600);

  //Begin serial communication with Arduino and SIM900
  mySerial.begin(9600);

  Serial.println("Initializing..."); 
  delay(1000);

  mySerial.println("AT+CMGF=1");
  mySerial.println("AT+CNMI=2,2,0,0,0"); // Decides how newly arrived SMS messages should be handled
  //mySerial.println("ATE0"); 
  updateSerial();
  Serial.println("Done");

  //sms_versenden("xxxxxxxx", "text");
}

void loop()
{
  updateSerial();
  Serial.println(mySerial.available());
  if(millis() - time_now > period){
    time_now = millis();
    if(sms_erhalten()){
      sms_autorisiert();  
    }
  }
}

void updateSerial()
{
  delay(500);
  while (Serial.available()) 
  {
    mySerial.write(Serial.read());//Forward what Serial received to Software Serial Port
  }
  while(mySerial.available()) 
  {
    Serial.write(mySerial.read());//Forward what Software Serial received to Serial Port
  }
}

void sms_versenden(String rufnummer,String text)
{
  mySerial.println("AT"); //Handshaking with SIM900
  updateSerial();

  mySerial.println("AT+CMGF=1"); // Configuring TEXT mode
  updateSerial();
  if(rufnummer.startsWith("0")){
    rufnummer.remove(0,1);
    mySerial.print("AT+CMGS=\"+49");
    mySerial.print(rufnummer);
    mySerial.println("\"");
  }else if(rufnummer.startsWith("+49")){
    mySerial.print("AT+CMGS=\"");
    mySerial.print(rufnummer);
    mySerial.println("\"");
  }else{
    return;
  }
  updateSerial();
  mySerial.print(text); //text content
  updateSerial();
  mySerial.write(26);
}

boolean sms_erhalten()
{
  mySerial.print("AT+CMGL=\"REC UNREAD\"\r");
  //recvWithEndMarker();
  Serial.println(mySerial.available());
  delay(30);
  while (mySerial.available()){
    String inData = mySerial.readStringUntil('\n');
    Serial.println("Got reponse from SIM900: " + inData);
  }
  /*if(mySerial.available()>0){

    incoming = mySerial.readString();
    Serial.print(incoming);    
    delay(10);
  }*/ 
  updateSerial();
  if(incoming.startsWith("+CMGL:"))
  {
    return true;  
  }
  else{
    return false;
  }
}


void recvWithEndMarker() {
    static byte ndx = 0;
    char endMarker = '\n';
    char rc;

    while (mySerial.available() != 0 && newData == false) {
        rc = mySerial.read();
        updateSerial();
        if (rc != endMarker) {
            receivedChars[ndx] = rc;
            ndx++;
            if (ndx >= numChars) {
                ndx = numChars - 1;
            }
        }
        else {
            receivedChars[ndx] = '\0'; // terminate the string
            ndx = 0;
            newData = true;
        }
    }
}

void showNewData() {
    if (newData == true) {
        Serial.print("This just in ... ");
        Serial.println(receivedChars);
        newData = false;
    }
}
String getResponse() {
    while(mySerial.available()>0){
        response += mySerial.read();
    }
    return response;
}

Thanks in advance for every idea. Bravodelta

Answer 1

Rather than creating your own function used SerialEvent function in arduino. It acts as a serial interrupt in arduino. For example:

String inputString;
void serialEvent() {
      while (Serial.available()) {
        // get the new byte:
        char inChar = (char)Serial.read();
        // add it to the inputString:
        inputString += inChar;
        // if the incoming character is a newline, set a flag so the main loop can
        // do something about it:
        if (inChar == '\n') {
          Serial.Println(inputString);
        }
      }
    }