I have written a piece of code that interfaces an Arduino with a Skyetek M1 mini RFiD reader. I have been developing it using a Diecimila and everything is working fine.
I want to miniturise the system now, and replace the Diecimila with an Arduino Mini Pro. When I plug the hardware into the Mini and upload the code the two devices do not appear to be interfacing correctly.
The code uses the Software Serial function to allow two of the Arduino digital pins to be used as a secondary serial port. In an attempt to debug the problem, i replaced the Skyetek M1 RFID reader with a BlueSMIRF to allow me to check to see if the code was in fact sending the data down the software serial port.
This proved to be all working and correct. So I can only assume it is a problem with either the SkyeTek M1 talking back down the software serial line, or with the code that receives the data from the Skyetek M1 and it not outputting it to the hardware serial correctly.
I have included the code I am using below, can anyone please offer any advice? I am really stuck with this!!
// File......RFiD Read - Code for IE5 to talk to Software interface
// Version 1.0
// Author Ian Culverhouse
// Date 13th July 2009
// Purpose - To implement the SkyeTek M1 RFiD Module with the Arduino to read 13.56mhz RFiD IC
// Revision History -
// Imports --------------------------------------------------------------
#include <SoftwareSerial.h> // Initialise Software Serial
// I/O Definitions ------------------------------------------------------
#define txPin 5 // Software serial tx pin
#define rxPin 4 // Software serial rx pin
#define ledPin 13 // LED pin
#define successRead 9 // Indicate successfull read.
// Initialise the Software serial port ----------------------------------
SoftwareSerial mySerial(rxPin, txPin);
#define d_size 64 // create some space for receiving data from tag reader
byte readerData[ d_size]; // Sets up Array for the tag ID to be held in
// Setup the Pins & Ports -----------------------------------------------
void setup() {
// define pin modes for tx, rx, led pins:
pinMode(rxPin, INPUT); // pin mode for the software serial rx pin
pinMode(txPin, OUTPUT); // pin mode for software serial tx pin
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // pin mode for the ledpin
pinMode(successRead, OUTPUT); // pin mode for successfull read
mySerial.begin(9600); // set the data rate for the serial ports
Serial.begin(9600); // sets data rate for the hardware serial port
Serial.println("Initialised Serial"); //prints the word begin to the hardware serial port as a trace that the system is working
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // Sets the ledpin to high, indicating the system is active
}
// Program code ----------------------------------------------------------
void loop(){
// first step is to query the reader for a tag. Send a 001400 command to it. If no tag is found then it will lopp back
// and try again. When a tag is found the code will store the entire response from the reader.
int in_count; // defines variable in_count
mySerial.print( 0x0d, BYTE); //send CR
mySerial.print("001400"); // Send read command to M1 mini
mySerial.print( 0x0d, BYTE); //send CR
byte ch = mySerial.read(); // get first byte of answer from reader
// if it was not a LF (0x0a), send read command again if it was,
// store all bytes until ending LF was received
if (ch == 0x0a) // if first byte received is a line feed enter if statement
{
ch = mySerial.read(); // read the first byte into the variable ch
in_count = 0; // set in_count to 0 - used as a counter for the array
while( (ch != 0x0a) && ( in_count < d_size))// while the byte being received is not a line feed and the eeprom is not full enter while loop
{
readerData[in_count] = ch; // the array dta is filled with the value of ch
in_count++; // in_count is increased by 1
ch = mySerial.read(); // the next character from the serial port is read in and ch is assigned the value
}
}
//if (readerData[0] != '9') { // check to see if first byte of data is a 9. If it is then
// error code 94 has been sent from reader, indicating that there is no
// in range of reader, go back and try again.
for ( int i = 0; i < in_count; i++) Serial.print(readerData[i], BYTE);
Serial.println();
//}
}