Getting data from a USB device with Arduino

[MrTopo]

Hello everyone, I need help getting data from a device with Arduino.

The device is a USB POWERMAX sensor used to obtain the power of a CO2 laser.

What I need to do is communicate with the sensor from the Arduino to get a sampling of the power from time to time and visualize these on a pc. The device manual speaks from page 53 about communication through a hypertherminal and later the procedure for hosting using a standard Windows COMM class driver and operating as a serial port is detailed, for when this is configured as a COM port to send commands and respond in ASCII using commands that adhere to the SCPI standard.

I was looking for a bit and found the existence of a Shield for USB however I do not know how to start its use for my specific need, if someone could indicate where to start I would grab it.

The manual of the device is over here.

[Ballscrewbob]

A quick look at the device specs would indicate you don't even need an Arduino unless you have somethings extra in mind ?

With built in USB and RS232 it would or should work right out of the box with almost any terminal program.
You may need a driver for it which should be available from the manufacturer's site.

Bob.

[sterretje]

I did not look at the manual (cell phones suck for that).

As you mention serial communication, you don't need a USB host shield.

The serial communication is either TTL level (0..5V) that you can directly connect to the Arduino or RS232 that will need a level converter / inverter (e.g. MAX232) between the Arduino and the sensor.

[Surbyte]

Please don't cross post threads.
The thread posted at spanish forum has been closed.

5v relay module seems to work in reverse

[MrTopo]

ballscrewbob:
A quick look at the device specs would indicate you don’t even need an Arduino unless you have somethings extra in mind ?

With built in USB and RS232 it would or should work right out of the box with almost any terminal program.
You may need a driver for it which should be available from the manufacturer’s site.

Bob.

I need to acquire the data and send it to a FPGA device.

[Ballscrewbob]

Clearly more detail is needed
See 4,5,6, below.
Then we can see what we are up against.

Posting tips.

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[MrTopo]

Hi, sorry about the late.

First of all, I have no idea from where to start. But I’ll take some lines to explain the most of my project.

My project I’s related with the automation of a system that includes a CO2 Laser, the main part of the project is based in a FPGA device that acquires data, processes and makes decisions for the different elements of the system.

My actual problem is I have to connect two Devices (POWERMAX USB) to acquire the power of the laser and make operations that going to be sended to a PC. I have been reading the manual and it says that I can communicate with the device through a PC looking for it under a COM port and setting the following settings:

• Baud rate: 9600
• Data bits: 8
• Parity: None
• Stop bits: 1
• Flow control: None

Then I’m gonna be aviable to send and receive basic commands like the power that I need.

So, I need to do this without the PC, because first I need to make calculations with the two devices in the FPGA. Someone suggested me to acquire the power through the arduino and then, send this data to the FPGA device.

In the manual text describes:
“It’s possible to communicate with the device sensor over a host interface. It says that I can use the host interface enviroment to communicate with the sensors in an ad hoc manner using a terminal emulator, or to write custom software in a number of programming environments.”
“(…) The PowerMax-USB sensors utilize a standard Windows COM class driver and operate much like a serial port. After the driver is installed, the sensor will show up as a device on the computer’s COM port and the host interface will accept commands and respond in ASCII format using commands that adhere to the SCPI standard.” So, I was thinking in use the usb shield for arduino to make this without a PC.

:o I get confused when I read the command reference section because it tells something about SCPI interface…

In the other hand, a partner tells me something about to try using a USB to Serial adapter, and then try to send and receive data through the Rx and Tx pins… But I don’t know if this it’s going to work…

I hope someone could help me because i’m very confused and lost…

Thanks in advance.

[ieee488]

If this a work project, you say so.

Many people are not keen on free work when you are being paid to do the work.

[MrTopo]

It's part of my scholar degree project, I didn't expect to have this problem to finish it, I don't know where to start looking for help, I only knew about this forum.