MLX90614 sensor prints garbage value in between

Ive connected my arduino nano to mlx90614 sensor and trying to have created an executable for printing fahrenheit temperature. Since I had no idea how to use the arduino code in my C++ code, I made an executable to read the serial output.

NANO CODE

#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_MLX90614.h>

Adafruit_MLX90614 mlx = Adafruit_MLX90614();
const int buzzer=2;
const int threshold=38;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(2,OUTPUT);
  mlx.begin();  
}

void loop() {
  Serial.print(mlx.readObjectTempF()); 
  Serial.println();

  if (mlx.readObjectTempC()>threshold){
    digitalWrite(buzzer, HIGH);
  } else {
    digitalWrite(buzzer, LOW);
  }
  delay(10);
}

C++ CODE TO READ SERIAL OUTPUT

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fcntl.h> // Contains file controls like O_RDWR
#include <errno.h> // Error integer and strerror() function
#include <termios.h> // Contains POSIX terminal control definitions
#include <unistd.h> // write(), read(), close()
using namespace std;

string temp() {
  int serial_port = open("/dev/ttyUSB0", O_RDWR);
  struct termios tty;
  if(tcgetattr(serial_port, &tty) != 0) {
      printf("Error %i from tcgetattr: %s\n", errno, strerror(errno));
  }
  tty.c_cflag &= ~PARENB; // Clear parity bit, disabling parity (most common)
  tty.c_cflag &= ~CSTOPB; // Clear stop field, only one stop bit used in communication (most common)
  tty.c_cflag &= ~CSIZE; // Clear all bits that set the data size 
  tty.c_cflag |= CS8; // 8 bits per byte (most common)
  tty.c_cflag &= ~CRTSCTS; // Disable RTS/CTS hardware flow control (most common)
  tty.c_cflag |= CREAD | CLOCAL; // Turn on READ & ignore ctrl lines (CLOCAL = 1)
  tty.c_lflag &= ~ICANON;
  tty.c_lflag &= ~ECHO; // Disable echo
  tty.c_lflag &= ~ECHOE; // Disable erasure
  tty.c_lflag &= ~ECHONL; // Disable new-line echo
  tty.c_lflag &= ~ISIG; // Disable interpretation of INTR, QUIT and SUSP
  tty.c_iflag &= ~(IXON | IXOFF | IXANY); // Turn off s/w flow ctrl
  tty.c_iflag &= ~(IGNBRK|BRKINT|PARMRK|ISTRIP|INLCR|IGNCR|ICRNL); // Disable any special handling of received bytes
  tty.c_oflag &= ~OPOST; // Prevent special interpretation of output bytes (e.g. newline chars)
  tty.c_oflag &= ~ONLCR; // Prevent conversion of newline to carriage return/line feed
  tty.c_cc[VTIME] = 10;    // Wait for up to 1s (10 deciseconds), returning as soon as any data is received.
  tty.c_cc[VMIN] = 0;

  // Set in/out baud rate to be 9600
  cfsetispeed(&tty, B9600);
  cfsetospeed(&tty, B9600);

  // Save tty settings, also checking for error
  if (tcsetattr(serial_port, TCSANOW, &tty) != 0) {
      printf("Error %i from tcsetattr: %s\n", errno, strerror(errno));
  }

  char read_buf [256];
  memset(&read_buf, '\0', sizeof(read_buf));
  int num_bytes = read(serial_port, &read_buf, sizeof(read_buf));
  if (num_bytes < 0) {
      printf("Error reading: %s", strerror(errno));
  }
 // printf("Read %i bytes. Received message: %s", num_bytes, read_buf);
  close(serial_port);
  return read_buf; // success
}

MAIN.CPP

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;
string temp();

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    string tem;
    tem=temp();
    cout << tem;
    return 0;
}

g++ main.cpp temp.cpp -o temp

Now when I execute ./temp I sometimes get temperature, while the other times its junk values

ns@ns-desktop:~/Arduino$ ./temp
61.72  (WORKS)
ns@ns-desktop:~/Arduino$ ./temp 
(NO VALUE PRINTED)
ns@ns-desktop:~/Arduino$ ./temp 
� (GARBAGE VALUE)
ns@ns-desktop:~/Arduino$ ./temp
61.43�  (VALUE READ BUT ALONG WITH GARBAGE )
ns@ns-desktop:~/Arduino$ ./temp
� (GARBAGE)
ns@ns-desktop:~/Arduino$ ./temp
� (GARBAGE)

What could be the issue ? I suspect its something to do with the arduino code or the sensor. How to avoid this garbage value ?

I use a terminal program like Putty or Teraterm to read Arduino serial output. Most will store the data in log files, which is very convenient.

jremington:
I use a terminal program like Putty or Teraterm to read Arduino serial output. Most will store the data in log files, which is very convenient.

For certain project specific reasons I need to call it via c++ code.

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