Hello, my name is Ruben and I'm a senior at the California Academy of Math and Science. I have a question regarding a project I'm working on that I'm sure someone with a bit more experience than me in Arduinos can answer; can a single Arduino run both an Xbee and Bluetooth device? Or is this not feasible because they both need the TX/RX lines on the Arduino. Thank you.
I guess you are alluding to a Uno, which has only one hardware serial port - the Rx/Tx lines. If you are careful and undemanding about the baud rate, you could have one of the devices on another pair of pins, and use software serial.
Alternatively, you could use a Mega, which has four hardware serial ports, thereby absolving you af all the the software serial problems.
Thank you. So just to refresh, this is feasible but on the MEGA instead of an Uno? And when you say multiple hardware serial ports, do you mean multiple TX/RX lines?
Rubenrea09:
Thank you. So just to refresh, this is feasible but on the MEGA instead of an Uno?
It is feasible on a Uno and you may find it OK. If you already have a Uno, try it with software serial.
And when you say multiple hardware serial ports, do you mean multiple TX/RX lines?
Correct. Four pairs on pins 0,1 and 14>19
Okay. Thank you so much!
For "real" comms, you'll be much better off using a processor which has actual hardware UARTs, such as ATmega2560 with 4. Each will have its own buffering, and each will be able to function properly in the context of ongoing interrupts occurring at anytime in all the other ports, as well as timer interrupts, and anything else you care to put in your program.