Serial communication with Matlab

Original Assignment

Matlab has a "serial" function that allows it to communicate through a serial port. This project is to establish serial port connection with the PIC and demonstrate bidirectional communication between the PIC and a Matlab program, using, for example, a USB to RS232 adapter and level shifter chip. The Matlab program could simply log data from the PIC (e.g., the angle of a potentiometer knob), or plot it on a user interface in real time. Keystrokes from the user of the Matlab program should be obviously received by the PIC, perhaps by lighting the LEDs on the PIC board.

Overview

Matlab has a "serial" function that allows it to communicate through a serial port. This project is to establish serial port connection with the PIC microcontroller and demonstrate bidirectional communication between the PIC and a Matlab program. For demonstration purposes, the PIC will send digital potentiometer readings to Matlab as well as receive keystrokes from the Matlab user to light up LEDs on its circuit board.

A USB to RS232 adapter and level shifter chip were used to connect the computer to the PIC. In this lab, we used a cheap cable found at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220199148938&ih=012&category=41995&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1 A level shifter chip is necessary to convert the high and low logic voltages from the desktop computer (+12V/-5V) to (+5V,0V) for the PIC. A standard RS232 connection is called a DB9 connector and follows the pin diagram shown here: http://www.aggsoft.com/rs232-pinout-cable/serial-cable-connections.htm A female DB9 connector was wired to our level shifter to convert the voltages, with the level shifter connected to our PIC. Refer to the Circuit section for details.

The PIC was programmed with our C code as shown below. Our program was designed to read a potentiometer through the PIC's ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) port and transmit the digitized readings over the serial cable to the PC (upon request). In Matlab, if a users sends data to the PIC by entering a character, the PIC responds with the current potentiometer reading and the last received byte from the PC. The PIC is also programmed to display the character received from the PC on its LED array (D register) as a 8-bit ASCII number. The programs can easily be modified to create any custom protocol, but are designed to show simple 2-way communication between Matlab and the PIC.

Circuit

The wiring diagram for serial communication is shown below. There are three basic components in this setup. The potentiometer serves as an analog input to the PIC, which is converted to a digital signal through the PIC's analog to digital converter pin. The MAX232N level converter provides bidirectional voltage shifting for digital communication between the PIC and PC (read more about this chip and level conversion on the RS232 wiki here). Finally, the female DB-9 connector allows the circuit to connect to the PC's serial port.

The data sheet for the MAX232 can be found here: http://rocky.digikey.com/WebLib/Texas%20Instruments/Web%20data/MAX232,232I.pdf

PIC Code

/*
   SerialComm.c Scott McLeod, Sandeep Prabhu, Brett Pihl 2/4/2008
   This program is designed to communicate to a computer using RS232 (Serial) Communication.
   
   The main loop of this program waits for a data transmission over the Serial port, and
   responds with a current reading of an analog input (potentiometer) and the last received data.
  
   Note the analog input is only for testing purposes, and is not necessary for serial communication.
   Lines unnecessary for RS232 communication are commented with enclosing asterisks ('*..*').
 */
 
#include <18f4520.h>

#fuses HS,NOLVP,NOWDT,NOPROTECT
#DEVICE ADC=8                          // *set ADC to 8 bit accuracy*
#use delay(clock=20000000)             // 20 MHz clock
#use rs232(baud=19200, UART1)          // Set up PIC UART on RC6 (tx) and RC7 (rx)  
 
int8 data_tx, data_rx = 0;             // Set up data_tx (transmit value), data_rx (recieve value)
 
void main()
{
   setup_adc_ports(AN0);               // *Enable AN0 as analog potentiometer input*
   setup_adc(ADC_CLOCK_INTERNAL);      // *the range selected has to start with AN0*
   set_adc_channel(0);                 // *Enable AN0 as analog input*
   delay_us(10);                       // *Pause 10us to set up ADC*
   
   while (TRUE)
   {
      data_tx = read_adc();            // *Read POT on analog port (0-255)*
      output_d(data_rx);               // Output last recieved value from computer
      delay_ms(10);
      
      if (kbhit())                     // If PIC senses data pushed to serial buffer
      {
         data_rx = fgetc();            // Read in recieved value from buffer
         printf("Pot: %u Char: %u\n", data_tx, data_rx);  // Once data sent and read, PIC sends data back
         delay_ms(100);
      }
   }
}

Matlab Code

%  SerialComm.m  Scott McLeod, Sandeep Prabhu, Brett Pihl 2/4/2008
%  This program is designed to communicate to a PIC 18F4520 via RS232 (Serial) Communication.
%  
%  The main loop of this program waits for a character input from the user,
%  upon which it transmits the ascii value and waits for data to be written.

s = serial('COM14','BAUD',19200);           % Create serial object (PORT Dependent)
fopen(s)                                    % Open the serial port for r/w

myChar = 'a';                               
prompt = 'Enter a character (q to exit): '; 

while (myChar ~= 'q')                       % While user hasn't typed 'q'
    myChar = input(prompt, 's');            % Get user input
    fprintf(s, '%s', myChar(1))             % Write first char of user input to serial port
    fprintf(fscanf(s))                      % Read Data back from PIC
end

fclose(s);                                  % Close the serial port
delete(s);                                  % Delete the serial object

If your program doesn't close and delete the serial port object correctly, you can use the command shown below to delete all of the serial port objects.

delete(instrfind)