Update Dot Matrix Using Arduino Serial Monitor

Introduction

Arduino's are very common microcontroller boards used to study and design programmable electronics. It is often used with multiple peripherals such as buttons, sliders, sensors and motors.

Together with a TIMI acting as a small fancy display, Arduino boards become a lot more powerful and interesting to use in prototyping.

This project showcases a TIMI-96 module controlled by an Arduino Uno to display user inputted strings to a DotMatrix widget.

Requirement

To proceed with the project, the following are required.

Hardware

TIMI-96
Mates Programmer
USB Type A to microUSB cable (for the Mates Programmer)
USB Type A to Type B cable (for the Arduino, replace as necessary)
Connecting Wires
Arduino Uno
Breadboard

Software

Graphic Design

Step 1: Open Mates Studio and create a Commander project for TIMI-96 with Reversed Landscape orientation

TIMI-96

Select Commander

Step 2: Browse the library for appropriate page designs. For this project, Full Dot Matrix page under Notifications category was used.

Browse Library

Full Dot Matrix

Step 3: After finalizing the design, connect TIMI-96 to your computer

Connect TIMI-96

Step 4: Upload the project to the appropriate COM port

Select Port

Project Upload

Step 5: When prompted, click Proceed to continue with upload.

Day and Time Proceed

Note

It is recommended that the graphics design is finalized before moving to the next steps when working on a project.

Programming the Arduino

Step 1: Install the MatesController library using Arduino’s Library Manager.

Library Manager

Step 2: Include MatesController.h and SoftwareSerial.h to your project.

#include "MatesController.h"
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

Step 3: Create a Software Serial instance named matesSerial and declare Serial as debugSerial.

#define debugSerial Serial
SoftwareSerial matesSerial(2, 3);

Step 4: Create a MatesController instance named mates setting matesSerial for TIMI and debugSerial for Arduino’s Serial Monitor.

MatesController mates = MatesController(matesSerial, debugSerial);

This will initialize the MatesController instance to the default reset pin 4 using a LOW pulse.

Step 5: (Optional) Create a function for toggling the built-in LED of the Arduino board. This can be used for debugging or showing errors if the Serial monitor can’t be used.

int errLedStatus = LOW;
void ErrorLed_Toggle() {
  errLedStatus = ~errLedStatus;
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, errLedStatus);
}

Step 6: (Optional) At the beginning of the setup function, set the built-in LED pin to OUTPUT and set it to LOW.

pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, errLedStatus);

Step 7: To start using the MatesController instance, use the begin function

matesSerial.begin(9600);    // this should match Mates Studio project baudrate
debugSerial.begin(115200);  // Serial Monitor needs to be opened in this baudrate
mates.begin();

As shown, the Serial objects for both TIMI and Serial Monitor needs to be initialized before the mates instance.

Note

Debug streams needs to be setup beforehand. Serial for the BBM module also needs to be setup initially if it is not a HardwareSerial (ex. Software Serial, Alt Soft Serial)

Step 8: (Optional) The begin function can be enclosed in an if condition to handle initialization errors.

matesSerial.begin(9600);    // this should match Mates Studio project baudrate
debugSerial.begin(115200);  // Serial Monitor needs to be opened in this baudrate
if (!mates.begin()) {
  // Display didn't send ready signal in time
  while (1) {
    ErrorLed_Toggle();
    delay(100);
  }
}

Step 9: In the loop function, the user input is read from Serial monitor and sent to TIMI as necessary.

void loop() {
  String msg = debugSerial.readString();
  int len = msg.length();

  if (len > 0) {
    debugSerial.println(msg);

    mates.updateDotMatrix(0, msg);

    debugSerial.println("Done!");
    debugSerial.println();

    debugSerial.print("Enter text: ");
  }
}

As shown, the code starts by reading the Serial monitor for user input. If there is any, the DotMatrix widget is updated with the string.

Running the Project

After designing the user interface for TIMI and writing code for the Arduino and programming them, it is time to connect the devices together. Follow the diagram below for the connection between TIMI and Arduino.

Arduino TIMI-96 Dot Matrix

Finally, supply power to the Arduino and observe the behavior of the project.

Downloadable Resources

Here are the links to the software applications, libraries and completed project files.