Arduino package

The arduino package is part of the Octave Forge project and provides an Octave look-alike implementation of the Arduino extension for Matlab.

The package currently supports the following boards:

• uno
• nano
• promini
• promicro
• mega2560
• leonardo
• micro
• lilypad
• uno wifi rev2
• sparkfunsamd21
• nano every

Installation

package requirements

This package requires Octave 4.0 or later.

It needs the Arduino IDE to be installed and functioning on the computer in order to program Arduino boards, however does not need it to control boards that have already been programmed.

The Arduino package also requires the instrument-control package to be installed.

octave installation

From octave command line:

>> pkg install -forge arduino

Using it

Load it before any usage:

>> pkg load arduino

Arduino board hardware setup

In order to use the arduino hardware with the toolkit, it must be programmed with special firmware.

From octave command line:

>> arduinosetup

A temporary Arduino project will be created, with the Arduino toolkit files copied to it and the Arduino IDE will open.

Set the board type and port correctly for the connected Arduino and press the upload button on the IDE.

The sources will be compiled and then uploaded to the connected arduino board.

After successful upload the Arduino IDE should be closed.

NOTE: on some versions of Ubuntu, the default installed Arduino IDE / java interface is broken so that the IDE will not detect the serial port and allow the board to be programmed. The solution is installed the Arduino ide as a flatpack, or manually. The Arduino binary must be added to the path in order to be found by arduinosetup. Alternatively, the full path/binary for the ide can be specified to arduinosetup.

 >> arduinosetup('arduinobinary', '/path_to_the_installed_arduino/arduino')

More specifically on MacOS:

 >> arduinosetup('arduinobinary', '/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/MacOS/Arduino')

Connecting to an Arduino

Assuming a single arduino device is connected to the computer, creating an arduino object with no arguments will find the connected arduino and connect to it:

>> a = arduino;

Where multiple arduinos may be connected to the computer, a specific board can be connected by specifying the name of the port it is connected to:

>> ar = arduino("/dev/ttyACM0")

To list the ports of all programmed available arduinos, the scanForArduinos function can be used:

>> scanForArduinos

This will list information on each detected (programmed with firmware) Arduino board found.

Simple example

The following example shows very basic control of the Arduino package to blink the inbuilt LED.

1. load the Arduino package (if not already done)

 >> pkg load arduino

2. create an arduino object

 >> a = arduino;

3. what pin is the inbuild LED on? On Uno boards, D13.

 >> led_pin = "d13";

4. turn LED off.

 >> writeDigitalPin (a, led_pin, 0);

5. turn LED on.

 >> writeDigitalPin (a, led_pin, 1);

The full code, with the LED controlled in a loop ti turn it on/off each second is in the following example:

 ar = arduino;
 led_pin = "d13";
 while true
   writeDigitalPin (ar, led_pin, 0);
   pause (0.5)
   writeDigitalPin (ar, led_pin, 1);
   pause (0.5)
 endwhile

Documentation

Documentation and reference for the Arduino package is available as:

• The Online manual

• The Function Reference