Infrared with Java or VB.Net

britespaak

New Member
Hi,
Is it possible to communicate via infrared from a computer to a picaxe chip? The manual doesn't say anything about it, using only tv remotes and other pixaxes as examples of transmitters. If it is possible, how would I go about doing this in Java or VB.Net (with a USB infrared port)?

Thanks
 

BeanieBots

Moderator
IR is nothing more than a carrier for the signal so if you can control the transmit from the PC then the PICAXE can read the data with a suitable sensor. Much the same as a radio link. Bi-directional can be an issue though.
Have a read of this topic just a few threads down from here.
<A href='http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=7642&amp;forum_id=31&amp;Topic_Title=programming+via+IR+link&amp;forum_title=PICAXE+Forum&amp;M=False&amp;S=True' Target=_Blank>External Web Link</a>
 

britespaak

New Member
Okay, thanks.
Possibly getting slightly off topic, but if I'm programming in VB.Net, how do I connect to the infrared port if it's USB? I saw on another thread how to connect to the serial port using the Microsoft Communications Control, but this isn't serial.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
It depends on how and what you want to send via IR.

For serial linking as per the linked post, the easiest way would be to use a USB-to-Serial cable then modulate/demodulate the IR for that just as one would for a physical serial port.

If you want to be able to send SIRC commands to be read by the PICAXE using INFRAIN / INFRAIN2, USB-to-Serial, serial into a PICAXE-08M, and have it use INFRAOUT to control the IR.
 
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