How can I read my data correctly?

Question

I have my Arduino connected to an OLIMEX-SHIELD-EKG-EMG, and there is this Arduino example for EKG capture and interface to Electric Guru for OLIMEXINO-328/Arduino boards.

I ran the Arduino software and then I made sure it's working using the Guru and it's all fine.

I tried to read the data from the serial port using Python and saving it to a text file, so I can use it for other stuff (Windows commands in my case). When I open the file the data is all garbage.

So what did I do wrong and how can I fix it?

Thank you all in advance.

This is my code:

import serial
from time import sleep
f = open("data2.txt", "w")
port = "\\.\COM4"
ser = serial.Serial(port, 38400, timeout=0)
while True:
 data = ser.read(9999)
 if len(data) > 0:
   print ('Got:',data)
 sleep(0.5)
 print ('not blocked')
 f.write( str(data) + "\n\n"  )
f.close()
ser.close()

And this the data I get:

b'\x05\r\x1c\x1e\x10K\x12\x8a\x01\x0e\x14&\x1b\x1bW\x12\x80\x00\x7f\x11 \rZC:\x82\x12_.\x1a?\x10^\x12\x8a\x1a__\\x01:Q\x12\x8a\x15\x01\x1a\x1f\x1c6L\x1a\x82\x00t\x1e\x0c\x18\x19s:\x8a\x05]-\x01\x0e[G\x12\x8a\x15_\x0b9\x17>R\x12\x8a\x08__\x7f\x08:S\x1a\x82\x01\r\x18\x1d4\x10j:\x8a\n_0\x06\x10\x12Y\x10\x8a\nRH\x1c\x0bw@\x12\x80\x08\x7f\x0f7\x1f\x1bT:\x8a+\x7fU%\x18P:\x8a\x00\x0b}\x006\x11K\x12\x8a\x00Z\x19&\x16>\x1a\x82\x01\x02D\x1d\nYb:\x8a*$\x15\x12\x1cX:\x8a\x1b\x7f[\x06\x1bP\x12\x8a+\x0c\x1f?\x1b-F\x1a\x82\x05Z\x13\x0f7\x14}:\x8a\nUb\x19\n7^\x10\x8a\x15_\n\x14\x132_\x12\x80\x1d\x7f_x\x05\x15N:\x8a\x05<`\x025\x11I:\x8a\x0bZ1\x0f4\x18S\x12\x8a\x0bQK8\x0bvB\x1a\x82\x11\x7f\x0e\x1a\x18\x14q\x1a\x82\x07\xc1\xe1\x05\x14\x13q:\x8a+Sb\x02\x1b\x0cM\x12\x8a\x01\x1f\x1b%\x15\x15]\x1a\x82\x01B\x01.(\x1d\x7f\x1a\x82\xc2\xc1\x05,9\x1at\x10\x8a,__X\x024N\x1a\x80(xD!\x15\x10I\x1a\x82\x08|.

Answer 1

That looks to me like binary data. So i guess either each 16 or each 32 bit are a single numeric. You would have to cast the data you have and then format it into a text file.

Answer 2

It looks like ser.read() returns bytes not string. You need to decode that to if you want string. Use data.decode(your_encoding). You need to know the encoding.

For more see docs.

Answer 3

Decoding in UTF-16 could be promising...

data=b'\x05\r\x1c\x1e\x10K\x12\x8a\x01\x0e\x14&\x1b\x1bW\x12\x80\x00\x7f\x11 \rZC:\x82\x12_.\x1a?\x10^\x12\x8a\x1a__\\x01:Q\x12\x8a\x15\x01\x1a\x1f\x1c6L\x1a\x82\x00t\x1e\x0c\x18\x19s:\x8a\x05]-\x01\x0e[G\x12\x8a\x15_\x0b9\x17>R\x12\x8a\x08__\x7f\x08:S\x1a\x82\x01\r\x18\x1d4\x10j:\x8a\n_0\x06\x10\x12Y\x10\x8a\nRH\x1c\x0bw@\x12\x80\x08\x7f\x0f7\x1f\x1bT:\x8a+\x7fU%\x18P:\x8a\x00\x0b}\x006\x11K\x12\x8a\x00Z\x19&\x16>\x1a\x82\x01\x02D\x1d\nYb:\x8a*$\x15\x12\x1cX:\x8a\x1b\x7f[\x06\x1bP\x12\x8a+\x0c\x1f?\x1b-F\x1a\x82\x05Z\x13\x0f7\x14}:\x8a\nUb\x19\n7^\x10\x8a\x15_\n\x14\x132_\x12\x80\x1d\x7f_x\x05\x15N:\x8a\x05<`\x025\x11I:\x8a\x0bZ1\x0f4\x18S\x12\x8a\x0bQK8\x0bvB\x1a\x82\x11\x7f\x0e\x1a\x18\x14q\x1a\x82\x07\xc1\xe1\x05\x14\x13q:\x8a+Sb\x02\x1b\x0cM\x12\x8a\x01\x1f\x1b%\x15\x15]\x1a\x82\x01B\x01.(\x1d\x7f\x1a\x82\xc2\xc1\x05,9\x1at\x10\x8a,__X\x024N\x1a\x80(xD!\x15\x10I\x1a\x82\x08|.'

data.decode('UTF-16')
u'\u0d05\u1e1c\u4b10\u8a12\u0e01\u2614\u1b1b\u1257\x80\u117f\u0d20\u435a\u823a\u5f12\u1a2e\u103f\u125e\u1a8a\u5f5f\u785c\u3130\u513a\u8a12\u0115\u1f1a\u361c\u1a4c\x82\u1e74\u180c\u7319\u8a3a\u5d05\u012d\u5b0e\u1247\u158a\u0b5f\u1739\u523e\u8a12\u5f08\u7f5f\u3a08\u1a53\u0182\u180d\u341d\u6a10\u8a3a\u5f0a\u0630\u1210\u1059\u0a8a\u4852\u0b1c\u4077\u8012\u7f08\u370f\u1b1f\u3a54\u2b8a\u557f\u1825\u3a50\x8a\u7d0b\u3600\u4b11\u8a12\u5a00\u2619\u3e16\u821a\u0201\u1d44\u590a\u3a62\u2a8a\u1524\u1c12\u3a58\u1b8a\u5b7f\u1b06\u1250\u2b8a\u1f0c\u1b3f\u462d\u821a\u5a05\u0f13\u1437\u3a7d\u0a8a\u6255\u0a19\u5e37\u8a10\u5f15\u140a\u3213\u125f\u1d80\u5f7f\u0578\u4e15\u8a3a\u3c05\u0260\u1135\u3a49\u0b8a\u315a\u340f\u5318\u8a12\u510b\u384b\u760b\u1a42\u1182\u0e7f\u181a\u7114\u821a\uc107\u05e1\u1314\u3a71\u2b8a\u6253\u1b02\u4d0c\u8a12\u1f01\u251b\u1515\u1a5d\u0182\u0142\u282e\u7f1d\u821a\uc1c2\u2c05\u1a39\u1074\u2c8a\u5f5f\u0258\u4e34\u801a\u7828\u2144\u1015\u1a49\u0882\u2e7c'