A complete step by step tutorial on How to use Arduino

Software Serial.

Hello friends, I hope you all are fine and

having fun. In today’s tutorial, I am going to show you How to use Arduino Software
Serial. In my previous tutorial, we have had a look at How to use Arduino Serial Write and
How to use Arduino Serial Read. In both of these tutorials, we have done the hardware Serial
Communication. But we all know that Arduino has just one Serial Port placed at pins 0 and 1.
So, if you are having two or more serial modules, then there’s a difficulty in adding two
modules because we just have one serial port. So, in such cases there’s a need to add one
more serial port and that serial port can be created at any two pins of Arduino and that serial
port is called software serial.

Software Serial is also named as Virtual Serial Port. It’s really very comfy if you are working
on serial modules. IF you ask me I have never used hardware serial port because pin # 0 and
pin # 1 are also used for uploading code and debugging the code via Arduino Serial Monitor.
So, I always connect my Serial modules via software serial and then check their output on
Serial Monitor. So, let’s get started with How to use Arduino Software Serial:

How to use Arduino Software Serial ?

 I am gonna use Proteus software for testing the codes. So you can download the
Proteus Simulation by clicking the below button:

Download Simulation & Code

 First of all, let me tell you where you can find Examples of Software Serial.
 Arduino has a Library of Software Serial in it. If you can’t find its library then you
should download the Software Serial Library.
 Now copy and paste the below code in your Arduino:

#include <Softw areSerial.h>

Softw areSerial SoftSerial(2, 3);

1 #include <SoftwareSerial.h>
2
3 SoftwareSerial SoftSerial(2, 3);
4
5 void setup()
6 {
7 Serial.begin(9600);
8 SoftSerial.begin(9600);
9
10 SoftSerial.println(" **** Its a Software Serial **** ");
11 SoftSerial.println(" Designed by www.TheEngineeringProjects.com");
12 SoftSerial.println();
13
14 Serial.println(" **** Its a Hardware Serial **** ");
15 Serial.println(" Designed by www.TheEngineeringProjects.com");
16 Serial.println();
17 }
18
19 void loop()
20 {
21
22 if (Serial.available())
23 {
24 char data = Serial.read();
25 SoftSerial.print(data);
26 }
27 }

 In the above code, we have first included the Arduino Software Serial Library using
#include<SoftwareSerial.h>.
 After that, I have created the SoftSerial object and its parameters are SoftSerial(RX,
TX), so in the above code pin # 2 has become RX of our Arduino Software Serial and
pin # 3 become TX.
 Now our SoftSerial object is ready so next thing we have done is
SoftSerial.begin(9600), here we have started our software serial and the baud rate set
is 9600.
 Now design a small circuit in Proteus, you will need Arduino Library for Proteus to
use Arduino in Proteus, as shown in below figure:
 Now get our Arduino Hex File and upload it in your Proteus.
 Now run your Proteus Simulation and you will get something as shown in below
figure:

 So, its printed there that one is hardware serial and second is software serial and you
can see the software serial is connected to Pin # 2 and Pin # 3.
 Now when you write something in the Hardware Serial, it will also get printed in the
Software Serial, that’s the code which we have added in the loop() section.
 The below videos will give you better idea of how it’s working.
So, that’s all for today, I hope you have enjoyed this Arduino Software Serial example.
Download the Simulation from above button and try to design it on your own. Take care and
have fun !!