Demonstration of reading fiber optic sensor values ​​via serial port

You can read fiber optic sensor values using an Arduino connected via USB, sending data over the serial port, and visualizing it with tools like Python GUI, Processing, or the Arduino Serial Plotter.Hardware SetupMicrocontroller: Use an Arduino Nano, ESP32, or similar board.Fiber Optic Sensor: Connect the LED light source and LDR (light detector) to the Arduino analog pins (e.g., A0 for channel A, A1 for channel B) as in the Fiber Optic Tester project .Power: Supply the Arduino via USB or an external 7–12V source.Fiber Connection: Insert the fiber optic cable between the LED and LDR to measure light intensity.Arduino Code ExampleCppCopyint sensorA = A0; // LDR channel Aint sensorB = A1; // LDR channel Bint valueA, valueB;void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); // Initialize serial communication}void loop() { valueA = analogRead(sensorA); // Read LDR A valueB = analogRead(sensorB); // Read LDR B Serial.print(valueA); Serial.print(","); Serial.println(valueB); // Send comma-separated values delay(100); // Adjust sampling rate} Explanation: analogRead() reads the sensor voltage (0–1023). Serial.println() sends the values over USB to the serial port .Reading and Visualizing DataUsing Arduino Serial PlotterOpen Arduino IDE → Tools → Serial Plotter.Select the correct COM port and baud rate (e.g., 9600).The Serial Plotter will graph the sensor values in real-time, showing trends and fluctuations .Using Python GUIInstall Python with PyQt5 and pyserial.Connect to the Arduino COM port.Read serial data and parse comma-separated values.Display real-time charts and logs, similar to the Fiber Optic Tester GUI .PythonCopyimport serialimport matplotlib.pyplot as pltser = serial.Serial('COM3', 9600)plt.ion()fig, ax = plt.subplots()lineA, = ax.plot([], [], label='Channel A')lineB, = ax.plot([], [], label='Channel B')dataA, dataB = [], []while True: line = ser.readline().decode().strip() if ',' in line: a, b = map(int, line.split(',')) dataA.append(a) dataB.append(b) lineA.set_ydata(dataA) lineB.set_ydata(dataB) lineA.set_xdata(range(len(dataA))) lineB.set_xdata(range(len(dataB))) ax.relim() ax.autoscale_view() plt.pause(0.01) Using ProcessingImport the Processing Serial library.Open the serial port and read incoming bytes.Graph the sensor values in real-time for analysis .Tips for Reliable MeasurementMeasure ambient light first to calculate thresholds.Adjust LED blink duration and sensitivity to detect fiber integrity.Use CSV export for logging long-term measurements.For duplex fibers, read both channels simultaneously. By following this setup, you can capture, visualize, and log fiber optic sensor readings via the serial port, enabling real-time monitoring and analysis for lab experiments, quality control, or educational purposes .