opensource.com explores Raspberry Pi port expansions using Java, serial, and Arduino.

As members of the maker community, we are always looking for creative ways to use hardware and software. This time, Patrick Lima and I (Bruno Muniz) decided we wanted to expand the Raspberry Pi’s ports using an Arduino board, so we could access more functionality and ports and add a layer of protection to the device. There are a lot of ways to use this setup, such as building a solar panel that follows the sun, a home weather station, joystick interaction, and more.

We decided to start by building a dashboard that allows the following serial port interactions:

• Control three LEDs to turn them on and off
• Control three LEDs to adjust their light intensity
• Identify which ports are being used
• Show input movements on a joystick
• Measure temperature

We also want to show all the interactions between ports, hardware, and sensors in a nice user interface (UI).

They set up a communications protocol over a serial connection on Arduino and Java on the Pi.

See the entire setup in the article here.