UltraSonic Radar and GUI on Processing - Error Port Busy

General Discussion
1

I’m trying to implement the mini project with ESP32 on Arduino IDE. All works fine here.
However, when running the program on the Processing App, I get an error:
"Error opening serial port COM3: Port busy.
Tried various sequences of running the two programs, tried connecting/disconnecting the ESP32 from the computer, but it always repeats the same message except only once, which I can’t figure out how…
Any idea how to solve that “Port busy” issue ?
Thanks.

2

Could you kindly confirm which specific learning kit you’re currently using? Please send the product picture.

1 Like
3

Not a specific kit…I use ESP32 dev module, configured via Arduino IDE 2.3.4.
It seems that the “port busy” problem is due to ‘Serial Monitor’ window, which is open on the Arduino IDE… I should verify that shortly…
This tip is from ‘ChatGPT’…

4

If there are any other errors, please provide us with a screenshot.

1 Like
5

As indicated, the “port busy” problem is caused by the ‘Serial Monitor’ window on Arduini IDE.
One must ensure this window is turned off before running the program in Processing.

6

Yes. The Arduino IDE’s Serial Monitor relies on the serial port to communicate with the device. If the Serial Monitor is open, it will occupy the serial port, causing other software to either fail to access the port or display a “port busy” error. Simply close the Serial Monitor to resolve this issue.

7

Later, I have tried to implement the very same project with ESP32 running micro-python code…
The ESP32 generates the exact output as it does while running the Arduino code… However, the Processing program doesn’t really read the ‘stream’ of data being sent on the com port…
Actually, I have 2 ESP32 each with its own circuit. One is running the Arduino code, and the other - the Micro-Python code…
The two serial monitors (on Arduino IDE and on Thonny) present the same data stream - Angle, Comma, Distance, Period. The ‘radar’ on the Processing code works fine with the stream from the 'Arduino ESP32, but it presents a single static ‘green/red’ line with no change when the ‘micro-Python’ ESP32 is connected and streaming… As of now, I run out of ideas how to solve that…

8

Could you please provide some screenshots? I’m not entirely clear about the issue you’re describing.