IR circuit to connect to serial/ COM port

[shawnv100]

I am trying to make an Alarm system which involves an Infra-red circuit which is connected to the serial port on the PC and generates a signal when motion is detected. The signal is to be read by a Java program and an e-mail sent to the client. Does anyone know how the circuit is to be made?

[jbennet]

Maybe use an Arduino? They have IR modules available.

[shawnv100]

are Arduino's readily available in the market?...what kind of signal is to be generated at the COM port for a PC to detect it?...is it a voltage difference or a logic value?

[jbennet]

Yes, they are very common. Small prototyping boards. Under £50.

http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=50

I have made a system where my Arduino was reading the values of a light and temperature sensor. It was processing these and adjusting the power to a light and heater appropriately, all the while it was sending logging data over the serial port to a PC (binary ASCII data, you can view this using say, hypertrminal, or read it in a few lines in Java or C#), on the PC it was made into a graph and shown on a web page.

I wrote the code in under a week (more like a day).

[shawnv100]

hey thanks a lot....actually i ended up using a basic IR circuit with a TSOP sensor....i guess it should do...i'll order an Arduino if i can delay the project submission date a little bit...i'll read the data from the hyperterminal i guess...thanks again !