Help deciding which uC to use

[qwwq]

I want to have a light switch respond to an sms. For this purpose I am using a SIM300 GSM Module to receive sms. Now I have to interface it with a microcontroller to read the sms and take actions accordingly. So please suggest which microcontroller should I use and also the programmer associated with it. Ease of programming is preferred. And if some development boards allow debugging then it is preferred too. Also I have another question. Does the uC have to support AT Commands or is it that all uC are capable of generating these commands ?

 

[pwdixon]

MikroElektronika do dev boards and easy to use compilers. AT commands are simply an ASCII protocol for a serial connection to modems and similar equipment, any micro with a serial capability will be able to do it with the right programming.

 

[qwwq]

can i use arduino boards ?

 

[pwdixon]

I'm sure you can.

 

[per_lube]

hi qwwq,

yes you can use Arduino boards without any problem.
In general you can use any microcontroller which has a h/w UART or which is able to implement a software UART

Here are some references which might be helpful to you on using Arduino...

Using SIM300 + Arduino board : https://abishaisingh.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/gsm-modem-sim-300-sending-text-sms-arduino/

Using a different GSM module + Arduino, but I think AT commands and other techniques should be much similar... I've built this one and it works well!
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

 

[qwwq]

@per_lube
thanks a ton for those interesting articles. gonna check them asap.