Sparrow - a 2.4GHz prototyping node for a mesh network

I'm starting to create a mesh network for home automation use. For prototyping a have created a small 5x5cm board called "Sparrow":
http://www.open-homeautomation.com/projects/sparrow/

I'm programming it using Arduino. I'm thinking about using the Maniacbug RF24 network as a base software but have to add more functions.
Anybody interested in joining this project?

Hoi,

i am very interested :%

If I got my hands on a few of those it would be interesting to adapt Cosa :slight_smile: I use basically the same hardware for prototyping; Arduino Nano and the Nano IO Shield which has a NRF24L01+ and ZigBee socket. I am planning support for at least three major types of nodes; basic sensor nodes which should be scalable to ATtiny84/85, routing nodes for mesh communication and bridge nodes from NRF24L01+ and other small scale RFs to ZigBee/WiFi/Ethernet/LTE, etc. The last type of node will probably be Linux based. The others will typically be Arduino/AVR based. The Sparrow seems to be perfect for the two first types of nodes; sensor and routing nodes.

Right now I am working on improving the Cosa TWI/I2C bus handling so that it will be really easy to add Cosa/Arduino based slave units. This would allow partitioning and distribution of functionality when needed. A new level of shields such as LCD, Network, etc, would be interfaced through TWI instead of having to compile/link drivers into the sketch. Instead simple proxy libraries can be used and the code base becomes more scalable. With an AVR processor on each shield they can be used stand-alone or integrated over TWI. This was basically the foundation of the dtools research project at Stanford, HCI at Stanford University: d.tools

Cheers!

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=150299.0

@both: I will send you a PM to discuss the details.

@Trixi: Did you receive my message?

If more people are interested, contact me!

Im really interested, Let me know how I can help .

I created some small RFnodes that use the use the nRF24l01+ radios too.

Have you thought about using SMD parts for the PCBs?
I found that through hole parts take up so much PCB space and are not that more harder to solder by hand.

I found the mini USB connector to be the hardest thing to solder so my next version of my board has a PCB USB connector.

Looks interesting, what about running this over?

Regards,
Dario.