Multihop communications using Arduino

Hello,

I would like to know if anyone is trying to use Arduino for multihop wireless communications? If so, what radio modules and software stack have you tried?

Best regards,
Nestor

What do you mean by "multihop" wireless communications?

Hi PaulS,

It means using wireless communications over multiple hops, for example wireless sensor networks. Imagine deploying Arduino-based nodes for monitoring environmental conditions and sensor data has to be relayed to a base station over several wireless hops.

Nestor

Like the Series 2 XBees do?

The panstamps from Daniel do that off the box when you enable the repeater function.

I have some, and I can say I'm both happy of the modules and the support. However, I personnally didn't have/take time yet to test the repeater feature.

I will take a look at panstamp. It certainly is a very good idea, wireless Arduino from the get-go. I'd be interested to know how the repeater functionality performs.

How about this?

http://maniacbug.github.com/RF24Network/

Wow! I like Panstamp. Does anyone know how much they cost?

sbright33:
Wow! I like Panstamp. Does anyone know how much they cost?

About 20USD for the stamp. There is a link to the e-shop on the site. Fairly simple, and shipping is fast.
Plenty of "carrier boards" as well, I used battery and relay ones, not really cheap, but work great.

Have you seen these.

They have great range, are cheap ($5 when purchased direct from Hope in China) and have a good range of comms and protocols (including meshing) when used with the Arduino library:

http://www.open.com.au/mikem/arduino/RF22/

The RF22 is half the price of the Panstamp, but it does not include the Arduino chip. This makes the Panstamp cheaper if you need one anyway. What is the expected range of the Panstamp in an urban environment? The RF22 is about 150m.

The RF22 is about 150m.

I'm getting at least 800 meters in the suburbs with proper antenna (~3dB), with an RSSI suggesting it still has a way to go.