Minimal Wireless Transceiver/Transponder

Hello all,

I am in the process of creating a custom wireless system that has base station PCB with an embedded ATMega328 and a transceiver module as a section of the PCB. This base station then sends and receives signals from a portable wrist module.

My question is: What is the most minimal (cost and weight) design for a handheld wrist module that can both send and receiver a signal from the base station? (I am trying to keep the wrist module as small as possible to fit into a custom polystyrene enclosure when I'm done.)

My completed wrist module will have a transceiver, an antenna, a voltage regulator, power source, output LED and Speaker, but I will also have a input digital signal from a toggle switch. I'm in the process of creating a PCB for the wrist module, but I'm starting to think I'll need an ID component for the wireless communication so that the the base station and wrist module don't pickup and process interfering signals on the same frequency band. Will I need a microcontroller on the wrist module PCB to encapsulate my data or will an text filter ID if else statement in the wireless communication code work?

I'll attach my code and sample PCB for any interested/experienced enthusiasts.

Thanks,

ecave

Wireless wrist module summary:

  • one input(toggle switch) and two outputs(LED and speaker controller via 555 timer)
  • one transceiver
  • power source

Is a microcontroller necessary to control circuit

familiar with this threads ?

Check out this device: http://tinyurl.com/3hqtj6n. It could be made to fit on a wrist-mount with some customizing of the pcb.

Checkout the JeeNode at JeeLabs.com - they have an Arduino compatible RFM12B (ISM transceiver) board which might be the kind of thing for your project.

I've had good luck with the nRF24L01 modules. You can get them for less than $4 each on ebay. Here is a url with some guidance: http://www.atmega128.org/#nRF24L01. They have good range, low power usage, 100 software selectable channels and can be used as transmitters or receivers.

Thanks Paulware, I used the nRF24L01 modules and they work perfectly and they're all in a nice package. Now I just have to modify for the code to switch from send to receive based on an input.

You should write a port on using Iteads GSM Module. Its giving me a headache:

http://iteadstudio.com/produce/sim900-gprs-shield-icomsat-preview/

Paulware:
I've had good luck with the nRF24L01 modules. You can get them for less than $4 each on ebay. Here is a url with some guidance: http://www.atmega128.org/#nRF24L01. They have good range, low power usage, 100 software selectable channels and can be used as transmitters or receivers.

Not sure I'd quite call it "good range" - I've used 343 and 868MHz devices which are inherently better range (100's of meters line of sight) - 2.4GHz with a PCB aerial can't compete mW for mW with longer wavelengths and a 1/4wave or dipole aerial. (also 2.4G has to compete with WiFi and Microwave ovens). The high power version is +20dBm which is needed for longer ranges (especially at 2Mb/s :).

I made a PCB to mount the nRF24L01, but for some reason the prototyping machine connected my MISO and MOSI routes and burnt my module. Now I have to go with XBEE due to time constraints.

I have a bunch of pcbs for the nrf24l01 if you like

Whats the power source for the wrist module going to be , as that will ultimately determine
what sort of RF transmitter / Receivers you can use.