Hello all,
I have a project where i need to detect the number of wireless signals in the range of 2.4 Ghz, to actually control a water pump; ie. more the signal is strong, more the pump will gather water.
Is there a direct connection between number of wireless lines in a specific space and the strenght of the signal in that range, or am I wrong ?
I also have an Xbee but looks way to complex, actually i dont need a protocol on top, just a way to detect the strenght of the signal.
Do you know of any 2.4 receiver / antenna that can work for this purpose?
Any idea/hint is more than apreciated!
mat
Well, they're a bit expensive.. but they have built in temperature sensors, and it's a transceiver, rather than just a receiver, but:
Also, you can download a program that includes the signal meter. (well, that shows it on the computer anyway) I'm not really sure what the code looks like, just glanced over it.
i need to detect the number of wireless signals in the range of 2.4 Ghz, to actually control a water pump;
The problem here is that transmissions in this range are not normally channelised, that is you can't simply sweep the frequency and count the number of carriers you see. There are protocols that are known as "spread spectrum techniques" that in effect keeps changing the frequency of the transmitter and receiver so as to doge interference.
What protocol do you want to use? Is it wi-fi? If so then something like the wi-fi sniffers might serve. If it's bluetooth then it is more difficult to snoop without joining.
The problems with protocols like zigbee is that they are forwarding mesh networks and it is difficult to know what the transmissions mean without joining the network.
Maybe you can get some inspiration from this project:
http://users.otenet.gr/~meteo/project_rf-field-strength-meter.html
Thank you guys!
CaptainObvious: do you think with that transreceiver an arduino program I could meter the signal strengh? I need only to detect the signal, don't need to estabilish any formal comunication trhou any protocol..
GrumpyMike:
I only want to meter the overall signal strengh in the 2.4 ghz range, I guess for the LAN the protocol is wi-fi, but there are also other radio activities in that range that are not Wi-fi, and I would meter that ones as well, don't you think a kind of 2.4 ghz receiver could do the job, just sensing the strengh without encoding any data throu a specific protocol? On the other hand the packet sniffing solution can work as well, do you think I can implement a sniffer in the arduino's ATmega?
My project implies portability so no computer connection at the end..
Thank you for your comments guys!