In this case, not only is the field green, so is the programmer. : Please understand that I know nothing except that I want to know something.
My college project involves an autonomous railway system (to cut a long story short). We have a carriage that moves around a workspace on a rail system all by itself. It must be able to stop and restart on receipt of external signals. Current thinking suggests that we will need three modules:
A mobile controller (on the carriage) handling its direction, speed, and stopping/starting;
A stationary controller to handle the rail turntables which facilitate the carriage turning corners;
A stationary workstation which will permit manual over-ride of any/all autonomous actions.
We envisage handling the part-mobile/part-stationary issue with WiFi connection. This WiFi must be capable of covering a 20 m square from any point, i.e. 30 m range.
First off, I would like to clarify whether or not such a project overview is practicable, then, if so, whether it feasible using Arduino.
That's encouraging, jremington, I guess the next step is to select the Arduinos and Communications Modules.
At the moment it's the communications modules that have me in a dilemma. I initially thought of a MEGA master (onboard the carriage, where most of the detail exists) and a UNO slave on the ground. For communications I was thinking of the ESP8266 Mini because that leaves the I/O ports free for the Arduino to run the mechanics. In shopping around (here in Perth, Western Australia) the Mini seems to have been replaced (certainly in availability) by the ESP13 Shield which appears to take up all the ports on a UNO. I get the impression that the UNO would be able to communicate with the internet through the shield but not be able to control anything nearby. I think that the MEGA would have the same problem with the shield.
Can you clarify this for me, or would you please point me in the direction of some tutorial material which will.
Please remember that this is all first impressions stuff and that I am just groping around in the dark.
I don't know anything about Arduino wifi shields and think you should be open to other types of radio communication.
For example the NRF24L01 modules are very cheap and allow 5-6 independent communications channels per module.
Robin2 on this forum has posted some useful working but simple examples and I believe is using them for model train yards. Perhaps he could offer some advice.
Consider editing the title of your post to attract more specific expertise.
I am using nRF24L01+ transceivers to provide wireless control for oo Gauge model trains. The transceivers are very cheap and effective and I think the program code for them would be much simpler than using WiFi, a webserver, etc.
The pair of programs in this link may be useful. They are derived from my train control program. The master program can be extended to communicate with several slaves. It may also make more sense in some situations to put the master program in the train.
Robin2:
I am using nRF24L01+ transceivers to provide wireless control for oo Gauge model trains. The transceivers are very cheap and effective and I think the program code for them would be much simpler than using WiFi, a webserver, etc.
This looks like just what we need, thanks. One small difficulty though, what do I do with this library?
I am not sufficiently familiar with the Arduino IDE to know what you are talking about. Would you please explain (in words of one syllable ) or point me to a tutorial which will?
It sounds like it would be beneficial to read the whole tutorial from the top. Make sure you try out a couple of the exercises. Make the on-board LED blink. Try to change the blink speed. Try to change the pattern of blinks. Save all those different versions of the sketch with descriptive names so you can come back to them later.
Please understand that I know nothing except that I want to know something.
) or point me to a tutorial which will?