Project rookie here. I am developing a sensor node, and wish to have upon my Arduino Uno a GPS module of some sort, an Xbee RF module as well as SD card slot (preferably the oldschool SD and not micro but I can settle for micro if need be..)
Can anyone offer a parts list that will work together? Ontop of all this I need to be able to plug in an analogue input which, and make use of 5V out and GRN (powerering an op-amp for my analogue input).
Quick replies much appreciated....masters project on the line here!!
Ultimate aim is to have an analogie input which is saved onto the SD card and occasionally it transmits the data to a receiver through the Xbee....and this data is location tagged by the GPS module!
something I have come across which could be perhaps useful is using a dual bees shield to mount the Xbee and a GPS bee..
but then how to include a SD reader too?
I don't know how to build the circuit on the prototype panel on this thing for a SD card or if its even possible? Noooob needs help
I'm currently doing a project that uses and Xbee Shield and a GPS shield as well, I haven't yet tested it but I see no reason why it won't, I will let you know how I get on in the coming weeks once the parts have arrived.
hi jamies - i have since progressed from my super newbie stage and got things up and running, my SD card records data, my GPS module provides location and time, and my Xbee communicates wirelessly.
The issue was that the Arduino Uno only has 1 UART connection - this is the serial communication pins 0 & 1, and my XBee shield occupied this and it doesn't like to share. My GPS module also requires a serial connection to talk to the arduino microcontroller. The workaround I used was to make use of the SoftwareSerial library, which is a clever bit of code that creates a virtual 2nd serial connection (if I'm not mistaken this is an example of "bit-bashing"). Voila, everything worked.
Good luck with yours and I'm happy to answer anything else I can
The GPS module sends the data serially to your microcontroller, byte by bye in the form of NMEA sentences. It's up to you which ones to stream and interpret, the RMC sentence has your date, time and location which is usually all you want.
You may have noticed the tutorial on cooking hacks, which gives you the code to interpret the sentences and output it to your serial print. I both saved the data to SD card and sent it serially via XBee radio to my computer screen terminal http://www.cooking-hacks.com/index.php/documentation/tutorials/arduino-gps
You have to click Show code on further down that page to reveal it. This code isn't compatible with IDE versions 1.0 onwards so get 023 or something....I spent a while trying to alter the code to work in the new version but failed, you may have better luck..
