So im throwing around an idea of having a sensor or sensors that can sense when im within range(say within 50ft) of my home to notify me of different status that i want to check.
I was looking at RFID, NFC, Bluetooth or whatever else is available.
I know NFC is out, but providing as example of what im looking for since not sure what if anything is available on the market.
Ive read this site: RFID versus NFC: What's the difference between NFC and RFID? - atlasRFIDstore
that states in passive mode, the RFID is capable of 50 meters which is 164ft, which would or should do just fine.. or even active RFID and that would increase to 100 meters which is 328ft.. How true are these specifications on RFID?
I found this also about RFID
High Frequency (HF) Passive RFID Tags - maximum read distance of 1.5 meters (4 foot 11 inches) - usually under 1 meter (3 feet)
Im sure that the 50ft is give or take, since i havent really measured or completed thinking how i want to do this. Mostly looking to see what is available and priced reasonably in order to prototype this project.
Any suggestions would be great. If the above sensors are not the right ones to consider, what else is available to research..
Well the text may be a additional feature, but basically i want the home to begin doing things as we get close to home and actually pull up, so the notifications i mentioned in my original post was more visual notifications, say im pulling up to my street and as soon as i get within range, my driveway light turns on or my porch light turns on, i know there are things out on the market that already do this, but im looking to do more than just the simple on / off and also to do it myself with my own code and logic so i can customize it. Have different things happen based on which one of our family is pulling up the driveway and have some fun with it at the end besides the practical portion of it..
Programmed cars - perhaps have cars equipped with GPS that can follow location, and when close enough to your house they can start emitting "Honey, I'm home" and the house can react accordingly, like a few hundred feet down the street, and turn back off again once in the driveway. Otherwise I'm not sure how fast you can get the other stuff to react to a car going 15-20 mph that pulls up in your driveway - you may already be in before the RFID/Bluetooth/etc sensors sync up to determine it's you and do something.
Non-programmed cars - metal detector in the driveway that senses a car pulling over it. Or break-beam detectors across the driveway (got snow?) Or distance detecting sensor on house that can tell when something has pulled in the driveway (IR, ultrasound, LASER).
So heres the thing, when im speaking about my driveway im referring to my long driveway up from the main road, but before getting to the driveway, i want to be able to begin triggering things.. since we are out on a country road, there arent any lights like typical neighborhoods and so on.. so one would be as im getting close to the driveway, light up my driveway indicator, we have about 1/4 or less of property that extends along side of the main road, so i have about that much room to install whatever sensors i want on my land to detect as im within range.. Im looking to go outside the normal everday products available out there.. the metal detectors and beam breaks would def work for other aspects of the project, but for now its identifying when im within range of my driveway and then go from there.. granted the delay in sensing will play the biggest hurdle, since if you arent paying attention and fly by at 30+ then nothing is going to happen, but typically when looking for the entrance you will be driving pretty slow anyway once you know you are in the area.
Once that is determined i want to create custom experience for the cars as they drive up the driveway..
It sounds like if the GEO fence idea does not work you will need many short range sensors.
RF transmission systems are not that good for detecting range unless you use sophisticated triangulation systems.
It can be done but is not easy or cheap.
Maybe just simple Tx/Rx systems. Property sends out continuous message, car responds when it picks it up, sends an ACK back to the property to kick things off. Good application for nrf24L01+ module with Prominis?
Perhaps a directional antenna can be used to restrict the sensitive area to the driveway and some area left and right of it. Then the home station can act as a beacon, and when its signal is received by the mobile station, it sends back a Hello message.
CrossRoads:
Maybe just simple Tx/Rx systems. Property sends out continuous message, car responds when it picks it up, sends an ACK back to the property to kick things off. Good application for nrf24L01+ module with Prominis?
I have a plan for doing this using 433 devices, once in range it turns on since LEDs to tell me when my wife's home and vice versa. Seems like the simplest and reliable method.
If you have a home wifi network, there are various projects that monitor for particular mac addresses to connect to the network. The general scheme is that the system recognizes when a particular cell phone (and presumably it's owner) comes within range of the wifi network and performs some programmed action on that event.
So read some more about the link i provided above, seems that GEO Fencing may not be what i need unless i can setup the GEO fencing say out by the main road and then have some way to detect when allowed sensors are within range?
I was really looking for something i can setup on my driveway or close to it, that can monitor when a RFID card, sensor or whatever that device, comes within a certain distance, then begin executing logic once detected.
The only reason i originally mentioned RFID was that is was small and compact and could be done as passive and not require any power but when in range of the reader it would be detected.. create a custom experience for family and even friends..
Passive RFID is not applicable for long ranges, because the sender must transmit (emit) the power required for the RFID response. You may have to send a kW RF signal, in order to get back a mW RF response signal.
The area, covered by RF transmission, is not strictly bounded, the signal only decreases with increasing distance. The area is not homogeneous, it may contain "shadow" areas with lesser or no signal level, by absorption or extinction of the waves, and dependent on weather and ground conditions (wet, snowy, trees w/out leafs...).
Better control over the sensitive area can be achieved only by directed beams, as used in radio-relay systems. The emitted energy then is concentrated in the direction of the beam, not receivable from stations outside that beam angle. The size of such antennas depends on the RF frequency, the higher the frequency, the smaller the antenna (see e.g. Yagi antenna).
cubangt:
So read some more about the link i provided above, seems that GEO Fencing may not be what i need unless i can setup the GEO fencing say out by the main road and then have some way to detect when allowed sensors are within range?
The way geofencing works is you install an app on your phone and configure an area(s) defined by GPS coordinates. When the phone detects that it has entered/exited the defined area it sends a message which can be received at your home to trigger the desired actions.
I have a friend who uses geofencing extensively in his home automation system. He claims to be able to even use it to detect him entering/exiting different areas of the house such as the garage. I somewhat doubt the reliability of this but I haven't used any sort of GPS for over a decade so I guess the technology is better now.
another option is simple wifi.
a pair of ESP8266's one on your mail box and one in your car and they can talk in line of site for half a kilometer.
some tests put that much further.
