So, I find myself lurking along these forums more than ever when an idea pops into my head, but I can't seem to find the advice I'm looking for.
THIS is the closest thing I've found to what I'm searching for, but, some areas of it troubled me.
They were trying to stream music from a central source, which gave them less than optimal quality with the range they were working in. Would it have been more feasible to supply each remote module with an exact copy of the source music, and just relay triggers/signals over the wire, or would that actually complicate things? Lag isn't too big of a deal, especially it it's +/- 5 seconds for my application.
And Here's my situation. I don't have a lot of time to troubleshoot which components would work best, but I have lots of time to figure out code. (Being deployed sucks, mail takes forever.) I would prefer to find out if a proof of concept would work, or if there are better suggestions out there to help ease my pain.
So, without further ado:
Basically, a prop bomb which can be moved around a field, which, while counting down, sends a signal to the remote speakers duplicating what the speaker on board is saying.
I.E., The prop countdown reaches 5 minutes, which triggers a .wav/.mp3/.avi saying "Five Minutes Remaining." The prop will simultaneously send a signal to the speaker which relay the info. Seems like a fairly simple concept, but, reading up on the limitations of the 2.4ghz, would it be simpler/easier/cheaper to have a copy of the Anduino in each speaker, so it only has to receive command signals on which file to play, or would broadcasting the signal directly to the speakers be the way to go? I've come up with some parts that I think would be viable, and was hoping to get some feedback on my lack of knowledge.
The actual Remote units wouldn't ever be farther than 500m (realistically, 100m-200m at any given point from the Master Unit) and would be stationary, while the Master unit itself could move anywhere in between the designated boundries. This would give the option to play different scenarios, (Search and Destroy, Sabatoge, Bomb Defusal) where the objective is moved throughout the field, while still alerting everyone in the field on what's going on. Won't be able to realize that the bomb is gonna go off if you're halfway across the field, otherwise. Terrain would be anything from scrub, to brush to full on forest, which gives the need for the range.
Speakers (I would like to get 3-4 for 360° notifications) would either be hardwired into the Anduino chipset, or battery powered to where I can hook up a rechargable 9.6 with a Solar panel, On/Off switch etc.
Transceiver
2.4GHz Transceiver w/ Power Amp +PreAmp nRF24L01+
VS
XBee Pro 60mW Wire Antenna - Series 1 (802.15.4)
VS
XBee Pro 900 RPSM
Sound Board
Seeed Music Shield
VS
VoiceShield ™ Slim - Kit
VS
MP3 Player Shield
For the remote units, I was thinking of using Crossroads' Mini-uino because it looks like it'd be simple slave units, regardless of which setup I want to try.
The type of audio I'm looking to have repeated wouldn't ever be longer than 5 seconds, and it almost certainly wouldn't be repeated any more often than 30 seconds. A reminder at 5 minute intervals, speeding to 1 minute intervals below 5 minutes, than a 30 second reminder and a 10 second countdown. Bomb Planted, Bomb Defused, Bomb Arming etc. etc. Real small files.
If any of you could offer some insight on what has worked for you in the past, or if you're working on similar items, that would be amazing.
