i've been reading about xbee, and the typical WiFi Shield, both of them seem fairly easy to implement.
BUT, there is one issue that i can't manage to go through, and it's related with the credentials for being able to connect to the wifi router.
So, i have decided that the parameters to follow would be:
Simple method of defining the password and network name;
No use of keyboards/buttons or LCDs;
It should be possible to define the strings wirelessly;
I will implement the arduino on a product, so it is my concern to make it easily connectable to the router.
I reduced my options to form this scheme:
Connect through bluetooth to the arduino Using a android or iPhone based app;
Define the password and network names;
Voilá, in theory should be enough to get the arduino connected!
I am a bit lost here, i really count on you guys to point me on the right direction.
You want to add a Bluetooth shield just to set the credentials for the WiFi network? In my opinion a huge overkill.
Many WiFi products for the Arduino allow to set up an ad-hoc network as do most notebooks and an increasing number of other mobile devices. Setup your WiFi module to ad-hoc mode, configure the mobile device to use ad-hoc too, use a browser (or some other app) to setup the WiFi credentials and reconnect to the WiFi router. You should at least provide some button to set the ad-hoc mode again (temporarily) for re-configuration.
pylon, thank you very much for your time to answer me.
Regarding your solution, i don't think it goes according my plan of "plug'n'play" . One factor to have in consideration is that i want to keep it stupid simple. REALLY stupid simple. Do you think i can approach the problem without using the bluetooth antena?
Try it with the bluetooth solution, my guess is it won't be simpler (on the smart phone side) than the version with the ad-hoc network but you have higher hardware costs.
Me as a user, I would be quite surprised to be forced to activate WiFi and Bluetooth just to access one device wirelessly. Then I have to enter a Bluetooth pairing key and my WiFi credentials. Would you expect that as a user of your solution?
You are right, analysing from that point of view it doesn't look stupid simple...
EDIT: Actually, do you find that weird to do that?
The procedure consists in having A, the product, connected to C, the router, and for that using B, my iPhone.
So, i would only use once the B as a bridge to configure the A for it to access the network. Pairing the device would be done once.
I could sell the product configured with their network details, but that is not reliable as they can change the network on the future.
There must be a way of getting the wifi data inserted with minimum effort... I will think of a solution for the next few days and if i come up with something i'll share it here.
Until then, i hope that someone can help with this.
The RN-171 from Roving Networks (http://www.rovingnetworks.com/products/RN171) has a SoftAccessPoint feature with newer firmware versions. Using this feature you could establish your own WiFi network to let the user configure the installed (router's) WiFi network.
Actually, do you find that weird to do that?
Yes, I probably would classify it weird to include a separate wireless technology just to configure a device, which is not used anymore after that point.