Hello everyone,
I am currently building a very large project which consists of a large matrix of LED lights, each about 25x25 cm. I plan to build a system of up to 512 such lights together. Each light / tile also has a sensor which needs to be read.
There are many challenges with such as project, but I am currently focused on deciding the communication standard for control.
I have two solutions, both using a 4 light (2x2) as the building block.
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My original solution: connect each block to an arduino mega (will need multiple arduino megas) and each arduino to a computer via serial port. The status of each sensor is reported to the control PC via serial port in a reliable and inmediate way. The individual LED can also be addressed via serial commands sent to the arduino. I believe this solution will work but I am concerned about the wiring which may get a bit complicated and expensive, I would love to explore alternative options (2).
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Each building block has an ESP8266 (or similar) and connects to a control PC via MQTT. I will have up to 128 such blocks so in theory it should be possible to fit this into a WIFI network used only for this application. I will only record sensor state changes so I expect a very low usage of bandwitdh for sensor data, but my main concern is the response time of the system, disconnects etc. I will also want to update the status of the LED lights (all of the lights) at once in sync, which I am not sure it's possible in this solution. I could perhaps do some software trick: update every 0.1 of a second, but send the new state ahead of time) to fake the synchronous update... This solution greatly simplifies wiring and cost (ESP8266 are dirt cheap).
My main concern is if the system will be responsible enough with solution (2) or if I should stick to solution (1). Could I test it in any way before comitting to purchasing many devices?
Thanks!