I'm looking for some advice on a project I want to undertake around automation of some locks, initially on my garage doors and then later maybe on the house too.
I currently have an RFID reader on side door along with electric lock and electric door opener on main garage door controlled via Keyfob and want to ideally be able to:
a) Geo-fence my garage, whilst driving home automatically open the garage door when entering my street 100m away from garage (so door is fully open when car arrives)
b) Use mobile app (iOS and Android) to open side door and main door manually
c) Automatically unlock side door when mobile phone is within 2m of door
d) [Later date once tested on garage] Automatically unlock front door when mobile is within 2m of door (front door shortly being replaced and will come with an WinkHaus AV2B lock controlled via keyfob)
Would this be possible/easy/difficult with Arduino? What other items would I need to purchase?
a) Geo-fence my garage, whilst driving home automatically open the garage door when entering my street 100m away from garage (so door is fully open when car arrives)
How is your garage going to know that you are 100 meters away?
b) Use mobile app (iOS and Android) to open side door and main door manually
With a WiFi shield or Ethernet shield, acting as server, this one is easy.
c) Automatically unlock side door when mobile phone is within 2m of door
How is the Arduino supposed to know that some phone (and that it is the proper phone) is 2 meters or less away?
PaulS:
How is your garage going to know that you are 100 meters away?
I was thinking of using geo fencing / geo location using a mobile phone to say "I'm near" via GSM, the receiving technology (Arduinio/ESP8266/Photon?) then operates a relay and opens the door.
PaulS:
How is the Arduino supposed to know that some phone (and that it is the proper phone) is 2 meters or less away?
Using technology!
The end goal is ~2m away, working back from that aim, RFID could work with a large antenna but was thinking more along the lines of BLE or WiFi. All technologies could work, but rather than trying to re-invent the wheel wondered if others had tried anything similar / have recommendations!?
Commercially, new hotel's are using this type of tech on their door's to let guests in their rooms, I'm looking to re-create that experience at home!
You might as well say "Using magic!" if you don't know WHAT technology to use.
WiFi and Bluetooth have ranges over which they are supposed to work. You can't use either one to RELIABLY measure distance. You can't "tone them down" to restrict the range, either.
If the world was full of people like you @PaulS, we would never develop anything or innovate!!!
I've been in the technology development world for over 20 years, there is ALWAYS a way to do something! - People who say "can't" will always lag behind those who show how it CAN be done!
Here's a paper showing distance measuring using BLE... I don't need it to be 100% accurate to open the door!
dustin02rsx:
The ESP8266 would probably be better suited for the job, assuming you have wifi that reaches your garage
Thanks Dustin, do you know typically what distance the ESP8266 would operate from WAP/Router? - Are there any ESP8266 boards which you can easily attach a larger antenna?
My ESP8266 works quite well at 8m distance - through two walls. Never tried the maximum, I have seen reports of 100 meters line of sight, and more when using an external antenna. You will have to try this based on the location of your router. Mind: this varies with atmospheric conditions.
Even "when I can connect" is a poor measure unless you have your device actively scan for networks all the time. At the 100-meter point of your street you may have good connection, at the 80-meter point it may be gone again. You have to do lots of trial and error, and it'll be fairly unreliable still.
GPS is more reliable already - and would likely work for the 100-meter distance, but not for proximity to your door.
RFID has a very limited range, so that may work for your proximity request.
The "where are you in reference to me" location measurement may not be impossible, but it's anything but a solved problem.