hello,
i'm just starting a new project and was thinking about the best options... it's still in a very early stage but i dont want to go very far in one wrong direction.
so, here is the goal :
Arduino will need to send short messages ( texts ) to different persons who are all in the same room - the text being different for each person. for instance, John will receive "shout", Mary will receive "Laugh", Tim will receive "Stand up", etc...
i was thinking about 2 main directions :
1 - sending SMS to these people's mobiles. (+) : easy to code, easy to distinguish the persons, everyone has a mobile these days (-) : since this will be in a recording environment, sending and receiving SMS will most likely create interferences in the recordings, it will be costly
2 - sending texts via bluetooth to smartphones or tablets equipped with an app similar to BluetoothChat or BluetoothTerminal : (+) : much cheaper (-) : uncertain about how far bluetooth can reach ; a bit harder to code for a specific bluetooth terminal ( it needs to show only the message destined to a certain person, not all the messages sent by the arduino ) ; persons need tablets or smartphones ( ok, most ppl have, i dont... yet... )
any opinion on feasibility/advantages/inconvenients of these options ? am i missing another option ?
I assume the people you want to send messages to will be willing participants. If so why not get them to connect with their browser and WiFi to your web server. You can create a web page that refreshes itself at intervals.
1 - sending SMS to these people's mobiles. (+) : easy to code, easy to distinguish the persons, everyone has a mobile these days (-) : since this will be in a recording environment, sending and receiving SMS will most likely create interferences in the recordings, it will be costly
I will argue that "easy to code" is NOT true. Conceptually, it IS easy. Realistically, it isn't.
Not everyone has a mobile these days. Maybe everyone that you are concerned about has one, but that is not the same as everyone.
Having your Arduino send text messages would be no different from having someone else in the room send text messages. Has that interfered with your recording equipment before? "That doesn't happen" is not true, unless you confiscate all the phones before you start recording.
If you do that, sending text messages to the phones will be useless, eh?
2 - sending texts via bluetooth to smartphones or tablets equipped with an app similar to BluetoothChat or BluetoothTerminal : (+) : much cheaper (-) : uncertain about how far bluetooth can reach ; a bit harder to code for a specific bluetooth terminal ( it needs to show only the message destined to a certain person, not all the messages sent by the arduino ) ; persons need tablets or smartphones ( ok, most ppl have, i dont... yet... )
How is this approach much cheaper? Why is it difficult to look up the distances that the devices promise? How is this method going to produce less electromagnetic activity that might interfere with the recording equipment?
How much of the cost of the solution are you prepared to pick up vs. expecting the recipients to cover?
Robin2:
I assume the people you want to send messages to will be willing participants. If so why not get them to connect with their browser and WiFi to your web server.
yes, they are willing, all of them have mobiles, but not all have smartphones or tablets.
the place where we are recording does not have internet connections or wifi though...
Is there any role for an Arduino?
yes, it's deciding which message to send to which people at which moment.
PaulS:
I will argue that "easy to code" is NOT true. Conceptually, it IS easy. Realistically, it isn't.
thanks for you detailed answer. it's true that i would need to find a way to enter those numbers if i want the arduino to function without a computer next to it.
Not everyone has a mobile these days. Maybe everyone that you are concerned about has one, but that is not the same as everyone.
indeed, but it's a small group of people i know, all of them have one.
Having your Arduino send text messages would be no different from having someone else in the room send text messages. Has that interfered with your recording equipment before? "That doesn't happen" is not true, unless you confiscate all the phones before you start recording.
yes, recording with someone having a mobile next to the mixing table and some poorly isolated cables has already resulted in interferences in the recordings. might be a nice addition in some cases but in excess could be completely ruining the recording session. indeed a strong point against SMS...
Bluetooth
How is this approach much cheaper? Why is it difficult to look up the distances that the devices promise? How is this method going to produce less electromagnetic activity that might interfere with the recording equipment?
cheaper, because i will not need to pay for each sms sent... never had bluetooth communications interfering with recording equipment...
How much of the cost of the solution are you prepared to pick up vs. expecting the recipients to cover?
but in excess could be completely ruining the recording session. indeed a strong point against SMS...