Simple Sensor-Data transmitter

Projects Networking, Protocols, and Devices
1

Hi there,

I need to send data from an accelerometer (sparkfun triple axis accelerometer adxl362), to an arduino uno. The accelerometer has an SPI interface. So I need a very little and handy data-transmitter, which sends the data of the accelerometer to the arduino uno, coin cell battery powered.

I always thought at somethink like an XBee and XBee Explorer Regulated. Someone already did something like this and has a good advice or a tutorial for me?

thanks,

2

I always thought at somethink like an XBee and XBee Explorer Regulated.

You mean TWO XBees and the board, right? You'll need some way to connect the 2nd XBee to the Uno. Powering the Uno from a coin cell battery is a non-starter, though. Unless you have one hell of a large coin.

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PaulS:

I always thought at somethink like an XBee and XBee Explorer Regulated.

You mean TWO XBees and the board, right? You'll need some way to connect the 2nd XBee to the Uno. Powering the Uno from a coin cell battery is a non-starter, though. Unless you have one hell of a large coin.

No, I don't mean two XBees on one board.

Accelerometer - Tranmitter (Xbee?, the whole thing has to be very small) --------- 1 - 5m distance, wireless connection ->>>>>>>>>> Arduino Uno, Receiver.

Do I need an Arduino to use an Xbee as transmitter? Or is it possible to use an XBee "standalone"?

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No, I don't mean two XBees on one board.

You plan to use one XBee as a receiver. What is it going to receive from?

Or is it possible to use an XBee "standalone"?

The XBee can be used standalone, for some kinds of sensors. If the sensor requires a trigger from the thing it is connected to, before it returns data, then the trigger has to come from a programmable microcontroller.

5

PaulS:

No, I don't mean two XBees on one board.

You plan to use one XBee as a receiver. What is it going to receive from?

Or is it possible to use an XBee "standalone"?

The XBee can be used standalone, for some kinds of sensors. If the sensor requires a trigger from the thing it is connected to, before it returns data, then the trigger has to come from a programmable microcontroller.

thanks for your reply.

OK, so that means I would need a second arduino, to read the data from the accelerometer and "forward" it to an xbee. And as receiver I need another Xbee for my Arduino Uno.

So I need a very little arduino or another micro (which I don't know how to program yet...). How can I get that as small as possible? Because at the end, It should fit in wristband (I don't know if it is the exact word, you know, like a sweatband...)
So I found those LilyPads (found here)... And as I know, the accelerometer needs the digital pins 10 - 13, VCC and GND for the SPI protocol on the arduino uno (see here). With an ATmega328, It needs pins 17 - 19 (found here).

Is it possible to empower such a LilyPad Arduino Simple Board with only a coin-cell battery?

thanks,