I am new to the whole Arduino environment and remain a little confused as to what to buy to get started with a specific project I have in mind.
I do have some programming experience from many years ago, C and Pascal, so will figure that side of it out as I go. It's the hardware requirements that I could really do with the advice on.
My project requires the following:
Control over Internet via Ethernet and iphone
Control via iphone bluetooth
iBeacon support
10 digital outputs - 240V 5A relay
10 digital inputs
3 analogue inputs
Timer control of outputs
Timed control of outputs
Analogue input data logging
Email alerts
Auto restart following power failure
I appreciate that some of these may not be achievable so any suggestions on the achievable ones will be great.
I really need to know, for now, which of the Arduino variants to buy and which shields will be compatible and best meet the project needs. Also, any recommended iPhone apps that can meet the control requirements would be great.
The Arduino Uno is definitely the best starter board as it is the most compatible but it probably does not have enough I/O pins for what you want so you would probably need a Mega. It also has the advantage of having 4 hardware serial ports so you could easily run a bluetooth connection while also connected to the PC for development.
I have no idea whether an Ethernet or GSM shield would work with a Mega.
And whether you use a Mega or an Uno you may run into difficulty trying to use an Ethernet shield and a GSM shield together.
Another potential problem area is conflicts between the software libraries for the different things you want to use because the resources in an Arduino are limited.
If you are new to Arduino this would be a very challenging project and it may be worth while starting with something simpler to learn the basics.
You might also consider using a combination of a Raspberry PI and an Arduino Uno - the Pi could do the higher level communication stuff and the Arduino could interface with the hardware.