Usb transceiver to send signals to arduinos

Using Arduino Networking, Protocols, and Devices
1

Good day,

I have a few arduinos each with a RF transceiver and connected to one or more motors.
I would like to use a Python program running on my PC with a USB RF transceiver to
send RF signals/commands so those arduinos to run those motors a certain amount.

Is such an arrangement possible? Or would I need to
use another arduino connected to my PC instead?
Example USB RF Transceiver

Sincerely,

purpleflame

2

Yes, it might be possible. If you can find compatible RF transceivers that will work with an Arduino. No, I am not going to do your research for you.

3

Look for Wireless Serial adapters.

4

Paul,

Thank you for confirming the possibility. I understand there will be some hunting; some trial and error. Beyond frequency and bad rate, what else should I look for in judging compatibility?

jremington,

Thank you for your clue. I found this project. These specific radios with their antennas (the receiving end) are too large to fit in the space they will end up in. Compatibility might be easiest if I buy the sending and receiving radio ends together. I will keep looking for some smaller radios to fit into the

5

Keep looking. There are several wireless serial transciever modules like the HC-12, but those don't interface directly with USB.

You need an antenna of some sort, and it will be critical for achieving ranges of more than a few meters. It must be cut for the frequency band.

6

The modulation type and coding of data on the signal.

7

jremington,

Thank you again. I am still new at finding these parts. Looking at that adapter, do I understand correctly that (1) I would connect four of those header pin holes to a usb plug (send) or an arduino (receive) and (2) I would connect some sort of antenna to the other end and (3) find/write a library for sending RF signals with a SI4463/38 transceiver?

Paul,

Thank you again. Right, I need to note AM vs FM. By "coding of data" I guess you mean some scheme to relate the physical waveform signal to the information to transmit. Seems like UART is pretty common.

There seem to be several RF transceiver chips/modules. The product from my link seems to use C1101. jremington's product seems to use SI4463/38. Seems like the microcontroller boards I have use RFM69HCW or SX1231. Does that mean that as long as I find another serial to wireless adapter with that same chip/module then it should be compatible with my microcontroller?

8

Update (2 notes):

  1. Turns out I was able to try out just connect a Adafruit RadioFruit with one laptop's usb and using that to communicate with another RadioFruit to turn on/off its LED. That turned out to be easy enough to go forward with this setup instead of communicating from the laptop's usb to a RadioFruit.

  2. I (programmer) Joined forces with an electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and biomedical engineer (all uni students) to build my ultimate project. We were able to make room for the all wires needed to connect multiple microcontrollers with multiple motors. Even better as it improves the reliability of the ultimate device.

Paul and jremington, please accept my humble gratitude for your all your help. It was a great, if whirlwind, introduction to RF wireless communication.

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