Hello all, I have a simple feasibility question for all you guru's out there. I am a firefighter and I wish to use an arduino board to help us wake up at night. When we get emergency calls at night some of my crew members are not so quick to wake up. So I figured I could use an arduino to turn the lights on for approx. 5 minutes or so, and then turn off after that period of time. My issue is the input I can use to do this. We have what is called a quickcall which is essentially a loud multitone audio sound that is unique to each fire station that alerts you of emergencies. Problem is its not enough to wake some of us up! So my two thoughts were to either: Use a microphone and have our specific audio tones set the board off so the sketch will start and the lights activate or to have the radio tech that works on our radios put a 5v relay in on the radio so the relay will turn on when our quick call signal is send to the radio from the dispatch. which would be easier and more dependable in the long run?I am assuming the relay from the station radio would be the most sustainable but I am fairly new to the microcontroller game so any input you all have would be greatly appreciated.
Have you seen this thingy? Staalert 3600
Disclosure: I'm the IT guy for Industrial Communications.
Anyway, that's not what you're asking about so I'll try to answer your question. Quickcall is Motorola's fancy word for two-tone. You could build a two-tone decoder from an Arduino, which would trigger the relay when the correct tone is received. The cleaner the signal, the better, so if you have the option, don't use the microphone. Check out this thread on a similar topic: http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,37575.0.html.
Actually, a two-tone decoder seems pretty complex, probably overkill. In your idea, were you thinking of having your radio tech connect a relay to the audio out of the radio/pager? The squelch only opens when your station's quickcall is received, yes?
I know of Kenwood radios that have AUX ports (25-pin D-SUB connectors in this case) which can be set up to output logic level HIGH or LOW when squelch is open, I'd imagine Moto has something similar. If your radio/pager had functionality like this, having a connected Arduino activate a relay would be a breeze.
So I wanted to give this thread a bump, because even with the guidance of some awesome minds I have hit a roadblock. My radio doesn't have output pins, so that is out of the question. I have two additional questions and maybe some of you smart guys can help me out.
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Can I use email to have the arduino send out its signal to the relay? We receive emails for every emergency and I think this would be the easiest method. I have seen similar uses but nothing that fits my exact need just yet. I just need that 5v input signal to trigger the system.
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or can I make a split in a speaker line and run that to the Arduino directly? Is that even a possibility? I dont know much about radio signals. I can get the exact signal from our dispatch so then I could input that in the code and boom lights are on.
Either can be made to work. Reacting to an email is all software. I suspect a bit of Python would get you on your way.
Processing a multi-tone audio signal is a bit of both. You will have to have hardware to interface with the audio signal and software to determine the frequencies.
I also suspect reacting to email would be the easiest. Do the emails arrive at an always-on computer? Would dispatch object sending the email to two (or more) addresses? Or do they already do that?
The emails Are sent to a specific fire engines email (Each fire apparatus has its own email address with an ipad in each engine) So email is recieved for that engine and a third party app sends it to various phone numbers so we can all receive a notification. Ill look into the python software i am not familiar with it. And regarding the hardware to interface with the tones what would that be?I have researched a lil bit and some of the hard ware was out of my reach as far as budget.
ClewisEMFD:
So email is recieved for that engine and a third party app sends it to various phone numbers so we can all receive a notification.
Were I in your shoes, I would create an email address just for the "house". Have the third party also send email to the "house". You will need something to poll for an email.
Ill look into the python software i am not familiar with it.
Don't bother (yet). First you need to decide what will be polling for email. What I had in mind was a station-house computer with a background task. You have not mentioned any computer so the idea is no longer sound.
An Arduino is probably up-to the task. Is an ethernet connection available? WiFi?
And regarding the hardware to interface with the tones what would that be?
Someone else will have to help with that question.
Email service is a "best efforts" thing. Therefore, it can not be used as the primary means of emergency alerts. You may receive email, but the random delays and server failures, would make it only a "backup" method.
Is the speaker that the Alert Tone comes out of also used for regular communications?? If not, and it's Loud, a simple Sound Sensor with an adjustable sensitivity may work.
Example: http://yourduino.com/sunshop2/index.php?l=product_detail&p=367
If you need to detect the tone, you could use a simple external tone detector like an LM567 tone decoder.
Example: http://vakits.com/lm567-tone-decoder-ic-kit-1505
To control lights, optically isolated relay boards would be good.
Example: http://yourduino.com/sunshop2/index.php?l=product_detail&p=218
More information about Arduino Power Control on the http://ArduinoInfo.Info WIKI here: http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/ArduinoPower
DISCLAIMER: Mentioned stuff from my own shop...
Here's a White Paper that has a lot of detail about reliable alarms to distributed people:
http://clk.madisonlogic.com/clk?pub=88&pgr=75&src=3968&ctg=1&tstamp=20130611T203051&ast=19093&cmp=8330&crv=0&pos=5&frm=300&imp=5888138616897077726
Hey you guys are great! Havent quite found a solution that I can wrap my not so advanced mind around but I am learning a ton from you people. Thanks.
So I figured out what my actual two tone frequencies are (321.7 hz and 928.1Hz, respectively.) Can I just use a 3.5mm audio jack and input those into the Arduino itself to detect the stated frequencies?
Just want to help to get awake your collegues 
If you go for measuring the 2 tone frequency, you may find the following helpfull:
http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_FreqMeasure.html
ClewisEMFD:
Can I just use a 3.5mm audio jack and input those into the Arduino itself to detect the stated frequencies?
Probably not. Arduino inputs are not tolerant of negative voltages.
The subject comes up fairly often on this forum (sensing audio). Spend some time searching. If you still have questions you know what to do.
https://www.google.com/search?q=audio+site:arduino.cc%2Fforum
I am looking at doing something similar for my department... I found this article:
http://arduino4projects.com/audio-input-using-an-arduino-board/
Once you can get the audio signal into something arduino can safely use... You can use the pulseIn method to detect and trigger what ever you need.
I also am looking at doing the same thing. Did anybody complete their firehouse project?
drradio:
I also am looking at doing the same thing. Did anybody complete their firehouse project?
Yer about 5 years too late.
Does someone throw a switch to set the alarm off? Just wondering.