What I want to do is that two Arduino check the status of something (1 bit data) and if both are HIGH then a number is communicated between the two Arduinos. I have never tried wireless communication and my research isn't getting me anywhere because I don't even know where to start, can you give me some suggestions where I can start from and what I should look into ?
BTW this is the first time I'm going to work with an arduino, I only have had experience with PIC and 8051.
For a start, decide how far apart the two Arduinos might be, and where they might be ..........................
srnet:
For a start, decide how far apart the two Arduinos might be, and where they might be ..........................
Each inside two car doors that have parked next to each other.
BlackCrow:
Each inside two car doors that have parked next to each other.
Thats a very specific requirement, useful information to have included in the first post.
Rather that the forum ask a series of questions, to try and work out what your project is, perhaps a good place for you to start is to describe the actual project and what you are attempting to achieve ?
srnet:
Thats a very specific requirement, useful information to have included in the first post.Rather that the forum ask a series of questions, to try and work out what your project is, perhaps a good place for you to start is to describe the actual project and what you are attempting to achieve ?
Two cars parked next to each other, lets call them car X and car Y, X door is opened and it accidentally hits Y, the motion and impact sensor is triggered in X and only the impact sensor is triggered in Y, then the Arduino in X have to establish if the impact sensor was triggered in Y as well, if the answer is yes then the plate number of the two cars are sent to each other.
You might start by researching some of the wifi/Bluetooth boards and RF boards and how they operate. Look for example code in the IDE code examples. For a start, you might just get two Arduino boards with several serial ports like a MEGA (or maybe just one) and practice sending message between the two over the serial ports.
Wireless communication from a device within one metal body to a device inside another metal body will be challenging.
Quite separately I'm not convinced that the application is realistic. Doors touching is not a problem if no damage is caused and I can't envisage a sensor that could detect paintwork damage. I certainly would not want my details passed to another person when I was not present - what's to stop him from claiming that I was responsible for damage to his door caused by someone else.
...R
Robin2:
Wireless communication from a device within one metal body to a device inside another metal body will be challenging.Quite separately I'm not convinced that the application is realistic. Doors touching is not a problem if no damage is caused and I can't envisage a sensor that could detect paintwork damage. I certainly would not want my details passed to another person when I was not present - what's to stop him from claiming that I was responsible for damage to his door caused by someone else.
...R
That's true, it's just a final year project I have been assigned to, just looking at it really as a learning experience. But obviously there will be a threshold for the impact detected and time of the motion and impact detected should be recorded as well.
Is there anything in particular that I have to watch out for since both of the Ardunios will be inside a metal body ?
BlackCrow:
Is there anything in particular that I have to watch out for since both of the Ardunios will be inside a metal body ?
A metal bodies acts as a Faraday cage (look it up) and a Faraday cage generally does not allow wireless signals to pass through it. That's why the antenna for a car radio is outside the body or attached to the glass.
...R
If you were assigned that specific project, then you can continue with it and document why it is not practical. The device would probably need an antenna. What if two cars are parked next to each other and a large person tries to walk between them and bumps them, starting a cat fight between the two cars?
Just as a sidelight, last summer a person's Tesla car at a park got scratched while parked at a park. The car itself actually videoed the lady doing the keying. It was good quality easily identifying the person (tv station ran the video). Pretty amazing.
zoomkat:
If you were assigned that specific project, then you can continue with it and document why it is not practical. The device would probably need an antenna. What if two cars are parked next to each other and a large person tries to walk between them and bumps them, starting a cat fight between the two cars?
I have made a flow chart regarding how the microcontrollers will behave, in such case ideally the microcontrollers will communicate their motion detection status and if no car door was opened then the program would go back to normal status, I will also have to make the threshold large enough that the impact sensor won't be triggered by everything.
My big concern is the communication and how easily it could go wrong and cause some trouble. And Robin2 says the metal body will not allow communication so that's another huge obstacle.
I expect you would get a lot of brownie points if your dissertation analyses the pros and cons of the project as well as whatever work you do on the implementation of it.
...R
"My big concern is the communication and how easily it could go wrong and cause some trouble."
Just start and develop the project using wired serial communication between two Arduino boards. Once everything you want to happen is working with wired communication, you incorporate wireless communication. Once wireless communication is accomplished, tape the two prototype boards to the car door windows and see how they work. If that works, then work on an antenna setup for the boards such that the boards can be placed in the interior of the cars with the antenna exposed to the outside for communication.
You may need two or even four such devices per car.
One for each door. Or at the very least one for each side of the car. Otherwise your communication gets a whole lot harder if they're switching sides, or if one reverses.