I am working on a project which needs a wireless connection to a pc and eventually to a smart phone on an ad-hoc kind of link as it is for an outdoor project where there are unlikely to be any routers close by. I don’t know too much about the subject. XBEE keeps coming up in my research. Problem is there are many XBEE modules, which one would be the best for this kind of thing it must ultimately connect to a phone. Or is there a better way.
Sorry if this question has already been covered, but thanks in advance.
I should have stated the range basically the further the better. Current similar units state 60meters, we need to be better so i kind of ruled blue tooth out
I should have stated the range basically the further the better. Current similar units state 60meters, we need to be better so i kind of ruled blue tooth out
I don't know whether WiFi would cover that range, but depending on the environment it might do. In that case you could just use a WiFi shield.
If that doesn't work, you do have the option of using GSM. You'd need to buy a data plan for it, but it would give you effectively unlimited range as long as you stay within phone coverage and as long as you don't mind a bit of latency.
Your question is kind of vague, you might want to provide some more details.
Note, your profile does not mention where in the world you are living, and that affects what wireless solutions are legal where you live. I assume that you probably don't have a ham license which again limits solutions to those that don't need certification.
In terms of the area, is it open space between where the Arduino is and where the PC is or are there trees, etc that could potentially limit the range?
How fast do you need to transmit data and how much data?
Is the PC on the internet or is it stand-alone?
What kind of budget are you talking about?
Is it for a single day event or will you be wanting to do this in the same area multiple days?
Can you put additional units (mesh routers) in the area to give you more range?
Which type of phone are you using and are you setup with the appropriate android/ios development environment to write the app on the phone?
Are the phone and PC in separate locations?
Now, I am not skilled in doing radio stuff, so this answer is worth what it cost you (i.e. 0$), but off the cuff some thoughts are:
I you have WiFi available in the area, use an appropriate Wifi shield on the arduino, and use a phone that also supports wifi. If you configure it, you can set up wifi networks that are stand-alone and don't connect to the internet in general, and you could use that in a fixed area
I could imagine tethering an Arduino to a cell phone to give you a connection to the internet, but with cell phones you need to watch the amount of data sent, since cell phones start jacking up the prices once you go over your monthly data limit (typically 2-5 gigabytes).
Thanks michael , i will amend profile but we are talking about UK
I basically need to be able to create a wirless ad-hoc communication between either a single pc or eventually a single phone (would be andriod to start with as i have deloper tools for an app) never both at any time.
It will be in the open with very few restrictions as the head unit would always be in line of sight.
There would be no internet conection
To be honest i have not considered speed yet but it would be a continous string of very and i mean very small data that the program or app can decipher. At this stage i only need to pass 3 pieces of infomation being recorded by the arduino
there are no plans as of yet for mesh routers but maybee a good idea.
mac981:
Thanks michael , i will amend profile but we are talking about UK
I basically need to be able to create a wirless ad-hoc communication between either a single pc or eventually a single phone (would be andriod to start with as i have deloper tools for an app) never both at any time.
It will be in the open with very few restrictions as the head unit would always be in line of sight.
You might be able to get by with a wifi setup, maybe with a wireless router using fixed network IP addresses, no routing, etc. If range is an issue, you could use wifi repeaters strategically placed (similar idea to the mesh routers).
mac981:
There would be no internet conection
This was more in case the arduino and pc were really far away or if you were using cell phone networking on the Arduino.
mac981:
To be honest i have not considered speed yet but it would be a continous string of very and i mean very small data that the program or app can decipher. At this stage i only need to pass 3 pieces of infomation being recorded by the arduino
there are no plans as of yet for mesh routers but maybee a good idea.
Without going to the regulated bands or power levels, you might need something like mesh routers to cover the distance. I have no idea what the limits are (and obviously it depends on the physical layout and amount of background noise). I know with my home wifi routers I don't get that anywhere near 60m.
Bluetooth from the phone won't go that far. A Class 1 Bluetooth dongle on the PC will (probably). You could make a bluetooth "repeater" that is located near the phone which then sends/receives data over a higher power network.
The higher power radio network could be the Open RF, Zigbee or any of a number of NRF24... transceivers..
WiFi may work, but when I asked about a non-internet connected WiFi network I didn't get any help. I'm quite certain it could be done with a PC / router, but I can't find an example of doing it with Arduino (or other small controller) and a WiFi shield. If anyone knows how to do it please let me know, either here or in my thread (How to Set Up Stand Alone Wireless Website (not internet connected) - #3 by sdturner - Project Guidance - Arduino Forum to avoid hijacking this.
In terms of wifi setup, I would think the easiest way would be configure a wireless router to use a private network at home (10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x), provide DHCP support, and locked to the 2-3 devices you are going to use (PC, Arduino, phone) and then bring that router to the remote area, complete with PC (initially, later just phone). The router handles all of the wifi infrastructure support, DHCP serving, etc. but you don't actually plug in a connection to the internet, but plug in the PC (unless it has wireless support). It is easy to test at home before trying it out in the field. In the USA you can get these routers for $15 or so.
I would suspect that the Arduino wireless support only has enough support for it to make connections. It probably doesn't have the more general support that is inside of the router. As I said if you look around you can get wifi repeaters as well.
Thanks for all the posts, some good links and thoughts
Last night I was thinking along Michael’s line of approach, via a router to handle it all. I am looking at wireless shields now. I need to choose one which has a schematic available and the components must still be current. Can any one recommend a good one.