Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: pete2009 on June 25, 2009, 07:55:17 AM

Title: Communicating with PC Wirelessly
Post by: pete2009 on June 25, 2009, 07:55:17 AM
Hi guys,

I'm trying to find the best easiest and cheapest (quite a combo) way of communicating between the bot and the PC Wirelessly.

I know of the bluetooth method, but those suckers are very power hungry so would like to avoid them.

I have the following two goals:
1) give real time instructions from PC - eg: I type in my PC app turn left, that sends a signal out from the pc using XXXXX and the robot receives the signal using YYYYY and performs the instruction. I need to know what XXXXX and YYYYY would be.
2) Upload new code (program) the MC. This is an optional (nice to have) extra and if it conflicts with #1 then ignore it.

Thanks

Title: Re: Communicating with PC Wirelessly
Post by: jamort on June 25, 2009, 02:51:57 PM
your going to need both a wireless serial port connector... and a UART connector to do this...
http://www.societyofrobots.com/microcontroller_uart.shtml (http://www.societyofrobots.com/microcontroller_uart.shtml)
http://www.societyofrobots.com/microcontroller_uart_50_robot.shtml (http://www.societyofrobots.com/microcontroller_uart_50_robot.shtml)
Title: Re: Communicating with PC Wirelessly
Post by: BEAMer on June 26, 2009, 07:07:41 AM
how about RF modules? there are lots of ASK/FSK modules available. you can wire them up through some ports in the computer (serial/parallel).

http://www.sunrom.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=117 (http://www.sunrom.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=117)

i have used them and they work fine. These things have a decent data rate (although not for video streaming  ;)) and range.

You may also try the zigbee modules, but they are a little costly....
Title: Re: Communicating with PC Wirelessly
Post by: Ro-Bot-X on June 26, 2009, 07:33:59 PM
If you plan on getting an Arduino (or compatible) board, look into X-Bee modules, since you'll find plenty of shields, docs and samples.
Title: Re: Communicating with PC Wirelessly
Post by: kpmcgurk on June 28, 2009, 04:29:48 PM
what is the general range of those X-bee's? I have found them fairly cheap on a few sites
Title: Re: Communicating with PC Wirelessly
Post by: BEAMer on June 30, 2009, 09:14:16 AM
They work upto a kilometer!!!! (on an open area ofcourse... ;D)