Society of Robots - Robot Forum

General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: MaltiK on November 12, 2008, 05:05:36 AM

Title: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: MaltiK on November 12, 2008, 05:05:36 AM
Is this possible to use a LDR on one microcontroller and a laser on another and when the laser hits the LDR 1's appear, and when it doesnt, 0's appear, does anyone know of a tutorial for this, its a very interesting subject.
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: arixrobotics on November 12, 2008, 05:41:33 AM
I've done a project like this some years ago. But I transmitted analog signals instead of digital  :o

It's pretty easy really. What I did before was I connect a laser pointer to the audio-out of a radio, and an LDR to the audio-in of an amplifier. I can't really remember the exact circuitry, but it was probably just some transistors for a bit of amplification etc.

This setting worked perfectly indoors. The furtherst I tested indoors was like 5 metres, and there was very little noise.

I tried to do it outdoors during a party we had, but the laser beam was too small to see from a few metres. I had a really hard time trying to focus the beam exactly on the LDR. Since a party is not a party without music, I had to cancel my experimentation after a few minutes of trying  :(

I remembered seeing some tutorials on the web. There was this guy who managed to get his system working across the street. But he used a really big laser.

Google around!


Found this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Send-Music-over-a-Laser-Beam/
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: Half Shell on November 12, 2008, 08:16:42 AM
Sweet project man. How long did it take you to write the interface for it (translating data to laser and then back to data again)?
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: airman00 on November 12, 2008, 10:03:28 AM
there is no software involved with the laser music system , its all in the circuitry
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: ArcMan on November 12, 2008, 11:45:31 AM
When I was in high school, I saw a LASER data transmission project.  If you can imagine this, on the transmission side, the guy glued a piece of cardboard to a speaker cone on edge so that the cardboard stuck out perpendicular to the speaker cone.  The speaker/cardboard were positioned so that it blocked the LASER beam when the speaker coil was not energized and unblocked it when the speaker coil was energized.  He would send a "high-speed" data stream through the speaker.  The receiver on the other end would then reproduce the data stream.
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: izua on November 12, 2008, 11:53:47 AM
check these projects:
http://ronja.twibright.com/
http://www.modulatedlight.org/

they give a decent intro on the subject.
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: Admin on November 13, 2008, 02:51:35 AM
Its actually really easy . . . hook up the outputs/inputs to the Tx and Rx of your mcu UART, and you're done :P

If you have a $50 Robot completed and a pocket laser handy, I bet you can get it working in under 2 hours (including any soldering).
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: MaltiK on November 13, 2008, 06:59:04 PM
Its actually really easy . . . hook up the outputs/inputs to the Tx and Rx of your mcu UART, and you're done :P

If you have a $50 Robot completed and a pocket laser handy, I bet you can get it working in under 2 hours (including any soldering).

So, using the Laser as a transmitter, what do you use as a reciever, and LDR?
Title: Re: Transmitting Data Through Laser
Post by: Admin on November 13, 2008, 07:59:48 PM
Quote
So, using the Laser as a transmitter, what do you use as a reciever, and LDR?
Depends on the wavelength of the laser :P

Unfortunately an LDR is too slow for a receiver, as it takes up to ~10 ms to change resistance. I *think* the pen lasers also emit infrared but not sure. Try using an infrared LED receiver and see if you get a signal - LEDs take only microseconds to detect a signal.