Flutterby™! : Playing with wireless

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Playing with wireless

2008-08-18 19:25:11.150965+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

Playing with wireless stuff, got a few little 433MHz modules that I'm hoping to make do some tricks, but I'm now dropping into antenna design issues, which is way beyond what I've done. Hoping that I can just drop 32cm of wire on to the lead of the module and call it good, but only the 'scope will tell me for sure.

And I have to figure out how to get +5V off a serial port (I'm doing a "quick and cheap" hackup, otherwise I'd drop a USB chip on a board), I think I'm just going to provide a USB cable for power...

[ related topics: Hardware Hackery Wireless Embedded Devices ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-18 20:07:29.223087+00 by: meuon

Just some fun links for you, good reading and interesting: open-mesh.net - Open Mesh and B.A.T.M.A.N. - better approach for mobile ad-hoc networking

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-19 00:01:40.066372+00 by: Dan Lyke

Interesting. I'll dig a bit deeper there.

I just cut myself a pair of 32cm antennas, not optimal, for this app it'd be better to wrap myself a set of helical quarter wave antennas or, preferably, do something at a much higher frequency with antennas on the boards, but I'm quick & dirty prototyping (I didn't want to drive to Santa Rosa or order online, so I'm using Radio Shack 1uf 50v capacitors on my RS-232 level conversion circuit, they're bloody huge and cost me $1.19 each, should have been less than a dime). Next is wrap a little firmware around this and see if I can package it so it has the right mix between "awesome geekery with wires everywhere" and "I could see that being a consumer product some day".