IrDA Repeater / Pace NTL Box

["paulgwa" <paulgwa@xxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

Newbies first post to the group, although have been reading with
interest over the last couple of weeks and learning a great deal on
HA.

Just thought I would add my two penneth worth on the Ir discussions
that are going on, this has probably already been covered somewhere
in history.

Graham Kiff posted some pictures of the inside of his Pace box 10/1,
in the pic panel_front_left.jpg, the IR receiver is visible
surrounded by a metal housing, my guess is that should you remove the
housing you will see the rest of an IrDA transceiver from someone
like Agilent Technologies, Vishay or Infineon which has been mounted
vertically. They have blanked the transmitter side of the module with
the metal shield as they appear to be using two higher power T1 3/4
(5mm) IR LED's to get a decent distance.

Digressing a little there are four standard for IrDa:-
IrDa1.0 115.2kbps link distance 1M
IrDa1.1 4Mbps link distance 1M
IrDa1.2 115.2kbps link distance 20/30cm
IrDa1.3 1.15Mbps link distance >1.5M

Given that this is only for bidirectional remote control I assume
they are only using the 115.2Kbps solutions.

The below URL is on the Agilent website and is a reference on IrDa
design, including a section on distance extension, giving distances
acheivable etc.
http://literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5988-1772EN.pdf

Extended Systemes have some software libraries etc and also finished
products that may be of interest if you are going to use a PC as the
hub of the distribution system.
http://www.extendedsystems.com/ESI/Solutions/Wireless+Connectivity+Sol
utions/default.htm.

I haven't found any messages on how you are looking to do the
distribution of these signals once you have them in the electrical
domain but would be interested to learn more.

If you have any problems sourcing small quantities of the IR
transceivers,discrete LED's or 3/16 Endecs (This function is built
into the Max chips you are looking at) for prototyping let me know
and I will see what I can lay my hands on.

Regards

Paul