Looking for ideas

["Neil Wrightson" <neilw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

Season's Greetings to everyone.



I thought I might invest some time over XMAS and start developing some new
hardware to replace my old X10 (Power Line and RF), 1Wire etc and I was
toying with the idea of making a small multipurpose controller module with
say a 2.4GHz radio interface or a 915MHz interface. It would also have a
USB
for address configuring etc.

The controller module board would have a few digital inputs and a few
digital outputs, as well as a couple of analogue inputs and maybe a PWM
output.

The general idea being that it could be used for -

-          PIR with light level sensing and possibly temperature.

-          Door Open/closed sensor

-          Output for controlling a light

-          Solenoid driver for irrigation

-          Soil moisture sensor

In all of the examples, it would have a main board with the specific
hardware used for this purpose i.e. PIR with light level and temperature
sensor. The main board would then have the controller module plugged into
it. I.e. the brains and communications (RF) would be a separate reusable
module.



I'm looking at RF because it allows me to easily place things in any
location inside or outside. A couple of AA batteries in a PIR RF module
would last for years. The RF would also be bidirectional. Allowing feedback
from the Light output state as well as things like battery level etc.

Along the lines of Zigbee/XBee but lower cost and has built in Atmel
AVR/Xmega controller.



Thoughts / suggestions?



Regards,

Neil Wrightson





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

<*> Join the Automated Home Forums
http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/vbulletin/