I read through the threads here but they didn’t help. I know most of the blue tooth stuff we are using with robots are short range but I’m curious if you guys have ever looking into the long range stuff?
I’m looking for a way to make a Serial cable (to the SSC-32 from RIOS) wireless but also have a range of about 300 to 400 feet through 1 or 2 concrete walls, a concrete floor and 1 to 5 feet of ground.
I’ve looking into the 1 mile through 10 walls MaxStream stuff for around $700 and looked a bit into the Xbit stuff. The main thing is I need something that is plug and play. Sort of. I understand I only need to transmit the Rx/Tx signal from the DB9 to control the ssc-32, correct?
I’m looking for a solution I can plug in, setup and wireup then use. I’m not interested in doing any programming to get it working.
Have you guys stumbled across any wireless systems like this? I would like to keep the cost under $500 if possible.
I’m no expert in this area but I think concrete is going to block a lot of your signal. I really doubt it will go through 2 and then a few feet of ground like you are looking for.
Best thing to do would be to go for something like 900MHz (or lower if you can find it). There are several companies that make these modules. I personally have worked with the Radiotronix modules and found they worked very well through several walls but these were not concrete. No programming is required but you will need a serial to TTL level converter and you will need to wire it up and provide a power source to the modules. This would save you a bit of money from buying the more expensive pre-built serial->wireless->serial modules.
I’m not sure what the rules are in Canada but if they have something comparable to the US tech class amateur radio license then you would be able to use the higher power 900mhz stuff. in the US this is like the entry level license and I don’t even think you need to know morse code anymore, just take a test or something. (sorry, been awhile since I looked all this up.)
I’m not sure about Canada for the licences. I’m goignt o check into it though. I’ll let you know what I find out. I’m looking at the 900 mHz systems maxstream has now. I was referred to the 2.4 Ghz system by someone that used it with good results, that’s why I was going to try it.
100m through 5 feet of earth and 3 concrete walls with 2.4GHz, at the power level used for WLAN, is really pushing it. Maybe at the low end bitrates it might hold a connection but it would be even less likely if one end is mobile. You could add higher gain antennas to help with signal strength, an omni on the platform and maybe a directional at the base station, but that adds a lot of cost.
I’m mostly interested at seeing just what it can do. Even if I can’t get the range I require, it’s range may be useful for other things. And I’ll move on to try the 900mHz products…
I understand I only need to transmit the Rx/Tx signal from the DB9 to control the ssc-32, correct?