And now, for something completely dorky. I have begun to play with DIY electronics. This is principally because it's tremendous fun. You should try it. Seriously. The possibilities are endless. Here is a video of a range test for my prototype homing device built with an Arduino microcontroller module and an XBee radio transceiver. The portable, handheld device cost me about $60 to make, but theoretically could be a lot less if you designed a PCB and didn't rely on prototyping components.
Short-term, I hope to join fellow Boston Dorkbot members to build on this prototype and construct a location-based game. Stay tuned... My longer-term goal is to develop a standardized radio/microntroller platform on which to load and share user-oriented software applications (like the homing software shown here) for proximity-based device communications. The range for the "homing device" seems to well exceed the 300' that the XBee specs claim. Cool. Please send me suggestions for improvements, other ideas, etc.
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I was looking at the sucky
I was looking at the sucky state of toddler locator devices.. RF don't work well and GPS all want you to subscribe to crazy expensive services. But if you put a GPS reciever shield on both ends of this setup and have each device share it's gps location with the other via zigbee rf link. Then you can perhaps have device X with led's as a compass rose to aim back to opposite device. Put the gps-homing-beacon in the child backpack or teddy bear in an otter case or something.
I wish I had time to play with these arduino devices.
What you suggest would
What you suggest would definitely work and would be relatively easy to build. I steered clear of GPS chips because they're prohibitively expensive and only work outdoors.
hello sir i just saw your
hello sir i just saw your homing device prototype. i have a starter kit from xbee. and i tried to run a range test. but i wonder why it doesnt communicate with the rs232 board. heres how i made:
PC(X-CTU)->USB BOARD w/xbee oem module mounted ->to -> RS232 Board w/xbee oem mounted and has a loopback plug in. powered with 9v... i just dont get it. i already followed the instruction step by step of their quick start guide to run a range test but doesnt give me an succesful output at all. thanks if you mind to reply. ^_^
I'm not familiar with the
I'm not familiar with the starter kit or your RS232 board, so it could be lots of things. Keep in mind that the xbee uses 3.3V, so you need to drop the typical voltage. That's just the first thing I'd check, but it's been a while since I've played with this. Definitely check out Tom Igoe's "Making Things Talk" book - he goes into detail about hooking up RS232/USB with xbees and Arduinos.
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