2017-10-29 EMF 2018 Collaboration Meeting
Where / when: Nottinghack, studio; 2017-10-29 (Fri), 09:45 ish
Attendees: Ian D, Daniel S, Mouse.
Proceedings
Daylight Sensor Tests
- The very cheap laser showed limited range in daylight conditions - max ~3 meters with the sensor in the shade, less in the sun
- We tried a second laser which is focusable - about 5 in daylight conditions with sensor in shade
- We tried the IR led
- Got about 4m with sensor in shade, nothing with sensor in direct sunlight
Constrained IR LED
We put the IR LED in a metal tube, making it much more aimable. At 5 meters it had an effective target area of about 30 cm. This looks good for making shotgun-like senders.
Multiple Sensors
To make it easier to hit long range targets, we plan to use multiple sensors. The pro-mini and other 328-based boards have two interrupt pins (2 & 3), and it is not clear if the IR/Manchester library works with multiple instances or multiple input sources. We found some AND chips which should allow us to use 5 inputs at once, and tested with a couple of sensors on breadboard.
Action Items
- Ian is going to prototype 5 sensors with an AND chip for proof of concept
- Daniel to post prototype code on github or similar
- Daniel and Mouse will look at KiCAD tutorials for making the main board
- Mouse will write this up
Next Meeting
Soon!
We will prototype all the bits together with a relay driving a motor (to test for noise). Then we'll design the board and get it fabircated.