Sensor Area Networks (SANs)

[davidbrady]

(07-09-2013 18:41)Arcticdude Wrote:  So where is a good place to buy all this here cum-pyut-er hardwhere stuff???

John,

I'll put together a list of suppliers. Right now we're packing for a short trip, but I'll get to it! Thanks for the interest. The Ardunio requires a modest amount of programming and the XBee requires some configuration. I can either do it for folks or step them thru it. What I'm noticing about my current setup is that it's uber reliable - it always seems to be there when I ask it for data. The Arduino never fails to provide sensor data and the XBee is always connected. So far it's very impressive. To help with the rigors inside our coaches there are many very cool Arduino cases, power supplies, and battery packs available. I'll take my stuff with me during our travels so that I can send data over my cellular router; alas, the real thing!

If there's enough interest, at some point I can imagine a 'Sensor Area Network' Toplink that when clicked on gives a user his personal remote sensor data, or I can incorporate a link to a private page in each member's UserCP. I'm playing around with GUI displays for the data and what I'm finding so far is it's hard to beat a simple table for data density, easy of use, speed, and readability. It'll be interesting to see how the user page evolves. We can do almost anything.