Sunday, June 20, 2010

DroneCell Final Description



The DroneCell is a cell phone for your robotics/electronics/minicomputer/anything project. You can make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, communicate over the Internet, and do nearly everything else your regular phone can do.
It has a simple UART interface that can easily connected to any 3.3V or 5V device, like most AVRs, PICs. All the necessary voltage level shifting is done onboard, so there isn't any headache. Connect it to your Arduino, your STAMP, your Gumstix board, your Axon, your whatever.
It is completely breadboard compatible, so its perfect for any prototyping rig. Plus it comes with two neat little LED indication lights, so you can visually see and understand whats happening. Additionally, there are several pins that give you extra functionality.
No more stupid Xbees that have limited range, use DroneCell for nearly unlimited range! It will work anywhere you have a cell tower. Control your robot in Los Angeles from your laptop in New York City.
Imagine sending a text message to your custom circuit which starts your car. Or sending data wirelessly over the Internet to your UAV that flying over Afghanistan. Or getting GPS and weather data from your high altitude air balloon. All this is possible with DroneCell!

FEATURES:
LED indication for both network status and power
Small footprint (5cm x 5cm)
Pushbutton power up
Lots of filtering capacitors for smooth voltage supply
Breadboard compatible for easy prototyping
5VDC-16VDC power supply input
3.3V to 5V UART Interface (voltage-shifting is done on board)
High serial data rate (up to 115200 baud)
GPRS communication rate (86.5 kbps downlink) – cellular to server communication
CSD (up to 14.4 kbps) – cellular to cellular communication
Software configurable baud rate
Works with any SIM card
Built-in SIM card holder
Quad band cellular connectivity
Internal switch to detect SIM card presence
Dial and receive phone calls (however, no microphone or speaker interface setup)
Send and receive text messages
Send and receive data to any Internet connected computer
Send and receive data over TCP or UDP sockets
Send and receive emails
Communicate with FTP servers
Super long range (anywhere there is cell reception)
High altitude (at least 10,000 feet, up to 30,000)
Phonebook entries and storage
Software libraries for AVR
Real time clock, synced to cellular tower time
User set alarms

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
UAVs and Balloons – live data reporting – GPS, pressure, altitude, streaming video
set waypoints, camera commands, etc.
Cars- remote start, car alarm notification, GPS tracking
Security systems – cars, boards, sheds, etc.
Home automation – thermostat control, lighting
Robots – data transfer, remote commands
Processors and computers- data transfer, wireless ssh, telnet
Wireless Industrial Systems – reset computers, activate pumps
Wireless Asset tracking – GPS track your car, your spouse, your cat

DATA TRANSFER METHODS:
iPod server/client socket app
Hyperterminal
Custom socket server/client – Perl, Python, C#, etc.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

New DroneCell - Pictures and Updates



Hello All,
I am happy to say that progress is moving along nicely, I have enough parts for a batch of around 50 DroneCells, so they should be in stores in the very near future!
I'm working on compiling a Getting Started Guide, as well as filming some video tutorials of the DroneCell in use.

So as promised, here are some pictures. Note the addition of the pushbutton, SIM card holder, and the tons of additional filtering capacitors.