The Daily Duino

For several years, I have been a user of various smart-phones of different makes and models.  Once I used my first smart-phone, I was truly hooked by the “life style”. Soon, I was left with little desire to return to a “normal” phone that “just made calls”. I am always finding new applications that remind me a smart-phone is more like a small computer that is capable of making phone calls, than just a fancy phone.

When I entered the world of the *duinos, I remember the question “Can I hook up my Arduino to my phone?” entering somewhere in the back of my mind.  There it sat, in the deep recesses of the mind…. until recently.

Ideally, I would like the ability to plug in or sync an Arduino and run the Arduino IDE on a mobile phone.  I have little desire to replace my computer and keyboard for a phone as my main environment.  Although, I would like the ability to use the phone as a “field unit”. Perhaps using it to edit, tweak, or update versions of a sketch without the need of a PC or laptop.

I have no idea if this is at all possible… but in the course of searching the internet for answers I have found some interesting projects with *duino’s and mobile phones!

• Here is an example of a BT Arduino communicating with a mobile phone over Blue-Tooth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgZiBl7Uzdo

This example is neat, but… the blue-tooth Arduino can be pricey and I’m really looking for a way to physical connect the arduino over USB… so we keep searching…

• This example has serial output from an Arduino being displayed on an iPod Touch or iPhone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEM-VHZTqhk

This example caught my eye and interest! (Possibly due to the nature of owning an iPhone…) So, I decided to poke around and see if I could find more info on the process. Most of what I found was in Japanese or broken links.

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/tabletlet/20080328/ The site where the video originated and the Google translation http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fd.hatena.ne.jp%2Ftabletlet%2F20080328%2F&sl=ja&tl=en&history_state0=

http://novi.10.dtiblog.com/blog-entry-213.html Another site in Japanese with a bit more info on establishing the serial communications and the Google translation http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnovi.10.dtiblog.com%2Fblog-entry-213.html&sl=ja&tl=en&history_state0=

http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1207058161 A post in the Arduino.cc forums about connecting Arduino to iPod/iPhone serial.

http://devdot.wikispaces.com/Iphone+Serial+Port+Tutorial Info about iPod/iPhone serial communications.

http://pinouts.ru/Devices/ipod_pinout.shtml iPod/iPhone connector pin-out.

And of course, a few sources for iPod connectors and breakout boards:

• http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/ipodext-assembled-version-breakout-for-ipod-p-148.html
• http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=633
• http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8295

Today we are going to be playing with some 433 mhz radios from Parallax.

Transmitter $30

Receiever $40

Datasheet

Now this is only going to be one way communication, as these will either transmit or recieve but not both.  This pair is extremely easy to use, they say these will range over 500ft and will speak between 12,000 – 19.2 K baud.

To use these, you simply put them inline with the wired example, on the transmitter there is a ground, power, data and  power down.  Don’t worry about the power down, you know where to plug the other 3.  Data is going to be your tx pin.

On the reciever there are those 4 pins and a signal pin.  This signal pin shows how strong the signal is from the transmitter.  You can read this like any other analog value.  Your data pin goes to rx.

Transmitter

Receiver

Transmitter Closeup

Receiver Closeup