I should make it clear that I'm not an electronics buff, although I did take Electronics for my A-Levels (and got an A)
I have 2 cats named Ollie and Tiggy. I don't want them going towards the road for obvious reasons. My house is surrounded mostly by fields, which is where they spend most of their time.
I currently am using a device called the Loc8tor.
Unfortunately, it's range is not good enough, so I came up with a solution, involving many radio transmitter/receivers.
Our house is situated between 2 fields. There are many trees in the hedgerows.
I would need to build several radio transmitter/receivers, which I can attach to the trees surrounding the fields (the higher, the better).
Each transmitter/receiver will detect message signals from either the cat's loc8tor tag (attached to their collar) or neighbouring nodes in range.
It will need to have a range of at least 150m I think. Considering my loc8tor boasts this range (though it doesn't live up to it), it can surely be implemented.
I could use an Arduino attached to my android phone with an RF receiver. And using my programming skills I could program an app to detect incoming signals from the nodes, and based on number of signals, their locations and the signal strength, I can estimate their position on a map, and using my phone's gps, I can also see where I am relative to the cat's position.
When I get close enough to the cat to receive their tag's signal on my phone, then I can act as a node, hopefully improving the accuracy of their estimated positions.
If one of the cats are not detected by any of the receivers, then give me an alert on my phone via the app.
How would I do any of this? I HAVEN'T THE FOGGIEST!
I have some experience in programming microcontrollers... but nothing very complex.
This project would require building a set of programmable receiver/transmitters, connected to replaceable power sources (with some luck though they should last a while, considering my cat's loc8tor tags last months on just 2 tiny 1.5V batteries), programming them so that they broadcast a signal with the cat's location and signal strength, which other nodes can pick up and re-broadcast, effectively acting as signal boosters, and then when the signal contains a message of my cat's whereabouts, using that data via the Arduino data input and my phone's GPS, display the presumed radius of the cat's likely location on an aerial map, along with my position.
Here is a diagram of what I would I would want to implement:
Could someone please tell me if this is a feasible idea, and if so, please tell me what components and tools I'd require, and finally how I would build one of these receiver/transmitters.
Here is some reading material for anyone who's interested in helping:
Arduino for Android: http://android.serverbox.ch/?p=549
Loc8tor Plus: http://www.loc8tor.com/uk/primary-products/loc8tor-plus-pack.html
Loc8tor Design Patents: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20110012775
Other info: Loc8tor works at 2.4GHz
I have 2 cats named Ollie and Tiggy. I don't want them going towards the road for obvious reasons. My house is surrounded mostly by fields, which is where they spend most of their time.
I currently am using a device called the Loc8tor.
Unfortunately, it's range is not good enough, so I came up with a solution, involving many radio transmitter/receivers.
Our house is situated between 2 fields. There are many trees in the hedgerows.
I would need to build several radio transmitter/receivers, which I can attach to the trees surrounding the fields (the higher, the better).
Each transmitter/receiver will detect message signals from either the cat's loc8tor tag (attached to their collar) or neighbouring nodes in range.
It will need to have a range of at least 150m I think. Considering my loc8tor boasts this range (though it doesn't live up to it), it can surely be implemented.
I could use an Arduino attached to my android phone with an RF receiver. And using my programming skills I could program an app to detect incoming signals from the nodes, and based on number of signals, their locations and the signal strength, I can estimate their position on a map, and using my phone's gps, I can also see where I am relative to the cat's position.
When I get close enough to the cat to receive their tag's signal on my phone, then I can act as a node, hopefully improving the accuracy of their estimated positions.
If one of the cats are not detected by any of the receivers, then give me an alert on my phone via the app.
How would I do any of this? I HAVEN'T THE FOGGIEST!
I have some experience in programming microcontrollers... but nothing very complex.
This project would require building a set of programmable receiver/transmitters, connected to replaceable power sources (with some luck though they should last a while, considering my cat's loc8tor tags last months on just 2 tiny 1.5V batteries), programming them so that they broadcast a signal with the cat's location and signal strength, which other nodes can pick up and re-broadcast, effectively acting as signal boosters, and then when the signal contains a message of my cat's whereabouts, using that data via the Arduino data input and my phone's GPS, display the presumed radius of the cat's likely location on an aerial map, along with my position.
Here is a diagram of what I would I would want to implement:
Could someone please tell me if this is a feasible idea, and if so, please tell me what components and tools I'd require, and finally how I would build one of these receiver/transmitters.
Here is some reading material for anyone who's interested in helping:
Arduino for Android: http://android.serverbox.ch/?p=549
Loc8tor Plus: http://www.loc8tor.com/uk/primary-products/loc8tor-plus-pack.html
Loc8tor Design Patents: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20110012775
Other info: Loc8tor works at 2.4GHz