I'm designing a project involving an automated robot (or, robots) which follow a course indicated by a series of RF beacon nodes. I intend for the nodes to be as small as possible, and they would plot a course for the robot to follow, in sequential order, such as:
node1 - node2 - node3- ....
The nodes would not transmit any data other than beacon signal. The robot would then detect the signal using a directional antenna and proceed toward it, switching its focus to the next beacon once it reaches its destination.
The problem that I predict will arise stems from when I want to "run" multiple robots at the same time, along the same course. This means that ideally each beacon will be transmitting continuously, so that any robot on any step of the course will be able to detect and direct itself toward the beacon. (Robot A may be going to node1, while robotB may be going to node 7) The simplest way to do this would be to have each beacon transmitting on a different frequency, but that runs me in to another set of design problems. Aside from buying different transmitters with different manufacturer set frequencies (which would severely limit the amount of nodes I could use), is there an easy way to do this? Building the transmitters myself using variable coils would likely be too large for a practical beacon.
Is there a simple solution? I've tried looking for a voltage-controlled variable frequency transmitter, but haven't had much luck as of yet.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated, as the project is still in its development stage.
node1 - node2 - node3- ....
The nodes would not transmit any data other than beacon signal. The robot would then detect the signal using a directional antenna and proceed toward it, switching its focus to the next beacon once it reaches its destination.
The problem that I predict will arise stems from when I want to "run" multiple robots at the same time, along the same course. This means that ideally each beacon will be transmitting continuously, so that any robot on any step of the course will be able to detect and direct itself toward the beacon. (Robot A may be going to node1, while robotB may be going to node 7) The simplest way to do this would be to have each beacon transmitting on a different frequency, but that runs me in to another set of design problems. Aside from buying different transmitters with different manufacturer set frequencies (which would severely limit the amount of nodes I could use), is there an easy way to do this? Building the transmitters myself using variable coils would likely be too large for a practical beacon.
Is there a simple solution? I've tried looking for a voltage-controlled variable frequency transmitter, but haven't had much luck as of yet.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated, as the project is still in its development stage.