I've been looking into this also. I have a couple of water pressures I
need to monitor on my ranch. An article in Circuit Cellar talks about a
product called SitePlayer. It is an embedded Internet Server. It has an
RJ45 output. and 8 discrete IO's, which could be connected to the output
of an ADC. Another server is a Dallas Semiconductor TINI. It has more
memory, serial port, RJ45 (LAN) and a One wire interface for sensors.
Besides generating web pages, it can be programmed to send out emails.
This and other server boards are discussed in a book called Embedded
Internet Design by Al Williams. I'm about half way through reading the
book. I figure all I'd need is one of these boards, a wireless
transceiver board, a small PV panel and a battery for remote use.
Please let me know what you find, this topic interests me also.
I know that most of us are here because of an interest in WiFi, but
this message relates to a different sort of wireless. I'd like to set-up
a small network of battery operated sensors which can report back to a
server wirelessly. My target is cheap, less than $50 per sensor, perhaps
much less. I don't need two-way communication. At the receiver end, I
want the output to be through some standard computer protocol, ASCII
text or similar through a serial or USB port. I don't want or need any
fancy display on the receiver. In fact I don't think the receiver should
need to know what kind of sensors are involved.
I think it ought to be possible but I haven't found anything commercial
that fits. I see some stuff between $100 and $200 that's as big as a
paperback book. I see the smart dust stuff for even more but they also
have a processor. I have a clock with a 2-inch-square remote temperature
sensor that would work except that the receiver is hidden inside the
clock. But the whole package, including the clock, was about $30, so my
price point looks realistic to me.
Initially, I'm interested in temperature sensors, but there are other
kinds of sensor I'd like to incorporate in the future. Each sensor
should make a wireless report about every five minutes and the messages
should include a unique identifier for each sensor.
Can anyone here point me to a suitable product? If not, I'm willing to
do some assembly provided I'm confident in the design. I'm not a EE, so
I'm not going to try to design a circuit or select components.
