Which is the Best Choice for a Wireless Fencing Unit: Bluetooth or USB?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around creating a wireless fencing unit that connects to smartphones via Bluetooth or USB for referees. Two main options are proposed: using individual microcontrollers for each fencer that transmit via Bluetooth directly to a smartphone, or having fencers transmit wirelessly to a central microcontroller with a USB interface. Participants suggest exploring ZigBee modules from SparkFun for potential solutions and highlight the need for an app compatible with Android for data transfer. Concerns are raised about whether the Android platform can support the required data transmission for this project. The conversation emphasizes the importance of cost-effectiveness and minimal processing requirements in the design.
duffusd
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Hey everyone. I'm new on physics forums, and I have a project that I would appreciate some help...

This project is to make a wireless fencing unit (olympic fencing, not like farming...) that can connect via usb or bluetooth into a smartphone to simplify the tools for local referees. So, I have two choices:

first - each fencer has their own microcontroller or something that can transmit bluetooth, this will connect via bluetooth to the smartphone.
second - each fencer has their own microcontroller that can transmit wirelessly to a main microcontroller that has a usb interface compatible with android.

for those that don't know about electric fencing - simply put there are three wires, all this has to do is be able to read from two of them. one of the wires is the supplied power.

I am looking for the best bang for my buck. With minimal processing requirements, I don't need an expensive FPGA with a lot of memory for the microcontroller attached to the fencer.

Thank you for your time everyone!
 
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Take a look at ZigBee wireless modules. SparkFun has a good selection, along with links to relevant information and tutorials.
 
Thank you, I've been looking at sparkfun, and the closest thing I can find is this http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10393 bluetooth mate silver, but I can't tell if this will be able to send the signals that I need.
 
Poke around on: http://hackaday.com/

They frequently have articles about folks interfacing phones and uC using bluetooth.
 
duffusd said:
...
first - each fencer has their own microcontroller or something that can transmit bluetooth, this will connect via bluetooth to the smartphone.
second - each fencer has their own microcontroller that can transmit wirelessly to a main microcontroller that has a usb interface compatible with android. ...

If you're firm on using an Android as the referee's handheld, then you're locked into building a compatible "app" -- do you know if the Android platform even supports this type of data transfer?
 

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