No touch gate opening?
- Thread starter cgull
- Start date
I just bought a couple gadgets to try out including a couple 2.4GHz transceiver modules and a standard RF remote control/receiver.
With the transceiver I am going to try having a transmitter unit in the car (transmitting periodically) and the receiver at the gate. If the module supports reading signal strength I will be able to open when it hits a certain value (ie: I can 'tune' it for a rough distance to open). Otherwise I can open it when it receives a signal from the transmitter unit. All signal strength related logic for gate opening is heavily dependent on the environment of course.
With the RF control/clicker (a key fob with 4 buttons) I am planning to take it apart and wire it to transmit every couple seconds. When the receiver 'hears' the signal it will open. The range will probably have to be controlled by modifying the antenna so it's not really a great option. In my case where the cars are parked is a decently long distance away from the gate so there shouldn't be any openings just from the car sitting inside the gate.
As I mentioned I have an Elk M1 but I'm not going to have this wireless opener trigger any rules. It will be just for opening the gate as a convenience.
With the transceiver I am going to try having a transmitter unit in the car (transmitting periodically) and the receiver at the gate. If the module supports reading signal strength I will be able to open when it hits a certain value (ie: I can 'tune' it for a rough distance to open). Otherwise I can open it when it receives a signal from the transmitter unit. All signal strength related logic for gate opening is heavily dependent on the environment of course.
With the RF control/clicker (a key fob with 4 buttons) I am planning to take it apart and wire it to transmit every couple seconds. When the receiver 'hears' the signal it will open. The range will probably have to be controlled by modifying the antenna so it's not really a great option. In my case where the cars are parked is a decently long distance away from the gate so there shouldn't be any openings just from the car sitting inside the gate.
As I mentioned I have an Elk M1 but I'm not going to have this wireless opener trigger any rules. It will be just for opening the gate as a convenience.
At first I was of a different opinion but using the home wifi (extending it where you need) is not a bad way of doing this. You can tell when the phone connects to the network and leaves the network which is nice. Granted it's dependent on the phone keeping wifi on but there always are caveats.
drvnbysound
Senior Member
batwater said:
He does not have any PC based HA software and doesn't have any plans to utilize any at this time.
He does have an Android phone right now, but he is debating switching to Apple and wants the solution to be device agnostic anyway.
I mentioned app development earlier, and that was part of us thinking about utilizing a GeoFence approach via phone. The issue there is the GPS usage required, and having to manage that on the phone... hence the transition to other hardware approaches, for example a RPi with a GPS shield.
drvnbysound
Senior Member
Glenn said:
In the case I mentioned... the friend is currently using a dedicated WRT54G device that was installed in the vehicle. This removes the need to have the [phone] WiFi on at all times... or having the phone at all (what if you left it at home by accident?), and provides a greater range capability.
pete_c
Guru
Easier than the tested in vehicle Linksys WRT-54G would be to utilize a modded with OpenWRT TP-Link microrouter with the GPS antenna attached and the device just velcroed to the windshield.
The base CPU of the Linksys WRT-54G is still today a Broadcom BCM4712 running at 216 MHz.
Note that the microrouter CPU is only 400Mhz and you do have limited space for applications et al stuff. An external antenna would increase the range. A GSM stick would utilize a cellular network. You could then also test out all of the scenarios with the modded microrouter. (and use it as a little mini GPS tracker).
1 - using 802.11X
2 - little wireless FOB (inside of the case)- well the little RFID transmitters mentioned earlier that I use today.
3 - 3G/4G/LTE
+ a GPS board inside of the case.
You get more bang for the buck here and a smaller footprint. There is still room in the case with the lid on for a small RPi style GPS. The 120VAC to 5VDC part of the main board is about 1/3 of the space of the little motherboard in it.
+
The base CPU of the Linksys WRT-54G is still today a Broadcom BCM4712 running at 216 MHz.
Note that the microrouter CPU is only 400Mhz and you do have limited space for applications et al stuff. An external antenna would increase the range. A GSM stick would utilize a cellular network. You could then also test out all of the scenarios with the modded microrouter. (and use it as a little mini GPS tracker).
1 - using 802.11X
2 - little wireless FOB (inside of the case)- well the little RFID transmitters mentioned earlier that I use today.
3 - 3G/4G/LTE
+ a GPS board inside of the case.
You get more bang for the buck here and a smaller footprint. There is still room in the case with the lid on for a small RPi style GPS. The 120VAC to 5VDC part of the main board is about 1/3 of the space of the little motherboard in it.
+
George M said:
Root is not required to get 95% of the functionality of Tasker. There are certain plugins that require root to access low level areas of Android. None of my current devices are rooted (including a Note 10.1 2014 edition) and I am quite successful in interfacing between devices and between platforms. AutoVoice does not require root nor does AutoRemote to get 99% of their capability.
For Android the RasPi can be interfaced via Python to AutoRemote (messaging / middleware if you will) running on the Android device. Additionally, AutoLocation can provide the geofencing capability, it's already programmed and automatic. If the phone is within reach of the router then communication can occur direct over the house wifi, and if not connected, can occur over cellular connection. AutoRemote handles communication switching automatically. In case you are interested, here is a link to the AutoRemote plugin
Device agnostic is a difficult thing given Apple's walled garden, especially in the realm we're talking about here.
Device agnostic is a difficult thing given Apple's walled garden, especially in the realm we're talking about here.
drvnbysound said:
drvnbysound
Senior Member
batwater said:
Not if the solution doesn't utilize a cell phone or utilization of... such as the RFID solution that Pete mentioned earlier.
Or use a solution I talked about with iBeacons which is an approved Apple and Android technology. Another benefit of this solution is it works anywhere, even in your car, since your phone is the RFID receiver. This can tell your alarm panel when you enter your car, for example, even if your car is in the middle of nowhere (as long as there is a cell signal.) put another iBeacon in the garage and your panel will know when you approach your garage. iBeacons are about $25 and battery life can be 2 years plus.
Let me explain how iBeacons work, for those that don't know.
Instead if an RFID receiver and an RFID transmitter, things are reversed. iBeacons are Bluetooth 4 transmitters that you put at fixed locations, in your garage, for example. The RFID receiver is your phone which receives Bluetooth. Every phone nowadays does this.
So your phone moves with you, but the iBeacons remain at fixed locations like your garage, or they can be in moving locations, like your car.
If your phone has an app. that is iBeacon capable, it can use your phone's Bluetooth to detect when its near an iBeacon, which are individually coded. If your iPhone application is SPACE (the HAIku successor) then it is iBeacon capable. But wait, SPACE is an app. that can control your OMNI panel remotely. So putting all this together, all you need is iBeacons to be able to control your OMNI panel from anywhere.
Place iBeacon in garage. When SPACE detects iBeacon, it tells your OMNI to open garage door. You don't need any RFID receivers, and your RFID transmitters are iBeacons. If you placed an iBeacon in your car, when you approached your car, your OMNI could announce in your house for your wife that you were in your car. Lets see you do that with the simple RFID solution discussed here.
Currently SPACE only supports iPhones and iPads so if you have Android or ELK you might be out-of-luck. But if your using an iPhone, and an OMNI, its a pretty cool solution, not that it can't be done on Android or ELK in the future.
Let me explain how iBeacons work, for those that don't know.
Instead if an RFID receiver and an RFID transmitter, things are reversed. iBeacons are Bluetooth 4 transmitters that you put at fixed locations, in your garage, for example. The RFID receiver is your phone which receives Bluetooth. Every phone nowadays does this.
So your phone moves with you, but the iBeacons remain at fixed locations like your garage, or they can be in moving locations, like your car.
If your phone has an app. that is iBeacon capable, it can use your phone's Bluetooth to detect when its near an iBeacon, which are individually coded. If your iPhone application is SPACE (the HAIku successor) then it is iBeacon capable. But wait, SPACE is an app. that can control your OMNI panel remotely. So putting all this together, all you need is iBeacons to be able to control your OMNI panel from anywhere.
Place iBeacon in garage. When SPACE detects iBeacon, it tells your OMNI to open garage door. You don't need any RFID receivers, and your RFID transmitters are iBeacons. If you placed an iBeacon in your car, when you approached your car, your OMNI could announce in your house for your wife that you were in your car. Lets see you do that with the simple RFID solution discussed here.
Currently SPACE only supports iPhones and iPads so if you have Android or ELK you might be out-of-luck. But if your using an iPhone, and an OMNI, its a pretty cool solution, not that it can't be done on Android or ELK in the future.
drvnbysound
Senior Member
ano said:
I'm confused... if the iBeacon is in the car (and obviously paired to the phone) how does it know that I'm 100-ft away from my home or 100-miles away to trigger the garage door properly?
Secondly, that's not [currently] device agnostic as you stated that SPACE only supports Apple devices. The friend that I am trying to help 1) wants an mobile device agnostic solution and 2) has an Elk system.
Having said that, I do see where this technology has some appeal, but I'm not seeing it for this application (or the OPs) yet... maybe my eyes need to be opened more! The reason I say not for the OP, is that he wanted a solution that allowed he and anyone else who had access... "anyone who needs access" can very likely apply to people without iDevices.
pete_c
Guru
Some more numbers relating to the RFID stuff...
2/27/2015 6:18:01 PM Event Event Trigger "RFID Trigger"
2/27/2015 6:18:01 PM Device Control Device: Outside Garage Coach - Ch: 1 (@15+18+17) ON
2/27/2015 6:18:03 PM email Email successfully sent for RFID
2/27/2015 6:18:30 PM Event Event Trigger "Driveway sensor
2/27/2015 6:18:30 PM Event Event Trigger "Chime"
2/27/2015 6:18:30 PM Event Running script and waiting
2/27/2015 6:18:01 PM Event Event Trigger "RFID Trigger"
2/27/2015 6:18:01 PM Device Control Device: Outside Garage Coach - Ch: 1 (@15+18+17) ON
2/27/2015 6:18:03 PM email Email successfully sent for RFID
2/27/2015 6:18:30 PM Event Event Trigger "Driveway sensor
2/27/2015 6:18:30 PM Event Event Trigger "Chime"
2/27/2015 6:18:30 PM Event Running script and waiting
First you don't really pair iBeacons in the Bluetooth sense. Its more like RFID where the receiver identifies the iBeacon.drvnbysound said:
Second, if you have an iBeacon in your car, your phone only knows you are in the car, you need an iBeacon in the garage if you want your phone to know your near the garage. You can also get some range info, but its rough. So if you want to detect your in a car AND near the garage, it takes two iBeacons, but this can use this to your advantage. You could make a rule that says you need to be IN the car for at least 5 minutes THEN when you approach the garage, open the door. This would prevent the garage door opening everytime you walked by your garage.
iBeacons are an Apple standard, but Android apps have appeared that use it. But, ignoring that, there are similar standards for Android, and many beacons broadcast multiple standards. So, that being the case, the only thing stopping the technology from being used on ELK on Android is an Android developer (or ELK's mobile app) needs to support it. I don't know enough about ELK mobile apps to know if this happened yet, but if not, its only software.
Also, anyone techee enough to buy RFID modules shouldn't have trouble writting an Android app to do it. The BIG advantage of this over RFID stuff is that your phone already has most of what you need to do this, and most people carry phones around with them. Few people carry RFID transmitters with them. Plus, this technology can do more than RFID. With RFID, how do you create a rule that says you need to be in your car 5 minutes, then when you approach your garage it opens? Yes, with RFID you would only look for the transmitter approahing, but with beacons you can do more complex logic.
Im not saying this can solve all your problems, but it is another solution to throw out for anyone techee enough that can do what has already been suggested.
pete_c
Guru
Set up another test with the RFID.
I am seeing it now regularly turning on about 30 seconds before I go on to the driveway.
Personally having it trigger the opening of the garage / gate would be too soon for me at 30 seconds; that is me though.
Easiest way to check position is just to be logged on to the home automation server (Homeseer) and watching when the RFID device changes in vivo.
I do have a clear view of the house as I go past the entrance of the subdivision. See drawing.
I am seeing it now regularly turning on about 30 seconds before I go on to the driveway.
Personally having it trigger the opening of the garage / gate would be too soon for me at 30 seconds; that is me though.
Easiest way to check position is just to be logged on to the home automation server (Homeseer) and watching when the RFID device changes in vivo.
I do have a clear view of the house as I go past the entrance of the subdivision. See drawing.
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