Wireless Sensors Without A Microcontroller

While cruising the Internet one day, [Raj] found a really cool pair of RF transmitters and receivers manufactured by Dorji Applied Technology. These modules – the DRF5150S and DRF4432S – work just like any other ISM band transmitter receiver pair with the addition of inputs for analog and digital input pins. [Raj] put together a tutorial for using these radio modules, perfect if you need a very simple wireless connection for your next project.

[Raj]’s tutorial for using the Dorji sensor modules shows the transmitter has two operating modes. The first mode is a simple data transmitter, connected to a microcontroller through a UART connection. The ‘sensor’ mode doesn’t require a separate chip; the on-board STM8L151 microcontroller reads analog values on two pins and sends them over the air to the DRF4432S receiver module.

After programming the transmitter to function as a wireless sensor with an app released by Dorji, [Raj] plugged the transmitter into a breadboard with a battery and digital thermometer. The receiver module is plugged into a USB -> UART module, and data is pulled down from the sensor in a terminal.

[Raj] wrote a small app in Processing to display the data coming from the sensor. He has a wonderful animated thermometer showing the temperature reading of the sensor, the battery voltage and the strength of the wireless signal. Pretty easy, and a very helpful tutorial if you need an easy way to build a wireless sensor.

17 thoughts on “Wireless Sensors Without A Microcontroller

  1. Pack thousands into a container and “shotgun” Mars with them.

    Small parachutes or ribbons if the sensors are light enough should get them down in working order.

    Pick up the signals with an orbiter to create a very accurate surface temperature map.

  2. These modules look nice, but on eBay the nRF24L01+ modules are way cheaper — also using an SPI interface, and up to 2Mbps data rates with multi-node capabilities (in fact, at time of writing some sellers have a 50% off deal where you can get 2 for approx. $4 USD).

  3. While we are at wireless communication topic.

    What would be the most simple way to configure solar garden lights to communicate via wireless?
    The setup would be like this: one solar garden light with PIR sensor, once the PIR activated, then switch on the other 10-15 solar garden lights.

    I would like to light a pathway via solar garden light when motion detected,instead having them all night shining…

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