Is there any way to build a device capable of sending an ID signal with IR or RF?
For example, imagine I want my TV to know whose remote is being used (assuming everyone has a different remote).
I thought about assigning a different frequency to each "user", but if we had one million users, that method would me impossible.
My second idea was to send a second signal via WiFi, which based on GPS location would know if I'm close enough to the TV to use the IR signal too.
The TV example is only an idea, not the purpose I'm seeking.
Thank you for your time.
Gabriel.
Best Answer
This seems possible. However you need to write complete protocol by yourself.
Whenever you press a button on IR remote, it sends out a stream of data which is decoded on the TV end. The received data is compared to a table and necessary action is taken. For ex - When 52487 is received, turn the volume up, when 65472 is received, turn off the TV and so on. This is how it appears on a higher level. On a lower level, the data is modulated using a 36 kHz carrier frequency.
You will have to reprogram it to include an ID data packet. For ex - if you assign 4 bytes for ID, you can have a maximum of 2^32 unique IDs (=4294967296). I think that should be enough for your job. If not, you can always assign a longer packet size.
Working:
Suppose one of the ID is A82H. So you need to send 52487A82H to turn the volume up and your TV should know that last four bytes are being used for ID.
This can also be implemented using RF. nRF24L01+ is a cheap RF module and packs a lot of features. I'd say it's the best economical RF module currently available in the market. Libraries for Arduino are available.