How to embedd a wireless receiver on a IC device

Hi Victor,

You have a whole lot of both IR and RF devices to choose from to implement remote control.  I know some of the overhead fans use an IR remote, and there a many examples of how to hook them into your Adruino or other embedded processor board.

Texas Instruments has an integrated RF board that plugs into their TI430 processor family that I will be playing with over the winter.  They are not very expensive, $20 USD per set, so you can get into the RF control pretty easy.

There are also RF and IR boards for the Arduino family with plenty of software support.

So if you want to learn, there is a lot of open information available for you.

I hope this helps,

DAB

Hi Victor,

Sounds like you are sort of asking about the whole world of embedded development.  There is not one single answer to your question.

Some home hobbyists want to hack into an existing circuit to add wireless control to an existing product.  This usually involves a lot of investigation, experimentation and sometimes a few smoke and flame failures to figure out how to control something that was probably not intended for wireless control.  The best bet here is to analyze the existing device using scopes, meters, etc. to find something that can be controlled with a simple circuit, usually a few digital, PWM or analog signals.  Then you could cut the control signals of the original device and add your own CPU and wireless radio circuit, usually bringing the original control output signal as input into your circuit, changing it based on the wireless control signals, and sending a new signal back out to the device. 

Sometimes this can damage the original device beyond repair and almost always voids the warranty, so it is not generally recommended for expensive stuff.  How much control you can add this way depends a lot on the original product circuit.  Simplistic stuff, like turning power on and off, can sometimes be easy to add control to, more complex products or control methods could be difficult to impossible to control this way.

Some products are controlled by CPU's and the buttons or controls are just input devices to the CPU.  If the original circuit is designed for a wireless add-on, then adding wireless is just a matter of adding a wireless radio or transceiver circuit to communicate with the CPU.

Most products are not designed this way if they are not expected to have a wireless option, so adding wireless involves redesigning the entire CPU or control circuit board to interface to a wireless transceiver.  So, yes, the entire control board would generally be replaced. Product companies hire numerous embedded engineers and launch expensive development programs to add this kind of control to existing products they want to upgrade to wireless.  It's not usually a simple thing.

The world of embedded control is pretty broad, so there's lots of variety and different kinds of design.

Hope this gives you a better picture.

Bob