Hi,
I want to put together a full-duplex RF link for low baud rate data
transmission between to devices.One channel will be used for remote control
and the other for telemetry.The traffic will consist of fixed-length data
packets.Error detection is needed(a CRC should do) but packets need not be
resent in case of an error.PICs seem to have everything I need to do
this(UARTs for the link,ADCs for the controller etc.) but I'm not sure about
how suitable they are for RF links.The requirements are:

1)a ~9600kbps(or less if necessary) full-duplex link
2)a ~300-500m range(more would be quite welcome)
3)reliability:the link should not be lost for more than a few ms while in
range(that is it should deal with resync in case of sync loss quickly)

The questions I have are:
1)Can the built-in UART deal with a reliable RF link (that is
provide a more or less constant flow of data in normal conditions)?I'm asking
mainly because I've read in an article somewhere on the PIClist faq that HW
UARTS aren't best suited for RF transmission).Also in case of a framing error
what is the best way to resync the channels.I assume that the method
described in article on synchronizing at the byte level will work with
PICs(will it? some assumptions were made on the UART behavior) but how does
the receiver let the transmitter know that sync was lost.Obviously we can't
depend on the second channel because (in a very bad day) they might loose sync
simultaneously.
2)What other things should I look out for?Like using Manchester code or not(I
assume this is necessary as some transmission might include long 1 or 0
strings which would result in clock drift),how the physical link should be
established(FM RF,RF modem chip),etc.
3)Out of curiosity.If all the above is possible and doesn't cost a fortune(it
shouldn't) why do all commercial remote controls(RC cars etc.) use one analog
channel per 'stick' instead of just reading a bunch of data with an MC and
send it as digital data packets(like I want to do).It would give you as many
channels as you can use with a 9600kbps link.

Thanks in advance,
Dimitris

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads