Good evening, thank you for allowing me to join.
I am an absolute novice when it comes to microprocessors and am in need of some help and advice before embarking on a project. First though a little background on me so you can gain an idea of my abilities and potential success! I am a mechanical engineer by trade with 22 years and a basic understanding of electronics. I have built a few little electronic kits (velleman type stuff) and dabble a little with some breadboard circuits from time to time. I was once a member of a game modification group, where I learned some Python coding. I have also created some code in Visual Basic for use in the MS Office suite, and as a kid had a Spectrum which wasted hours typing in the BASIC code from magazines. Also learned enough BASIC to write my own programme way back!
The project I want to embark on is for a remote control drone I have. It has an IR emitter for 'battling' otehr drones, but I would like to create a ground based 'target' for practice at home. I have so far made a basic target using a TSOP receiver which functions well, but reacts to pretty much any IR transmitter (such as a remote control). While researching ways to try and isolate it purely to the drones emitter I came across the PICAXE microprocessors. It seems the 08M2 would be able to support this, allowing me to try and 'decode' the IR wavelength so the chip reacts to that and lights up an LED or two, plus perhaps play a sound.
My questions for you then are, would PICAXE be suitable for this? Would the 08M2 Starter pack be the right choice and would this be within my capabilities once I have refreshed myself with some coding?
I would appreciate any feedback and support you might be able to offer.
I am an absolute novice when it comes to microprocessors and am in need of some help and advice before embarking on a project. First though a little background on me so you can gain an idea of my abilities and potential success! I am a mechanical engineer by trade with 22 years and a basic understanding of electronics. I have built a few little electronic kits (velleman type stuff) and dabble a little with some breadboard circuits from time to time. I was once a member of a game modification group, where I learned some Python coding. I have also created some code in Visual Basic for use in the MS Office suite, and as a kid had a Spectrum which wasted hours typing in the BASIC code from magazines. Also learned enough BASIC to write my own programme way back!
The project I want to embark on is for a remote control drone I have. It has an IR emitter for 'battling' otehr drones, but I would like to create a ground based 'target' for practice at home. I have so far made a basic target using a TSOP receiver which functions well, but reacts to pretty much any IR transmitter (such as a remote control). While researching ways to try and isolate it purely to the drones emitter I came across the PICAXE microprocessors. It seems the 08M2 would be able to support this, allowing me to try and 'decode' the IR wavelength so the chip reacts to that and lights up an LED or two, plus perhaps play a sound.
My questions for you then are, would PICAXE be suitable for this? Would the 08M2 Starter pack be the right choice and would this be within my capabilities once I have refreshed myself with some coding?
I would appreciate any feedback and support you might be able to offer.