Subject:
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Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:04:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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17948 times
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In lugnet.trains, Brian Davis wrote:
> It [Bluetooth] could, but I'm not sure what the increase in cost would be. IR is extremely
> mature technology, and can be done without and special hardware; very, very
> cheap, yet (within its limitations) fairly robust (especially LEGO
> implementation of it, avoiding signal collision). For Bluetooth, you need a
> special chipset (usually not cheap, and I'm not sure even getting cheaper, just
> better), as well as constant power consumption (when BT is "on", it is using
> power, even if it's not connected or active). I agree it would increase the
> possibilities significantly, but I think it would have a significant increase in
> cost. The "master-slave" nature of the system might have some advantage here
> however: each loco or powered feature needs only the ability to have a single
> "slave" connection to a "master" that can handle many slaves, so the slaves
> might end up relatively cheap, with more of the cost ending up in the
> controller... which could, quite reasonably, be an NXT (on the high side of
> price, but the flexibility!).
Bluetooth is indeed probably way too expensive and complex. Perhaps the
costs would go down, but probably not enough to make this cost-effective.
There are cheaper radio systems, like 804.15.4 (ZigBee) that would make more
sense than Bluetooth (but you would lose the ability to control the train from a
cell phone or NXT), but they probably are still more expensive than IR, and the
licensing issue is still there.
I hope that Lego would consider the possibility of releasing the connectors and
appropriate enclosures to allow third-party vendors to make radio components for
Power Functions, much like their arrangement with HiTechnic with respect to NXT
sensors, which are even sold on the Lego web site. These vendors can make a
profit at much lower volumes. A $30 remote/receiver pair may not make sense for
Lego, but it may be a good product for one of these vendors.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: LEGO 9V Train Communication II
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| (...) It could, but I'm not sure what the increase in cost would be. IR is extremely mature technology, and can be done without and special hardware; very, very cheap, yet (within its limitations) fairly robust (especially LEGO implementation of it, (...) (16 years ago, 28-Dec-07, to lugnet.trains)
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