Will Nordic Work For My Application?

[eeboarder]

I'm working on a project where I need to recognize whether or not a wireless tag is within 5-10' of a stationary reader. I would develop the reader system using a module, and the tag (hopefully) would be off the shelf. The reader and tag combo would ideally be less than $50 combined.

I am not committed to a controller platform at this point. I just found Nordic. It looks promising. If anything, it appears to have more range than I would prefer. Are there any generic tags for purchase available? Is the range adjustable, possibly through antenna selection?

[Webmobi]

what protocol are u planning to use? bluetooth/wifi/RFID/Zigbee?

[Petter Myhre]

This sounds like a beacon application. Maybe you can use something like an estimote? And use a smart phone as a reader.

[eeboarder]

Thank you both for responding!

DMS, I am not committed to a protocol at the moment. Initially, I was thinking RFID as it wouldn't need to be paired and there are tags widely available off the shelf. Unfortunately, it would require UHF, which is outside of my budget.

Bluetooth looks to potentially work. It seems cost efficient and there are tags out there. I worry that it may be too much range (I want to have functionality that occurs after the tag leaves the reader's range). Maybe the range can be attenuated? Isn't Nordic a form of Bluetooth?

Wifi and Zigbee look applicable, but then I'd also have to develop the tags, which is undesirable.

Petter, I will look into estimote, but I am leary of developing smart phone apps and would prefer to stay in the embedded world. I will also try keyword searches for beacon applications.

[eeboarder]

I've been digging more this morning on this application. I am liking the Arduino plus nRF24L01+ combo as a reader and the nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart Beacon Kit as the beacon or tag. I feel like this combination fits my application well.

A couple questions:

1. I want my Arduino-based host system to trigger functionality once the beacon has left a 5'-10' area. Is there an option to reduce the range or be able to determine (generally) whether the beacon has suddenly left the area?

2. Can the host (nRF24L01+) and the tag (nRF51822) automatically find each other without having to be manually paired or connected? I'm looking to have a stationary host, then anyone with a tag walk up and interact with the host.

[Petter Myhre]

I don't have experience with Arduino plus nRF24L01+. What protocol are you planning to use?