Arduino + WiFly + iPhone question

Wireless & IoT
1

Hey guys, for my final project in my introductory electrical engineering class I’m working on taking an R/C car and interfacing it with an Arduino and WiFly so that it can be controlled with an iPhone without a middleman (i.e. computer, router, etc.). I’m using an WiFly Shield (sku: WRL-09367) stacked on top of an Arduino Duemilanove.

Currently I’ve got it set up so that while the Arduino+WiFly are plugged into my laptop I can control the movement of the car using basic keyboard input into the serial montitor. I have the WiFly in ad-hoc mode and am able to connect to the network it broadcasts using my iPhone, but from there I’m stuck. I’ve scoured the internet and tried finding solutions, but found nothing that directly applies to using both a single WiFly and an iPhone. I do have the TouchOSC app but am not sure how to properly interface or code that in my case. I also have the free WiFlyClient app from Roving Networks and am able to connect to my WiFly and access it’s remote serial interface and send commands using my phone.

My question is: is it possible to use that remote interface in WiFlyClient to send commands to the WiFly that can be sent to the Arduino and control the car? I’ve read over the user manual and I’m not familiar enough with code and such that I could figure it out on my own.

Also, would it be possible to use just the TouchOSC app to control my setup without a middleman? I’ve seen videos on youtube that claim it’s been done but I haven’t found any help and because I’m just a beginner with Arduino and wireless networks I’m lost at this point.

I appreciate any help I can get. Thanks.

2

If you can connect to Wifly in adhoc with the iPhone, does the wilfy then have a way to monitor what it receivers from wifi? For example, can you connect the wifly to the processor, have the processor streaming it’s input to the PC monitor. If you can get this far, then is will be much easier to sort out a way to get the iphone to talk to it. If the touchOSC will allow you to configure some values to send over, then it may work. I have never tried to use adhoc as a method of standalone operation.

3

When I enter the “$$$” to enter command mode using the app on my iPhone while the WiFly+Arduino are connected to my computer the serial monitor on the computer outputs OPEN, and if I exit command mode remotely the computer serial monitor outputs CLOS. It doesn’t actually show any of the inputs that I send via the app, it just recognizes that it is being accessed by a remote device. I’m not sure how to get that data to go through, and I think that’s the main problem at the moment.

4

When you open a connection to the WIFLY, you do get OPEN. When you close the connection, you get CLOS. You are not entering command mode obviously with the phone, you are simply opening a TCP connection. $$$ should produce a CMD response if you were entering command mode. exit should produce EXIT response. Post the app you have for the iPhone, I will download it later and see how it works on my end. I have only the GSX RN134, not sure how different the device you have is.