Need suggestion for a wireless bi-directional serial cable

Wireless & IoT
1

I am attempting to make a video game controller wireless, to be exact, an N64 controller. And unfortunately I cannot find a product that allow this application. What got me started on this truly retro project was the SNES and NES wireless controllers I learned about at http://www.ppl-pilot.com.

Specifically, the N64 controller uses a bi-directional serial connection for data on a single cable/line. What happens is that the console essentially “pings” the controller for all the button states occasionally and also to make sure that the controller is plugged in. The controller sends bits to the console in real-time with the status of all the buttons. As far as I know the two devices do not communicate to each other at the same time. A much more detailed explanation can be found at http://www.mixdown.ca/n64dev/

Due to this the common wireless module implementation of UART_RX and UART_TX transmissions is ruled out since (from my knowledge) I cannot short these two together to make a single data line. What I am looking for are wireless modules that allow, essentially, bi-directional serial data cable replacement. Or put differently, modules that transcieve on one serial data line. If anyone could help me find a module that fits these specifications I would be truly greatful.

2

Hello,

You can probably use something like nRF401b transceivers for that, I’ve used them to build a wireless keypanel for a client’s 4 channel camera multiplexer (Button states are sent wirelessly on-press, LED states from the multiplexer are sent back straight after)

They’re a bit pricey (relatively speaking) and are available here: http://secure.oatleyelectronics.com//pr … c9445b254d

Note that they’re only half-duplex though, so you pull TXEN to high when you want to transmit, and LOW when you want to receive - you’ll get at least 10kbits/sec in practice, so you should still have plenty of room to play with polled and state-based changes

Edit: Sorry that assumes you have a microcontroller in there somewhere I guess, probably not what you want

Hope that helps!

-BaudThief

3

seems like a diode or two to wire-or TX lines would work.

cheapest plug and play serial port wireless extender I know of is the Maxstream XBee modules ($20 ea). Use them in modem AT mode, not ZigBee mode.