We have received a number of requests for making Infrared Transmitter / Receiver modules compatible with Raspberry Pi. Our USB Infrared Transceiver module is compatible with Rpi , however we have decided to actually make a add-on Infrared Transceiver board / HAT for Rpi. The board is designed with Infrared Transmitter , Infrared Receiver and Olimex UEXT interconnect sections.
Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver Features:
Infrared Transceiver add-on / HAT for Raspberry Pi
Infrared Transmitter @940nm with 10+ meters range
Infrared Receiver up to 40khz and 10+ meters of receive range
On-board UEXT Interconnect for connecting Olimex sensors and boards.
Open Source Hardware.
We have completed the design of the board. We expect to have it in stock in mid April 2016.
Read more by following the link below ( http://www.irdroid.eu )
If you need an custom designed infrared remote control App for Android, we offer an inexpensive infrared remote control App Development service. You can order a custom designed application for your infrared remote control appliances right away at very competitive cost.
What’s Included?
Design of the App user interface
Digitizing your product infrared remote control
Programming your Infrared Remote control App.
Testing and Delivery of APK files
Publishing in Google Play (*on request)
How it Works?
Once you make an order for your custom design application, we will send you a customer questionnaire that you have to fill. The customer questionnaire includes some standard inputs that we need to have in order to develop your application. For more information you may also visit : http://goo.gl/RE5Q0O
We will also request:
The Product / Appliance infrared remote control and / or the infrared codes.
The App Name that you choose.
Logo for the Application.
Any Samples? How will it look like?
We have the possibility to practically digitize your physical remote control, and therefore the App user interface will look like the physical IR remote control.
The video below demonstrates an app, developed by us for controlling a TESY MC2014 home panel heater unit. The App was developed using the same technique we have described above.
Video
How long will it take?
After the order is placed, we have 30 days to develop the App for you . We start counting the days after the day we receive the physical infrared remote control from the customer or when we receive the infrared remote control codes.
How much does it costs?
The cost for the above service is fixed to $800. To make an order you have to pay 50% of the above price in advance and the remaining amaunt when we deliver the APK files to you.
Order Now
Price : $400
The above proposal is valid for developing an Infrared Remote Control Application for Smartphones with Android that have a built in Infrared Transmitter / Blaster. Most of the high-end Android Smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S5, S6, HTC One M8, HTC One M9 etc support this feature. We also provide the above service for Smartphones that lacks infrared transmitter / blaster. In this case a module like the Irdroid WiFi to Infrared adapter or the Irdroid Bluetooth has to be used in order to provide ability for Infrared transmission.
In this blog post I will share my experience on how to rapidly develop custom infrared remote controls for Android using the Irdroid Hardware modules, and in particular the Irdroid WiFi to Infrared adapter module and the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver module.
You will learn how to:
Rapidly develop Infrared remote control Apps for Android
Design custom remote control screens / templates.
The winter is coming and i have decided to purchase additional heater unit for our living room.After i made a short investigation on the Internet I found that there are plenty of home heating units, with ability to be controlled via small infrared remote controls like this one. In my particular case the heating unit is Tesy (Bulgarian brand) MC 2014. The unit comes with a small infrared remote control, that allows the user to set the heater temperature, to turn on/off the unit, to set a on/off timer as well as to set the unit to work @ 1000W or 2000W.
Immediatly after i purchased I have decided to make a simple App for Android, showing the same small remote control interface on the Android Smartphone screen, and to allow the user to control the unit via the APP over WIFI, using the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter module.
So far so good , but how to transmit the same codes that the remote transmits to the Tesy MC 2014 unit ?
Well, the Irdroid WiFi to Infrared adapter consist of two modules – the main wifi unit and the USB Infrared Transceiver unit. The Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver unit can be used to transmit and receive infrared signals. So I used the Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver to scan the remote codes, using Winlirc / LIRC . In my particular case I have used Winlirc and the built in irrecord command line tool to record the infrared remote control codes and to generate a file with that codes.
After I have scanned the Infrared remote control buttons of Tesy MC 2014, I ended up with the following file:
# Please make this file available to others
# by sending it to <lirc@bartelmus.de>
#
# this config file was automatically generated
# using lirc-0.9.0(IRdroid USB IR Transceiver)
#
# contributed by
#
# brand: Tesy MC2014
# model no. of remote control:
# devices being controlled by this remote:
#
begin remote
name Tesy
bits 16
flags SPACE_ENC
eps 30
aeps 100
header 8969 4395
one 599 1607
zero 599 489
ptrail 604
repeat 8981 2156
pre_data_bits 16
pre_data 0xFF
gap 39670
repeat_gap 95433
toggle_bit_mask 0x0
begin codes
power 0x50AF
plus 0x20DF
minus 0xE01F
timer 0xF807
temp 0x08F7
end codes
end remote
The above file is used by LIRC to regenerate the Infrared Signals transmitted by the TESY MC 2014 remote. This file is to be downloaded to the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter. The procedure for adding new lirc conf files to the Irdroid / LIRC database include sending an email with the file to info@irdroid.com and adding the file in the Irdroid WIFI database. After that I have added the Tesy lirc conf file to the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter by visiting the link https://irdroid.com/db/database/index.php?dir=Tesy%2F and clicking on the file Tesy.conf (make sure that you are connected to the Irdroid WiFI to infrared adapter and the adapter itself is connected via ethernet cable to your home router)
So finally the Tesy.conf file is in the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter unit and I can now connect to the adapter using the Amote app for android and control the Tesy MC 2014 from the Amote App.
That is OK but i want to have the same UI design as the original remote, so what to do ?
I have decided to take a picture of the remote, I have used GIMP to edit that picture in order to use it directly as a base for my Tesy remote UI. So now I have the same picture of the Tesy MC 2014 remote , but how to make the buttons on the picure clickable / tapable. I decided to use a second picture loaded the same way as the main ui picture but not visible defining color regions at the places where the buttons are on the original Tesy Remote picture. The user sees the remote control picture and after he tap on the relevant button it is recognized by color from the reference picture and a particular action is assigned for every button.
Once started the application main activity uses the JAVA LIRC client library to connect to the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter and to establish a connection with the listening LIRC server Establishing a socket connection the the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter is very easy. You need to add the following in your onCreate() method:
client = new LircClient(“192.168.2.1”,8765, true, 3000);
After a connection is estavlished you may start sending commands to the listening LIRC server by issuing:
For the five buttons that we have on the Tesy MC 2014 we assign the following lirc commands as per the LIRC conf file that we previously made:
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”, “timer”, 1); // Set unit timer
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”, “temp”, 1); // Set unit Temperature
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”, “power”, 1); // Power On / Off
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”, “minus”, 1); // minus
client.sendIr1Command(“Tesy”, “plus”, 1); // plus
Every command has an assigned color from the mask image loaded in parallel with the main UI image, once the user tap in that color region the relevant command is fired up to the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter and the relevant Infared code is transmitted.
So, voila we have a custom remote control, developed in 2 hours and a nice heater for the cold winter nights 🙂
We have published the firmware source code of the Irdroid WiFi to infrared adapter. The unit is based on RT5350F MIPS SoC and it runs OpenWRT and Linux Kernel 3.10 . Feel free to modify the code:
Irdroid USB is another port of LIRC for Android. The difference here is that it supports the USB Infrared Transceiver. The Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver can be directly connected to the target Android Smartphone / Tablet via an micro USB OTG cable. The application is again open source and it is perfect for Android Developers.
Many people has asked me weather it is possible to control Air Conditioners via Irdroid / LIRC . The Answer is yes, it is and there are people out there who are
already controlling AC’s with Irdroid. Our Friend Ben Mitchell controls his
mobile air conditioner Amcor sf10000e with the Irdroid WIFI to infrared adapter and the Amote app for Android.
The Current Irdroid / Lirc Database contains many , but not all the remotes on
the market so Ben, has used the USB Infrared Transceiver to record the sf10000e
remote control keys, then he has uploaded the created file to his Irdroid wifi
unit. Now he is able to control not only his TV’s and STB’s but also his Air Con
ditioner unit. He was so kind to provide us with the scanned remote codes , now
the codes for this AC unit is included in Irdroid database. We will also send the file to
the admins of the LIRC/Winlirc projects so that other people can also benefit.
Thomas Jetzinger, a student at University of Applied Science in Hagenberg, Austria has Developed an application for Android which is Voice Remote Control for TVs,radios, STBs etc. The Application will allow physically disabled people to easily control their home TVs , STBs and other IR controlled home appliances with simple voice commands.
Thomas has used Irdroid WIFI version 3.0 module as a wifi to Infrared interface which allows his application to “talk” infrared via wifi.
Currently Thomas is a participant in a contest called “Clash of the apps”. If you Like Thomas idea and if you want to support him , please vote for “Voice Remote Control” by clicking on the link below (you can login with Google+ or Facebook):
The Irdroid Macro Remote is a infrared remote control client (LIRC Client) for Android, that will allow you to create infrared macro sequences or group infrared commands.The application is perfect for automating infrared remote control task such as turning on the lights via infrared, executing a sequence of IR commands in a click of a button. With this app you can automate your TV, STB, DVB Audio and many other infrared controlled equipment. The application requires a fully setup and operational LIRC daemon (for Linux) or Winlirc (for Windows). The application is specially designed to work with the Irdroid WIFI infrared remote control modules. If you want to access the full benefits that the app provide, you may consider purchasing a Irdroid WIFI module from https://irdroid.com
App features:
– Create Infrared Remote control macro sequences
– Standard support for LIRC and Winlirc
– A database with more than 2000 supported remote (needs a configured LIRC daemon)
– Add macro shortcuts to home screen for ease of access
– Infrared Automation via infrared macro sequences
– Execute a macro directly from the list of macros by tapping on the macro
– Execute a macro via tapping on its home screen shortcut
Sample usage:
– Adjust the picture settings automatically on your TV via infrared macro sequence
– Set the sleep timeout of your TV
– Turn on all your TV’s and set the STB to your favourite channel
– Turn on your STB, switch to your favourite channel and select equalizer preset
– Turn on/off LED IR controlled lighting adjust colors etc.
Irdroid Macro Remote
Irdroid Macro Remote
Macro Options
Macro Shortcuts
Settings
About Screen
Application usage:
The application allows you to setup custom Infrared remote control sequences/macros, from the app main screen tap on Add in order to add new Macro. Enter the name of your new macro and tap on SAVE. In order to add command sequences to your new macro long click on the newly created macro and select “Edit Macro” a new screen will pop up and you can use the Add button to add custom commands to your newly created macro. To execute a macro just tap on the macro name. After you create your new macro you may create a custom shortcut to the macro by long tapping on the macro name from the list of macros. Tap on Shortcut and a new shortcut to your macro will be added to the home screen. Executing a macro from a shortcut is a matter of just tapping on the shortcut.
The application is open source, licensed under GNU GPL v2.0 . You are free to distribute, modify and use for commercial purposes. You can read more about this application by visiting https://irdroid.com .
Before rating this app please make sure that you have a fully operational LIRC server running, the app will not work (will not show a list of remotes if there is no server to connect to)
If you are Developer, and you are interested in integrating Irdroid WIFI with your application, you can find the Details below for the API of Irdroid WIFI/ LIRC:
The Irdroid WIFI module has a LIRC daemon listening fo incoming connections on TCP port 8765 , when a connection is established, the following statements / commands are available:
Available Commands:
LIST – list all configured remote names
LISTREMOTE list all codes of REMOTE
LISTREMOTECODE – list only CODE of REMOTE
SEND_ONCE – send CODE [CODE …] once
SEND_START – start repeating CODE
SEND_STOP – stop repeating CODE
Basically in order to communicate with the LIRCD daemon that runs on Irdroid WIFI you need to establish a TCP/IP socket connection to host:
host: 192.168.2.1
port: 8765
After the connection is established you may start sending the above mentioned commands for querying the server and or for Start /Stop sending remote codes.
Below is an example in JAVA called LIRC Client which will save you a lot of time and you can simply add it in you Android APP and start communicating with Irdroid WIFI straight forward.
We have tested Irdroid v3.0 WiFi with Amote ( Amote ) , Lirc client for Android ( Lirc-client ) . Both apps provide the same functionalities, custom button layouts, custom IR macros definition, loading remotes from the Lirc server, button repeat, slide through remote screens, image icons, naming of custom buttons etc. Below are some screenshots from our tests.
The tests were carried out using Samsung Galaxy SII + running Android 4.1.2
The two apps tested has similar functionalities, options and settings. The Amote app has two versions paid one and a free version which is the same as the paid version ,there are however ads. The amote app provides very clear and simple user interface, the icons are in white color on black background which reduces the battery usage significantly. Amote also have a widget with custom configurable buttons.
The Lirc-client is a free ads free application, it also provide a clean user interface , custom configurable IR macros, button layouts, it does not have a widget, but it has more shiny colorful buttons .
Its up to you to select which app will fit your needs, our personal choise is Amote Pro.
