Better Communication protocol ?!?

[fireball003]

Hi,
I am becoming confused to start with IrDA. People are advising to implement zigbee, Bluetooth etc. One the other hand I am not getting specifications of IrDA for free.

Which communication protocol is easier and effective to learn and implement? Which one cost less? Please show me the right path.

Thanks in advance.

 

[inglaof]

well, thats depend of the ucontroller that you are going to use...

I dont have experience with any of both protocols, but, one of the first things that one migth have on mind is the application, yor app will conect with some comercial equipment, or you are only prototyping.....

If you are in the second case, maybe Infra-Red Comunications will be more cheap, but, there is a network model called OSI, the first step of that model is the Physical Layer, wich refers to the nature of the signals, in this case IR electromagnetic waves, more especific, the signals that need the transmitter and the signals that recieve the Ir Reciever; with that info, you build thee bus of your system, wich are the first layer of the osi model...in an abstract way jeje...

Next , you have to specify how the data travel around your system, how your stations communicate to each other, error controls, etc etc... This is the part where you define a part of the comm protocol by software and, if you are going to use a simple microcontroller, it coul take too much time to develop a software for a comercial protocol or standard.

But, of course, maybe we can find more help, more projects including one or both protocols, but also exist the way to use comercial boards that make a lot of job for us, i believe, that you must follow that path, look for commercial modules, and, try with the cheapest,if money is an obstacle, if it is not, then, try with both... with them, you onlyu have to take care about the upper levels of the OSI model, that mean, the application that you want....

i hope that i dont confuse you, and, luck...

Greetings from Sinaloa Mexico..

Added after 4 minutes:

Sorry, i forget it...

There is no better protocol, all have advantages and disadvantages...

IrDA need optical line of sigth, Bluetooh dont,
IrDA could reach more distance, bluetooh dont, ro will need expensivest re-transmitters

IrDA multipoint..?? i dont know, but Bluetooh is....

and lot more, asi i said, think about your app, and choose the advantages that you need, and choose a protocol....