LaserTag Project (Phase 2)

[Michael McRoberts]

So, i'm thinking of the next phase of the lasertag project and it seems obvious to me that some way of setting up the game on all guns is necessary. On the MilesTag system they use Infrared and each gun must be cloned with another gun one at a time over an IR link. This seems like a long winded process to me and I also see no way of checking that the player has set his gun correctly and so cheating is possible.

Instead of IR I think a radio based system is more sensible, especially as 433MHz modules are only a few quid each. That way there can be a referee system that sends the game parameters to all players and the players in turn must register with the referee via a one-time password (short one, 3 or 4 digits) to join the game. 

A radio based system means a referee can keep track of the game in real time via a ready made system or a laptop.

If everyone is happy with the above i'll start doing some radio tests and design a referee unit.

Mike

[oly]

Instead of a password, you could make the referee system generate a token which it sends to the laser tag devices, shots would only count if it came from a device with a matching tag you could send the tag in the pulse as you fire not sure how well it would work but perhaps another approach to consider :)

[Michael McRoberts]

That's a good idea. Game ID as well as Player ID. I'll see what impact that has on packet size but it will no doubt be minimal. 

I'm just waiting on delivery of some logic level converters so I can use the radio modules easily as they are 3.3v logic.

Mike