MySensors platform
With MySensors you can build your own wireless sensors or actuators, simply using an Arduino board (Uno, Nano, Pro Mini or Mega) and a radio module (nrf24l01 or rfm69). If you have a sufficient electronic skill level you can also build your sensors and actuators starting from a bare Atmega chip (ATmega328P or ATmega2560) and design your own pcb!
The MySensors project has also a website openhardware.io where the community shares the design of the PCB created by its members. You can buy this PCBs directly from the website (in this way you make also a small donation to the creator of the PCB), or you can download the gerber files and send them to your preferred PCB manufacturer.
In any case you can write the firmware of your device with the well-known and well supported Arduino IDE. The communication between your sensor (or actuator) and the gateway is managed by the MySensors library, so the coding process is easy!
The MySensors platform has some other great features:
- Is a mesh type network and this allows you to cover big distances using repeaters nodes.
- Has a signing and encryption protocol for the comunication between the nodes (sensors and actuators) and the hub. That is a big plus from a privacy and security point of view.
- Supports OTA firmware update, so you can update the firmware of your devices wirelessly
- Battery powered sensors can be build easily and, with the right circuit design and component selection, you can expect a long battery life.
Don't forget the MySensors forum that is the best places to ask for support.
Here in the d-diot wiki you can find a series of sensors and actuators based on MySensors, and some already made pcb that can simplify the assembly process of your own sensor.
Sensors and actuators based on this platform: