BlackWidow and YellowJacket (Arduino)

Question

Any luck using the Arduino Blackwidow or the Yellowjacket? I can't find much information online about them in terms of reviews.

I would like to connect to a wireless router, send small POST requests pertaining to resistances that have been read and receive responses in JSON format that would be instructions on switches that should be flipped.

Is the Arduino the best tool for the job? Are the BlackWidow and YellowJacket good Wi-Fi variants to use, or should I be using the Wi-Fi shield, XBee Shield, or something?

Answer 1

The BlackWidow and YellowJacket boards are simply an Arduino board with the Wi-Fi functionality of the WiShield built in. Therefore, any documentation or reviews of the WiShield should apply to the other two devices. If you already have an Arduino, the WiShield is all you need to get up and running. However, if you purchasing, the BlackWidow or YellowJacket could provide for an easy-to-use way to get going without needing to worry about a shield, and they would also provide a reduced size. All of these should be able to do what you require, in making a POST request and getting data back.

If you do want to go the XBee route, I would look into the Tweet-a-Watt, which has similar capabilities to your project and could provide a well-laid foundation to build your project on.

For either route, I recommend Pachube which provides a simplified interface for communication with hardware (including the Arduino) over the Internet. They have tutorials for both the WiShield and Direct Connection which could easily be replaced by an XBee.

Answer 2

Is the Arduino the best tool for the job?

If you're already using a wireless router, you may want to look into a Linux based firmware for you router. For instance, if you have a Linksys WRT router there's OpenWrt and a handfull of other variants. That will give you more programming options than the Arduino would give you.

Are the BlackWidow and YellowJacket good Wi-Fi variants to use, or should I be using the Wi-Fi shield, XBee Shield, or something?

I've not used any of the Wi-Fi add ons for the Arduino yet, but from my research XBee seems to be the "standard". You'll find much more information on the web for the XBee, and I believe it's cheaper than the BlackWidow or YellowJacket.

Edit

From your answer to my question above, the XBee is not what you need. You should probably stick with the Wi-Fi shield.