10/03/2011 XBee Example

Wireless Communication with XBee Radios

Practical Example

Minimum parts needed: (see Tom Igoe's parts list for additional details)

Prototyping board (breadboard)

Power supply connector
5-15VDC power supply
Assorted wires
5V regulator
3.3V regulator
PIC 18F452
2 XBee ZigBee OEM RF Modules
2 PCB (printed circuit board) breakout boards for XBee (gerber files by Tom Igoe)
Male headers
LEDs
Switch
10µf capacitors
1µf capacitors
10Kohm resistors

Step 1:

Solder the XBee RF Module to the PCB breakout board as shown. The white silkscreened lettering should face
downward, away from the XBee Module. Be sure to leave enough space so that the headers do not touch the back of the
module.

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XBee soldered to custom breakout board. Be sure to leave enough space between the
XBee and the metal headers so that they don't touch and short out.

Step 2:

Set up two breadboards with a PIC on each. You'll need to add a 3.3 Volt regulator to each board, for powering the XBee
radios. The 3.3V regulator used in this example is arranged (from left to right) Ground-Output-Input, which is different from
the 5 Volt one.

Step 3:

Connect 3.3 Volt power to pin 1 of the XBee, ground to pin 10, RC7 from the PIC to pin 2 and RC6 to pin 3 as shown.
You may also want to add LEDs to pins 6, 13 and 15 for some status feedback.

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XBee connected to 3.3 Volt power and common ground. The XBee tx pin is connected to rx on PIC, and XBee rx pin is connected to tx on PIC.
Green LED shows that XBee is powered on and not in sleep mode, yellow LED flashes except when
in AT command mode, and red LED lights when receiving RF data from another XBee radio.

Step 4:

Program one microcontroller using this sending code:

' serial out is on portc.6

' serial in is on portc.7
' a digital input is on portb.0

'set a constant with the baudmode 9600-8-n-1-true (non-inverted):

true9600 con 84

' a byte to send out data:

thisByte var byte

' set portb.0 to input:

input portb.0
' set portd.1 to output for status light:
output portd.1

configure: ' label to jump back to if configuration times out

' blink status light once on startup

High portd.1
pause 200
low portd.1
PAUSE 200

' for some reason it seems to help to send an arbitrary character first
' then pause for the guard time before requesting command mode
serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["X"]
pause 1500

' put the XBee in command mode

serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["+++"]

' wait for a response from the XBee for 2000 ms, or start
' over at the configure label if no valid response comes
SERIN2 portc.7, true9600, 2000, configure, [WAIT ("OK")]

' set the PAN (personal area network) ID number

' this example uses 0x3330, but you'll want to choose your own
' unique hexadecimal number between 0x0 and 0xFFFE
serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["ATID3330,"]

' set the Destination High to 0x0

' to select 16 bit addressing mode. These addresses can
' be assigned and changed by sending commands from a microcontroller
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' be assigned and changed by sending commands from a microcontroller
serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["DH0,"]

' set the Destination Low (16 bit address)

' this example uses 0x0 for send and 0x1 for receive but you'll
' want to choose your own hexadecimal numbers between 0x0 and 0xFFFE
serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["DL1,"]

' exit command mode

serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["CN",13]

' wait for a response from the XBee for 2000 ms, or start
' over at the configure label if no valid response comes
SERIN2 portc.7, true9600, 2000, configure, [WAIT ("OK")]

main:

' read the switch:

thisByte = portb.0

' convert it to a readable ASCII value, send it out the serial port:
serout2 portc.6, true9600, [DEC thisByte]

goto main

Here is the same code for Arduino: XBee_Send_Example.pde

Step 5:

Program the other microcontroller using this receiving code:

' serial out is on portc.6

' serial in is on portc.7
' a digital input is on portb.0

'set a constant with the baudmode 9600-8-n-1-true (non-inverted):

true9600 con 84

' set a constant for timeout while waiting for serial input
timeout CON 2000

' a byte to receive data:

inByte var byte

' set portb.1 to output:

OUTPUT portb.1
' set portd.1 to output for status light:
output portd.1

configure: ' label to jump back to if configuration times out

' blink status light once on startup

High portd.1
pause 200
low portd.1
PAUSE 200

' for some reason it seems to help to send an arbitrary character first
' then pause for the guard time before requesting command mode
serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["X"]
pause 1100

' put the XBee in command mode

serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["+++"]

' wait for a response from the XBee for 2000 ms, or start
' over at the configure label if no valid response comes
SERIN2 portc.7, true9600, timeout, configure, [WAIT ("OK")]

' set the PAN (personal area network) ID number

' this example uses 0x3330, but you'll want to choose your own
' unique hexadecimal number between 0x0 and 0xFFFE
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' unique hexadecimal number between 0x0 and 0xFFFE
serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["ATID3330,"]

' set the MY (16 bit address)

' this example uses 0x0 for send and 0x1 for receive but you'll
' want to choose your own hexadecimal numbers between 0x0 and 0xFFFE
serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["MY1,"]

' exit command mode

serout2 portc.6, true9600, ["CN",13]

' wait for a response from the XBee for 2000 ms, or start
' over at the configure label if no valid response comes
SERIN2 portc.7, true9600, timeout, configure, [WAIT ("OK")]

main:

' get any incoming data:

SERIN2 portc.7, true9600, timeout, nodata, [DEC inByte]
' light the LED if a 1 has been received
if inByte == 1 THEN
HIGH portb.1
' douse the LED if anything else was received
ELSE
LOW portb.1
ENDIF

nodata: ' label to jump to if no data was received

goto main

Here is the same code for Arduino: XBee_Receive_Example.pde

Step 6:

Attach a switch to RB0 of the sending board, and an LED to RB1 of the receiving board. Close the switch and the LED
should light up.

Step 7:

Change your code so that there's a switch and light on both boards, and closing either switch lights the light on the other
board. This should help familiarize you with how the radios communicate.
There's PLENTY more features on the XBee including broadcast modes, data enveloping and mesh networking. Once
you're comfortable with the basics, you may want to explore further.

This page created by Rob Faludi

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