An Overview Of The Xbee Wireless Interface
Xbee wireless modules offer us as designers or hobbyists an easy way to connect up a module and have wireless communication and with such a low cost (while limited in transmission range) it seems like a no-brainer to add these to your part cabinet. This tutorial gave a simple and straight forward example of how the Xbee wireless modules can act just as if a wire was connected between two microcontrollers, with one transmitter telling a receiver what to do and the receiver decoding those commands and executing them.
What To Do Now
Now that you have an introductory experience with the basic wireless I/O capabilities of Xbee, explore the advanced capabilities like analog transmission or multiple digital I/O. Download the Xbee datasheet and give it a read to understand all of the options that these modules offer, because there are many. Once you have mastered using these Xbee modules you can move on to adding wireless to whatever project it is that you are working on and make your army of swarm robots!
Conclusion
As a simple tutorial, I believe all that was taught and shown here was straight forward enough to anyone who has had moderate exposure to digital electronics and microcontrollers. Some topics were a little more advanced, and no attempt was made at all to explain how the wireless itsself works. From our perspective the Xbee modules do something magical and act as if there was a wire connecting Din to Dout. For those hungering for more about the inner workings of RF/Analog wireless, beware, that field is tricky and will eat up a lot of your time!
If you have any further questions, I implore you...don't be shy, take a look at the forums or ask a question there. I check them out regularly and love getting comments & questions.
Xbee wireless modules offer us as designers or hobbyists an easy way to connect up a module and have wireless communication and with such a low cost (while limited in transmission range) it seems like a no-brainer to add these to your part cabinet. This tutorial gave a simple and straight forward example of how the Xbee wireless modules can act just as if a wire was connected between two microcontrollers, with one transmitter telling a receiver what to do and the receiver decoding those commands and executing them.
What To Do Now
Now that you have an introductory experience with the basic wireless I/O capabilities of Xbee, explore the advanced capabilities like analog transmission or multiple digital I/O. Download the Xbee datasheet and give it a read to understand all of the options that these modules offer, because there are many. Once you have mastered using these Xbee modules you can move on to adding wireless to whatever project it is that you are working on and make your army of swarm robots!
Conclusion
As a simple tutorial, I believe all that was taught and shown here was straight forward enough to anyone who has had moderate exposure to digital electronics and microcontrollers. Some topics were a little more advanced, and no attempt was made at all to explain how the wireless itsself works. From our perspective the Xbee modules do something magical and act as if there was a wire connecting Din to Dout. For those hungering for more about the inner workings of RF/Analog wireless, beware, that field is tricky and will eat up a lot of your time!
If you have any further questions, I implore you...don't be shy, take a look at the forums or ask a question there. I check them out regularly and love getting comments & questions.