Sparkfun XBee Shield Technical document

XBee Shield Hookup Guide

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CONTRIBUTORS: JIMB0

Introduction

The XBee Shield gives your Arduino a seamless interface to XBee – one of

the most popular wireless platforms around. With XBee, instead of being

tied down by a serial cable – inches away from a paired device – your

Arduino can pass data over the air to another device hundreds of feet

away.

Part of what makes XBee so popular is its simplicity. XBees are controlled

over a serial interface – in the most basic operation they can be used as a

wireless serial cable. Setting up XBee networks and addresses is also

simplified with Digi’s free software – XCTU – which we explain in a

separate tutorial.

Covered In This Tutorial

The goal of this tutorial is to set up wireless XBee communication between

a computer and an Arduino/XBee Shield combo. Then, using a terminal

program, we can remotely send data to an Arduino, or read data off of it.

Page 1 of 1

We’ll begin by examining the schematics and hardware of the XBee Shield,

then move on to example code. First we’ll set up a test program to make

sure our XBees are communicating with each other. Then we’ll move on to

the remote control Arduino sketch.

Materials Required

•1x XBee Shield – The star of this tutorial.

◦You’ll also need headers to install into your shield. We

recommend stackable headers.

•1x Arduino – The XBee Shield should work with any Arduino-

compatible board – Uno, RedBoard, Mega, you name it.

•2x XBees – XBees exist in a variety of series, frequencies, and

ranges. If you’re just getting started with XBee, we highly

recommend going with Series 1 models – either with a trace

antenna, wire antenna or u.fl connector.

◦For more help picking an XBee, check out our XBee Buying

Guide.

•1x Explorer – The Explorer board allows you to connect an XBee to

your computer. You can use either the Explorer USB, Explorer USB

Dongle, or Explorer Serial.

◦Depending on which explorer you have, you may also need a

matching mini-B USB or serial cables.

• At least one computer with X-CTU installed.

◦The latest version of X-CTU is available for both Mac and

Windows!

•Soldering tools to install headers into your shield. The most basic of

irons and solder should do.

Suggested Reading

Before reading through this tutorial, we highly recommend checking out the

Exploring XBees and XCTU tutorial. That tutorial will introduce you to XCTU

and explain how to configure XBee networks and addresses.

In addition to that tutorial, we also recommend checking these guides out:

• Serial Communication – Serial communication is critical to controlling

and managing XBees.

• Arduino Shields – The basics of Arduino Shields, including how to

assemble a shield.

• XBee Buying Guide – We highly recommend Series 1 XBee’s, if this

is your first time playing with them. If you’re curious about other XBee

classes, check out this guide!

Hardware Overview

Here’s a quick overview of the most components of the XBee Shield:

Page 2 of 1

Below we’ll go more in-depth on the most important components of the

shield.

UART/SoftwareSerial Switch

One of the most important components on the XBee Shield is the

DLINE/UART switch. This switch controls which Arduino pins interface with

the XBee.

The Arduino Uno has a single hardware UART, which is usually either used

for programming (via the Arduino’s serial bootloader) or communication

with the serial monitor. That serial port can only be used to communicate

with one device at any time, lest you run into problems of bus contention.

There’s also a chance that, during program upload, spurious – even

harmful – data might be sent to any device attached to the Arduino’s

hardware UART.

So to avoid any problems that might arise from connecting the XBee to the

Arduino’s hardware UART, we usually take advantage of the Software

Serial library, connecting the XBee’s RX and TX pins to a pair of free digital

pins on the Arduino.

To select between software and hardware serial, the XBee Shield includes

a small, surface-mount slide switch. This switch allows you to select

between the hardware serial port (UART position) and a software serial port

connected to pins 2 (Arduino-side RX) and 3 (Arduino-side TX).

The switch configuration from the XBee Shield schematic. “D_TX” connects

to Arduino pin 3, and “D_RX” connects to Arduino pin 2.

For all of our example sketches we’ll assume the switch is in the DLINE

position. At the very least, make sure the switch is in the “DLINE”

position when uploading sketches.

LED Indicators

Page 3 of 1

There are 5 LEDs on the XBee Shield. Each of these LEDs connects to a

pin on the XBee, which does most of the LED driving. Here’s a table

explaining the operation of each LED:

LED

Label

LED

Color

XBee Pin

Connection Default Operation Notes

PWR Red 3.3V Indicates power is present.

DIO5 Green Associate/DIO5 Associated indicator -- blinks when the

XBee is associated with another XBee.

DOUT Red DOUT Indicates wireless data is being

received.

DIN Green DIN Indicates wireless data is being

transmitted.

RSSI Green PWM0/RSSI Indicates relative signal strength (RSSI)

of last received transmission.

These LEDs can be very useful for debugging. The DIO5/Associate

indicator should blink when the XBee is paired with a compatible device.

The RSSI LED is actually PWM’d so it will be brighter when the paired

XBee is closer (sending a stronger signal).

Assembly Tips

Before you can use the XBee Shield with your Arduino, you’ll need to solder

in some headers.

Check out the assembly page of our Shield tutorial for all of the tips and

tricks related to header installation.

XBee Socket

There is some white silkscreen on the Shield PCB to help orient your XBee

as you’re plugging it in. Make sure to match up the XBee’s two diagonal

edges with the two diagonal lines on the PCB.

With everything installed, you’re ready for the next step! Time to code…

Example: Communication Test

Lets start simple. In this section we’ll upload a sketch which passes data

between your serial monitor and the XBee. This sketch can be use to

create a “portal of communication” between your Arduino’s serial monitor,

and another XBee (connected to a computer via a USB Explorer).

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Double-Check Your XBee Network

Before continuing with this example, you’ll need to make sure your XBee’s

are configured correctly – they need to be on the same network and have

compatible destination and MY addresses. By default, XBees will all be

compatibly configured, but we recommend setting up unique network ID’s

and addresses. Check out the Configuring Networks page of our Exploring

XBee’s and XCTU tutorial for help with that.

This example assumes you have XCTU installed and two compatibly-

configured XBees – one connected to your computer via a USB Explorer

(or Dongle, or Serial Explorer) and another plugged into the Shield/Arduino.

The Arduino Sketch

Here’s the sketch we’ll use. It makes use of the SoftwareSerial library,

which is included with all of the recent Arduino releases. Before uploading

this sketch make sure the switch on the Shield is in the “DLINE”

position!

Page 5 of 1

/*************************************************************

****

XBee_Serial_Passthrough.ino

SetupasoftwareserialporttopassdatabetweenanXBeeShi

eld

andtheserialmonitor.

HardwareHookup:

TheXBeeShieldmakesalloftheconnectionsyou'llneed

betweenArduinoandXBee.Ifyouhavetheshieldmake

suretheSWITCHISINTHE"DLINE"POSITION.Thatwillconnec

t

theXBee'sDOUTandDINpinstoArduinopins2and3.

**************************************************************

***/

//We'lluseSoftwareSerialtocommunicatewiththeXBee:

#include<SoftwareSerial.h>

//XBee'sDOUT(TX)isconnectedtopin2(Arduino'sSoftware

RX)

//XBee'sDIN(RX)isconnectedtopin3(Arduino'sSoftwareT

SoftwareSerialXBee(2,3);//RX,TX

void setup()

{

//Setupbothportsat9600baud.Thisvalueismostimport

ant

//fortheXBee.Makesurethebaudratematchestheconfig

//settingofyourXBee.

XBee.begin(9600);

Serial.begin(9600);

}

void loop()

{

if (Serial.available())

{//Ifdatacomesinfromserialmonitor,senditouttoXB

XBee.write(Serial.read());

}

if (XBee.available())

{//IfdatacomesinfromXBee,senditouttoserialmonit

Serial.write(XBee.read());

}

}

After you’ve uploaded the code, follow this series of steps to verify that

everything is working:

1. Open the Arduino’s Serial Monitor. Make sure the baud rate is set to

9600.

2. Switch to XCTU and click over to console mode.

3. Type something in the console view, it should show up on the Serial

Monitor.

4. Type something into the Serial Monitor (and press “Send”), it should

show up in the console view.

5. Yay!

Page 6 of 1

You can use this setup to create a chat system. If you have another

computer nearby, try to see how far your XBees can be from each other

while still reliably communicating.

If your XBee’s aren’t communicating with each other, try getting them closer

together (if they were far apart to begin with). Otherwise, check out our

troubleshooting section of the Exploring XBee tutorial.

Example: Remote Control Arduino

Setting up a chat system is fun, but where XBees and the XBee Shield

really shine is in passing data to and from an Arduino, so you can remotely

control it or receive data from it. In this example, we’ll create a simple serial

interface, which can be used to set and read analog and digital pins.

Example Sketch

Here’s the sketch. Copy and paste from below, or click here to download it.

Page 7 of 1

/*************************************************************

****

XBee_Remote_Control.ino

WriteyourArduino'spins(analogordigital)orreadfromtho

se

pins(analogordigital)usingaremoteXBee.

JimLindblom@SparkFunElectronics

OriginalCreationDate:May7,2014

ThissketchrequiresanXBee,XBeeShieldandanotherXBeetie

dto

yourcomputer(viaaUSBExplorer).YoucanuseXCTU'sconsol

e,or

anotherserialterminalprogram(eventheserialmonitor!),t

osend

commandstotheArduino.

Exampleusage(sendthesecommandsfromyourcomputertermina

l):

w#nnnanalogWRITEpin#tonnn

e.g.w6088writepin6to88

d#vdigitalWRITEpin#tov

e.g.ddhWritepin13High

r#digitalREADdigitalpin#

e.g.r3Digitalreadpin3

a#analogREADanalogpin#

e.g.a0Readanalogpin0

Usehexvaluesforpins1013

Upperorlowercaseworks

Use0,l,orLtowriteLOW

Use1,h,orHtowriteHIGH

HardwareHookup:

TheArduinoshieldmakesalloftheconnectionsyou'llneed

betweenArduinoandXBee.MakesuretheSWITCHISINTHE

"DLINE"POSITION.

Developmentenvironmentspecifics:

IDE:Arduino1.0.5

HardwarePlatform:SparkFunRedBoard

XBeeShield&XBeeSeries11mW(w/whipantenna)

XBeeUSBExplorerconnectedtocomputerwithanother

XBeeSeries11mWconnectedtothat.

Thiscodeisbeerware;ifyouseeme(oranyotherSparkFun

employee)atthelocal,andyou'vefoundourcodehelpful,ple

ase

buyusaround!

Distributedasis;nowarrantyisgiven.

**************************************************************

***/

//SoftwareSerialisusedtocommunicatewiththeXBee

#include<SoftwareSerial.h>

SoftwareSerialXBee(2,3);//ArduinoRX,TX(XBeeDout,Din)

void setup()

{

//InitializeXBeeSoftwareSerialport.Makesurethebaud

//ratematchesyourXBeesetting(9600isdefault).

XBee.begin(9600);

printMenu();//Printahelpfulmenu:

Page 8 of 1

}

void loop()

{

//Inloop()wecontinouslychecktoseeifacommandhasbe

//received.

if (XBee.available())

{

char c= XBee.read();

switch (c)

{

case 'w'://Ifreceived'w'

case 'W'://or'W'

writeAPin();//Writeanalogpin

break;

case 'd'://Ifreceived'd'

case 'D'://or'D'

writeDPin();//Writedigitalpin

break;

case 'r'://Ifreceived'r'

case 'R'://or'R'

readDPin();//Readdigitalpin

break;

case 'a'://Ifreceived'a'

case 'A'://or'A'

readAPin();//Readanalogpin

break;

}

}

}

//WriteDigitalPin

//Senda'd'or'D'toenter.

//Thensendapin#

//Usenumbersfor09,andhex(a,b,c,ord)for1013

//Thensendavalueforhighorlow

//Useh,H,or1forHIGH.Usel,L,or0forLOW

void writeDPin()

{

while (XBee.available()<2)

;//Waitforpinandvaluetobecomeavailable

char pin= XBee.read();

char hl= ASCIItoHL(XBee.read());

//Printamessagetoletthecontrolknowofourintention

XBee.print("Settingpin");

XBee.print(pin);

XBee.print("to");

XBee.println(hl?"HIGH" :"LOW");

pin= ASCIItoInt(pin);//ConvertASCCItoa013value

pinMode(pin,OUTPUT);//SetpinasanOUTPUT

digitalWrite(pin,hl);//Writepinaccordingly

}

//WriteAnalogPin

//Send'w'or'W'toenter

//Thensendapin#

//Usenumbersfor09,andhex(a,b,c,ord)for1013

//(it'snotsmartenough(butitcouldbe)toerroron

//anonanalogoutputpin)

//Thensenda3digitanalogvalue.

Page 9 of 1

//Mustsendall3digits,souseleadingzerosifnecessar

void writeAPin()

{

while (XBee.available()<4)

;//Waitforpinandthreevaluenumberstobereceived

char pin= XBee.read();//Readinthepinnumber

int value= ASCIItoInt(XBee.read())* 100;//Convertnextt

hree

value+= ASCIItoInt(XBee.read())* 10;//charstoa3d

igit

value+= ASCIItoInt(XBee.read());//number.

value= constrain(value,0,255);//Constrainthatnumber.

//Printamessagetoletthecontrolknowofourintention

XBee.print("Settingpin");

XBee.print(pin);

XBee.print("to");

XBee.println(value);

pin= ASCIItoInt(pin);//ConvertASCCItoa013value

pinMode(pin,OUTPUT);//SetpinasanOUTPUT

analogWrite(pin,value);//Writepinaccordingly

}

//ReadDigitalPin

//Send'r'or'R'toenter

//Thensendadigitalpin#toberead

//TheArduinowillprintthedigitalreadingofthepintoXB

ee.

void readDPin()

{

while (XBee.available()<1)

;//Waitforpin#tobeavailable.

char pin= XBee.read();//Readinthepinvalue

//Printbegginingofmessage

XBee.print("Pin");

XBee.print(pin);

pin= ASCIItoInt(pin);//Convertpinto013value

pinMode(pin,INPUT);//Setasinput

//Printtherestofthemessage:

XBee.print("=");

XBee.println(digitalRead(pin));

}

//ReadAnalogPin

//Send'a'or'A'toenter

//Thensendananalogpin#toberead.

//TheArduinowillprinttheanalogreadingofthepintoXBe

void readAPin()

{

while (XBee.available()<1)

;//Waitforpin#tobeavailable

char pin= XBee.read();//readinthepinvalue

//Printbeginningofmessage

XBee.print("PinA");

XBee.print(pin);

pin= ASCIItoInt(pin);//Convertpinto06value

//Printtherestofthemessage:

Page 10 of 1

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