If radio is your thing of interest then it should interest you to know about the different radio modules with one of them being xbee. This is the brand name that Digi International introduced this family of form factor compatible radio modules. Under the Maxstream brand the first of the xbees were based on the 802.15.4-2003 standard designed for communications which come as point-to-point and point-to-multipoint. Introduced in 2005, they come with about 250 kbit/s over the air baud rates. 

All of the xbee radios can be used with four numbers of connections at a minimum and these are power, ground, data in and data out, and with other lines recommended – Reset and Sleep. What was initially introduced to the market and the public were two models, being one that is a lower cost 1 mW xbee and a second one which is the higher power 100 mW xbee-Pro. What you see now are xbee radios maybe of new designs and specs yet all being sold under the brand “Digi”.  You may find that some of the xbee families have other lines built in like flow control, I/O, A’D and indicator lines.  

Majority of these xbees actually come with antenna options in significant numbers however when it comes to connectors, not all of its variants come with the same one.  What may be commonly found in all families of xbees is the U.FL connector and every variant have either a Chip antenna or an embedded PCB trace antenna.  You can also find antennas that include an integrated ¼ wave whip along with RP-SMA connector for your bulkhead form antennas. 

How xbees operate can be by means of either in transparent data mode or packet based application programming interface or API mode. The first one operates in that data coming into the Data IN pin will be transmitted directly to the receiving radios intended for it - eliminating the need for any modification. Primarily used in times when existing protocol can not tolerate changes to the format of the data, this mode allows incoming packets directly addressed to either a single target or a multiple one. The second mode, on the other hand, allows addressing where data is wrapped in one packet structure.   Parameter setting and packet delivery feedback is allowed as well. 

Since the xbees are still being developed up to date, you can be sure that new features are being added at a regular rate and various development kits are being sold.  Up to this time xbees are still being sold by Maxstream.  Kits include loading firmware upgrades, interface boards and cables as well – and with every kit you will find that it includes everything that you may need to take full advantage of your xbee maxstream. 

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