5 replies to this topic

[Omar (OZ)]

Alright so if you take a look at that picture I attached... thats my little dumb robot in progress. But the little guy whats to move around, so I need a wireless ethernet adapter, they sell usb ones, but has anyone come across one with an actual ethernet plug? My wireless LAN is not encrypted and doesnt have a password... so I wouldn't any extra decoding code or at least I dont think I do.  Picture 1.jpg   136.4KB   95 downloads EDIT; XBee... I realized tht it is for wireless now... is the XBee compatible with the netduino plus or regular?

[Chris Walker]

Nice. XBee should be fine...I know that some other users have reported success using it elsewhere in the forums. I'd do a quick search to find out which shields they used. Chris

[Chris Seto]

Just as a note: You would never deal with decrypting an encrypted WIFI signal on your host board. That is something the manufacturer of the wireless module does in their firmware.

[phantomtypist]

Hey there!

Xbee works very well on my Netduino and Netduino Plus. I got my parts from SparkFun for a reasonable price. You'll need the following items:

- Xbee Explorer USB (for connecting to your computer)

- Xbee Explorer Regulated (for connecting to either COM1 or COM2 on your Netduino. The Xbee's transmit in serial mode. You'll need to solder a little bit.)

- XBee 2mW Series 2.5 Wire Antenna (you'll need two of these.)


Okay, once you get those, you'll want to make your life easy and download the .NET MF Toolkit over at codeplex. It has a libraries for Xbee communication on the Netduino and your computer. NOTE: You'll need to change the project types from .NET Micro Framework 3.0 to .NET Micro Framework 4.1 and then recompile because the Netduino targets .NET MF 4.1

Good luck on making your robot!

[CW2]

- XBee 2mW Series 2.5 Wire Antenna (you'll need two of these.)

Please note v2.5 XBees are designed for multi-point networks and they need some setup for point-to-point direct communication (unlike v1.0 which works by default with virtually zero configuration). For more details please have a look at Fast 2-way XBEE series 2 data.

[phantomtypist]

Please note v2.5 XBees are designed for multi-point networks and they need some setup for point-to-point direct communication (unlike v1.0 which works by default with virtually zero configuration). For more details please have a look at Fast 2-way XBEE series 2 data.

XBee series 2.x were designed to do both multi-point (mesh) and point-to-point. I have received modules from SparkFun and Digi-Key and they are configured for AT command point-to-point by default. Either way (point-to-point or multi-point), you will have to use the X-CTU program from Digi to configure the XBee's.

If you are doing point-to-point, you will want to use AT command mode, set the PAN ID's the same, and then each XBee should be configured to have the other XBee's address as the destination address. One module will be the coordinator and the other will be a router/end device. This way they know who to send to.

On a side note, if you want multi-point, you will need to use the API command mode.

I highly suggest that you buy the Building Wireless Sensor Networks book from O'Reilly. It tells you how to do everything (point-to-point and multi-point) using Series 2.x XBee modules and also configuring the modules. I highly suggest buying series 2.x modules in the event you ever want to do multi-point (mesh) communication. That way you don't have to buy another set of XBee's as series 2.x do both.