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    Content by Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson
    E-Textile Tailor Shop by KOBAKANT
    The following institutions have funded our research and supported our work:

    Since 2020, Hannah is guest professor of the Spiel&&Objekt Master's program at the University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin

    From 2013-2015 Mika was a guest professor at the eLab at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee

    From July - December 2013 Hannah was a researcher at the UdK's Design Research Lab

    From 2010-2012 Mika was a guest researcher in the Smart Textiles Design Lab at The Swedish School of Textiles

    From 2009 - 2011 Hannah was a graduate student in the MIT Media Lab's High-Low Tech research group led by Leah Buechley


    In 2009 Hannah and Mika were both research fellows at the Distance Lab


    Between 2003 - 2009 Hannah and Mika were both students at Interface Cultures
    We support the Open Source Hardware movement. All our own designs published on this website are released under the Free Cultural Works definition
    Wireless

    Xbee Direct (Sensor-Xbee-Comp)

    This example explains how to send sensor input (analog) wirelessly to computer via Xbee (Series 1 802.15.4) without using microcontrollers.

    Step 1:

     You need to set up the AT command for both receiver and sender.
    You can use X-CTU or some kind of terminal software,  Rob Faludi’s Xbee Terminal Max. I am using a small Max Patch made by Ingo Randolf. You can download this max patch from here>>

     
    Screen shot of serialterminal_Xbee patch

    [TABLE=6]
    AT command setup example

    Step 2: 

    Connect the sensor to Xbee as following, and power the Xbee and sensor.


    Breadboard setup

    If you are supplying power bigger than 3.3V such as 9V battery or three AA batteries, you need to use 3.3v voltage regulator to supply 3.3V. You can also check the SEWABLE 3.3V REGULATOR post.

     
    For testing, I am using Arduino Dicimila’s 3.3v power supply. Easy way to get 3.3V.

    Step 3:

    There are wonderful XBee API Library for Processing from Rob Faludi and Dan Shiftman
    I am using their example processing sketch to see if I am getting sensor input via Xbee directly.

     


    Here, you can see I am receiving address of the sender and analog value (the first one)

    Tip:

    It helps to use ATRE (firmware reset) before starting a new project. Sometimes the AT command setup you put in the last project conflicts with the project you are working on and resulting to make you shout “…why does it NOT work??”

    8 Comments so far

    1. will on April 24th, 2010

      would you know of a like API that is in C or VB.net ?

      thanks

    2. Hakki on May 12th, 2010

      Could you update the link to the Max Patch by Ingo Randolf?

    3. Mika on May 17th, 2010

      sorry for my late reaction.
      The file is there, but I am having problem accessing my server…
      hopefully will be solved very very soon…
      If you need it in urgent, let me know, I can send it to you as an attachment.

    4. Luke on August 18th, 2010

      hi there, thanks for this helpful document.
      I also need that max file too! wud u send it to me? cause the broken link..
      my mail is dontmarryme@gmail.com

      also, do you mean i can use only one xbee to work with my computer?
      i am using a Macbook pro, I have downloaded the xbee terminal max but it doesn’t work.

    5. hellokitty on January 26th, 2012

      Hi, I need some help from you urgently. I have a diffuse sensor and two xbee. How do i collect sensor data, and the xbee will collect it and communicate wirelessly to another xbee which is connected to the pc.

      Thank you.

    6. Bn4al on May 23rd, 2012

      Hi, i need to connect an led to a router xbee and need to switch on and off the led through the coordinator.
      the circuit should be simple, that is to directly connect the led through pin 20 and switch it on and off through the coordinator attached to the pc.

      i believe that i just have to supply the xbee by a 3.3V supply and solder an led on pin 20 and ground.

      is there and command i can use to send the data through visual basic to control the led?

      thanks,

      Belal

    7. sam on April 9th, 2013

      I am trying to use xbee direct feature in series 2 to establish a communication between a remote sensor and a pc i.e i am trying to do the same with xbee series 2. I have configured the xbee successfully and the xctu terminals are showing full communications when both are attached through usb. However when i am trying to get the analog input from the sensor wirelessly to pc, i cant get the data. Can you please tell me what am i doing wrong? Thanx in advnc.

    8. karthik on November 8th, 2013

      i need to interface x bee with atmega32. i am new to these topics. please give me some ideas,links,circuits…
      i need to interface this like point to multi point communication(many remote unit and one base unit. all the remote units need to communicate individually with base unit)
      please give me some direction to go… pls pls pls.

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