XBee 3 Click

How does it work?

XBee 3 Click as its foundation uses the XB8X-DMUS-001, a Digi XBee® CE/RED certified RF module suitable for mission-critical wireless applications from Digi International. The XB8X-DMUS-001 can run a proprietary DigiMesh® or point-to-multipoint networking protocol utilizing a low-power Silicon Labs MCU and an ADF7023 transceiver with an integrated SAW filter offering industry-leading interference blocking. It also supports low-power sleeping nodes and has an RF line-of-sight range of up to 14km (rural range line of sight) in a combination of coverage, data redundancy, and data reliability.

The XB8X-DMUS-001 module is pre-certified for use in European countries. Operating between 863MHz and 870MHz (868MHz), it allows use in several regions, including approved European countries. It also leverages surrounding frequencies for LBT+AFA (Listen-Before-Talk and Adaptive-Frequency-Agility), significantly reducing interference by listening to the radio environment before any transmission starts and automatically shifting to a new channel when interference is detected.

This Click board™ comes with a configurable host interface allowing communication with MCU using the chosen interface. The XB8X-DMUS-001 can communicate with MCU using the UART interface with commonly used UART RX, TX, and hardware flow control pins UART CTS and RTS (Clear to Send and Ready to Send) or using the SPI interface (XBee module will work as an SPI-slave only). In the case of the SPI interface, the users can use it to configure the module and write the library by themselves.

The XBee 3 Click is associated with many other features, such as the reset function and the possibility of visual and digital indicators. An active-low reset signal routed on the RST pin of the mikroBUS™ socket activates a hardware reset of the system, while a yellow LED indicator marked as ASSOC represents a visual indication of the module’s connection to the network. If the LED is constantly on, it means that the module is not connected to the mobile network, while the case of standard flashing of the LED represents the normal operating mode.

The A/D pin routed on the INT pin of the mikroBUS™ socket represents a type of interrupt whose function can be selected by positioning an onboard SMD jumper to an appropriate position labeled as DTR or ATT. DTR position is a “Data terminal ready” function used to tell the XBee module that the host MCU is ready to communicate, while the ATT position (SPI Attention) represents an indicator for the SPI interface whenever the XBee module has data for the host MCU. In addition, the board also has a commissioning pushbutton marked as COMMI which, combined with an ASSOC LED, provides various simple functions to aid in deploying devices in a network.

This Click board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. However, the Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.

Specifications

Pinout diagram

This table shows how the pinout on XBee 3 Click corresponds to the pinout on the mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).

Notes	Pin					Pin	Notes
UART RTS	RTS	1	AN	PWM	16	CTS	UART CTS
Reset	RST	2	RST	INT	15	A/D	Data Ready Indicator
SPI Chip Select	CS	3	CS	RX	14	TX	UART TX
SPI Clock	SCK	4	SCK	TX	13	RX	UART RX
SPI Data OUT	SDO	5	MISO	SCL	12	NC
SPI Data IN	SDI	6	MOSI	SDA	11	NC
Power Supply	3.3V	7	3.3V	5V	10	NC
Ground	GND	8	GND	GND	9	GND	Ground

Onboard settings and indicators

XBee 3 Click electrical specifications

Software Support

We provide a library for the XBee 3 Click as well as a demo application (example), developed using MikroElektronika compilers. The demo can run on all the main MikroElektronika development boards.

Package can be downloaded/installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Library Description

This library contains API for XBee 3 Click driver.

Key functions

• xbee3_get_serial_number This function sends a get serial number command.

• xbee3_set_device_name This function sets the device name (node identifier).

• xbee3_set_destination_address This function sets the destination address high and low bytes.

Example Description

This example demonstrates the use of an XBee 3 Click board™ by showing the communication between the two click boards configured in transparent mode.

void application_task ( void ) 
 { 
 #ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER 
     xbee3_generic_write( &xbee3, DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE, strlen( DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE ) ); 
     log_printf( &logger, "%s", ( char * ) DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE ); 
     Delay_ms( 3000 );  
 #else 
     xbee3_process( ); 
     if ( app_buf_len > 0 )  
     { 
         log_printf( &logger, "%s", app_buf ); 
         xbee3_clear_app_buf(  ); 
     } 
 #endif 
 }

The full application code, and ready to use projects can be installed directly from NECTO Studio Package Manager(recommended way), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on Mikroe github account.

Other Mikroe Libraries used in the example:

• MikroSDK.Board
• MikroSDK.Log
• Click.XBEE3

Additional notes and informations

Depending on the development board you are using, you may need USB UART click, USB UART 2 Click or RS232 Click to connect to your PC, for development systems with no UART to USB interface available on the board. UART terminal is available in all MikroElektronika compilers.

mikroSDK

This Click board™ is supported with mikroSDK – MikroElektronika Software Development Kit. To ensure proper operation of mikroSDK compliant Click board™ demo applications, mikroSDK should be downloaded from the LibStock and installed for the compiler you are using.

For more information about mikroSDK, visit the official page.