[BLog] Getting Started with ZigBee

I’m using the XBee S2C module from Amazon:

XBee S2C on Amazon

1. Wiring

First, we need to wire up the XBee. Originally, I was going to use an Arduino UNO to do the USB-TTL conversion. However, I had no luck with it. Not sure about the reason. Maybe because I’m using a non-official clone, which has a different onboard USB-TTL chip?

Then I realized that I can just use a plain USB-TTL converter to establish the link between the XBee module with the computer. I’m using the Rath RA-LINK module, originally designed for the GD32VF series MCU. We will just use the serial converter function of this debugger.

XBee connected to RA-LINK

An additional benefit of this setup is that both end are using the 2.0mm pitch Dupont connector. (Viva la metric unit!)

Here is the wiring diagram:

2. Set up XBee config

We need to download and install the XCTU software.

Insert the USB debugger into the computer and click this button.

In the pop-up menu, we will select the corresponding COM port.

It will automatically search for the device.

And then display its settings

We will make this first device be the station (coordinator), and thus we modify the following fields:

ID (Pan ID): 2333

CE (Coordinator Enable): Enabled [1]

DL (Destination Address Low): FFFF

NI (Node Identifier): XBee-Station

BD (Baud Rate): 115200 [7]

And update the configuration by clicking this button

Then the station node is configured successfully.

Next, we perform the same thing for the car node, but this time with the following settings:

ID (Pan ID): 2333

JV (Channel Verification): Enabled [1]

DL (Destination Address Low): 0

NI (Node Identifier): XBee-Car

BD (Baud Rate): 115200 [7]

Now we are ready to test the connections.

Press this button to switch to the terminal window

And click this button to open the serial port

Now when we type in one terminal, we can see the contents appear in another terminal, indicating that the connection is established

blue ones are sent, red ones are received

P.S. if the wrong configuration is entered in XBee parameters, XCTU will try to perform a revert on the chip

3. STM32 Code

Because XBee uses simple TX and RX to transmit data, we can simply program the STM32 to transmit and listen to data on the USART port.