The XBee Shield module provides an easy interface to rig up zigbee wireless communications on your Arduino gadget. Attach the XBee Shield directly to your Arduino by fitting it directly on the pins, or use an Extendershield to get additional prototyping space for extra sensors.

Here is the XBee Shield module:


Here is the XBee Shield mounted along side a TouchShield Slide, Arduino, ExtenderShield and Lithium Backpack to make the ultimate wireless gadget.



Specifications

The XBee Shield talks to the Arduino with serial communications, through Arduino Pins 0 and 1 as shown in the XBee Shield Schematic .

Official MaxStream Reference



More Resources

I wrote a tutorial on the Antipasto Blog

After hours of slaving over boring and confusing data sheets at digi.com and hours of tinkering with annoying chat programs and “AT” commands, I finally got 2 XBee Shields to communicate with each other!

Parts:

* 2 x Arduinos
* 2 x XBee Shields
* 2 x Solid Core Wire
* 2 x USB Type-B Cables
* 2 x Computers (I used 1 vista and 1 xp)

I will now go through the painful preliminary steps I did to setup my xbee network.

1. Download X-CTU from Digi’s website (And installed it… yeah, I installed the updates)
2. Repeat for both computers
3. Put both Arduinos in Reset
4. Attach the XBee Shield to the Arduino
5. Attach a USB cable from one arduino to Computer “A”
6. Attach the other USB cable to the other arduino and Computer “B”
7. Open X-CTU on Computer A
8. Go to the “Modem Configuration” tab… set the Modem: XBEE to “XB24-B” AND set the Function Set to “ZNET 2.5 ROUTER/END DEVICE AT”
9. Next is the Networking and Addressing Parameters…
10. PAN ID = 1111
11. Scan Channels = 15 (not sure if this is even needed)
12. Channel Verification = 0 (also not sure if this is even needed)
13. Destination Address High = 13A200 (I found this out by typing “AT” commands into a terminal program… first type in + the xbee will return an “OK” you are now in command mode… if you type “ATSH” then ”” (enter), the xbee will give you it’s own high address (source address) )
14. Destination Address Low = 403E2502 (I found this out by typing “AT” commands into a terminal program)
15. Broadcast Radius = 0
16. Click the “Write” button on the Modem Configuration tab and wait for the XBee to program
17. If some funny error comes up… click the button on the xbee shield and try to program it again
18. Go to the “Modem Configuration” tab on computer B… set the Modem: XBEE to “XB24-B” AND set the Function Set to “ZNET 2.5 COORDINATOR AT”
19. Next is the Networking and Addressing Parameters for the XBee attached to computer B…
20. PAN ID = 1111
21. Scan Channels = 15 (not sure if this is even needed)
22. Channel Verification = 0 (also not sure if this is even needed)
23. Destination Address High = 13A200 (I found this out by typing “AT” commands into a terminal program… first type in “+” the xbee will return an “OK” you are now in command mode… if you type “ATSH” then ”” (enter), the xbee will give you it’s own high address (source address) )
24. Destination Address Low = 404A4FC4 (I found this out by typing “AT” commands into a terminal program)
25. Broadcast Radius = 0
26. Click the “Write” button on the Modem Configuration tab and wait for the XBee to program
27. If some funny error comes up… click the button on the xbee shield and try to program it again
28. whew… now both devices are configured properly… open the X-CTU terminal tab of each computer… type and see the characters fly from pc to pc

I would like to thank the help of the following people…
The Digi Corporation: X-CTU , XBee Data Sheet , Gilbert (866) 765-9885 (thanks for calling back and sorry I missed your call)
The Arduino XBee Page , the Arduino Forum (Thanks Brad B).
Thanks Carin from Humboldt
Thanks Limor from Adafruit
A final thanks to Guibot from Portugal