Java-API and XBee 868 Pro

[Matt]

Hi everybody,

I'm currently working on a research project and we already implemented an application based on XBee Pro S2B using the excellent xbee-api project from Andrew Rapp. With this modules everything works fine and robust.

As we currently struggle with range issues in larger buildings we purchased some XBee Pro 868MHz modules to compare them with the 2.4GHz modules regarding range etc.

Are there already experiences/projects using the xbee-api with those modules, i.e. XBP08-DP?

Best regards,

Matt

[Matt]

Dear all,

I made some progress trying to operate my (XBee-Pro-868 firmware 1068) with the java xbee-api from andrew rapp.

The modules work fine using ZNetTxRequest addressed with XBeeAddress64 on the sender side and ZNetRxResponse on the receiver side.

What I found out is that the operation-mode "coordinator" (register CE) in the "XBee Pro 868 Single Channel" firmware means something completly different then the term "coordinator" known from the ZigBee/ZNet world.

"coordinator" (register CE) in the "XBee Pro 868 Single Channel" is important vor indirect messaging and polling. I strongly recommend reading the relevant chapters in the XBee PRO 868 manual from Digi for a better understanding.

I now configured all XBee PRO 868 modules with the same Modem VID and set the CE register to '0' i.e. "STANDARD NODE".

It is now possible to send unicast messages to every device in the network using Transmit Request Frames (0x10). They are similar to those frames that are represented by the ZNetTxRequest-Class in Andrews Java-API.

After testing a bit it seems that under these conditions the xbee-api works well with XBee PRO 868 modules. 

Basically the main difference is that there is no coordinator in sense of ZigBee/ZNet.

However, the indirect-messaging/polling mechanism my be really cool for cycle-sleeping end devices but I did not manage it to let a not-sleeping end device poll an indirekct message from an XBee-PRO-868-coordinator device.

Is there anybody out there who knows how to use correctly this mechanism?

Cheers,

Matthias