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Building Wireless Sensor Networks Using Arduino
Building Wireless Sensor Networks Using Arduino

Building Wireless Sensor Networks Using Arduino: Leverage the powerful Arduino and XBee platforms to monitor and control your surroundings

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Building Wireless Sensor Networks Using Arduino

Chapter 2. Collecting Sensor Data

In the previous chapter, you connected your XBee modules to your computer and sent a bit of data between them. In this chapter, you will take a few more steps and put your Arduino boards in control of the XBee modules. You will even send over some measured temperature and humidity data, creating your very first actual wireless sensor network.

You will build towards this step by step. The first step is to find out how to make an Arduino and XBee module talk to each other. Then you will send a simple Hello, world! message from one Arduino to another and finally replace that message with some actual live sensor data.

To follow the examples, the following components are recommended:

Hardware setup

In this section, you will look in more detail at how to connect an XBee module. By the end of this section, you will better understand the connections described in the previous chapter, and will be able to figure out how to wire up other shields and adapters too.

Serial on XBee

Interfacing with an XBee module is not terribly complicated. All XBee modules offer a serial connection. In the most basic version, this involves just three pins on the XBee board: DIN (where the XBee module receives data), DOUT (where the XBee module sends data), and GND to establish a common ground reference.

This type of connection does not have any official name, but is commonly (but inaccurately) called TTL (Transistor-to-Transistor Logic) serial and is also used on the Arduino Uno between the integrated USB-to-serial converter and the main microcontroller.

It would be more accurate to say that it is an asynchronous, single-ended serial protocol running at 3.3V. Asynchronous indicates that there...

Software setup

Now that the hardware is covered, it is time to look at the software side of things. In this section, you will create a small sketch (called Connect.ino in the code bundle) that makes the Arduino send a VR command to the XBee module to query the current firmware version of the XBee module. The Arduino code is set up so that all API frames received from the XBee module are printed, so you can see the reply to this command as well, confirming that connectivity is working. No data is transmitted wirelessly yet; this just tests the Arduino-to-XBee connection.

Example sketches

In this and the following chapters, you will write some Arduino sketch code. All of the example code shown in the book is also available in the code bundle, which you can download from the Packt website.

The example code in this book is sometimes a bit more verbose than strictly needed. Sometimes this makes it easier to expand an example later, or sometimes the example illustrates some good coding practice...

Sending and receiving data

Now that the XBee connectivity is covered, it is time to actually exchange some data wirelessly between your Arduinos. In the previous chapter, you have already seen the API frames involved in transmitting and receiving data through the network. In this section, you will let the Arduino use those API frames to exchange a simple Hello, world! message again. For this, the sender will use the XBee module that you configured as a router, while the receiver will use the coordinator XBee.

Sending data

Remember that sending a message involves a few different API frames:

  • The sender sends a ZigBee Transmit Request API frame to the XBee module, containing the destination address and the message.
  • The receiver receives a ZigBee Receive Packet API frame, containing the sender address and the message. The receiver XBee will also (automatically) send an acknowledgement (ack) back to the sender so the sender knows the transmission was successful.
  • The sender receives a ZigBee Transmit...

Collecting sensor data

Even though sending over Hello, world! is already pretty cool, it is not very useful yet. Instead of sending a fixed message, you will want to send some variable data, such as coming from a sensor.

In this section, you will connect a combined temperature and humidity sensor to the sending Arduino and have it send over its readings to the coordinator. The coordinator will then receive these readings and, for now, display them on the Serial console (later, you will see how to put the readings in pretty graphs, too!).

There are a lot of different sensors available that can be used with an Arduino. There is not a single unified way to wire up and talk to all sensors, but Arduino-specific instructions and tutorials can be found for a lot of hardware. A good source of inspiration are Arduino-oriented online shops such as http://www.sparkfun.com or http://www.adafruit.com. They stock all kinds of sensors and typically provide appropriate Arduino libraries and/or examples as...

Troubleshooting

In an ideal world, everything works as expected right away. In the real world, you will run into problems every now and then. Here are some pointers to help you figure out what is wrong and how to fix it.

Communication with the XBee module is not working

Is serial communication not working at all? Check your connections: DIN to TX, DOUT to RX.

A good way to test this is to do a loopback test:

  1. Remove the XBee module from your board and use a jumper wire to connect DOUT (pin 2) and DIN (pin 3) on the board.
  2. Upload the SerialDump.ino sketch to the Arduino and open up the serial port using the serial monitor in the Arduino IDE (or another serial console program).
  3. If everything is wired correctly, any data you send should be received and displayed again.

If you are using a separate USB-to-serial converter, try swapping the DIN and DOUT wires; some of these converters have their labels inverted.

Make sure you connect GND between the XBee and USB-to-serial converter too, to establish...

Hardware setup


In this section, you will look in more detail at how to connect an XBee module. By the end of this section, you will better understand the connections described in the previous chapter, and will be able to figure out how to wire up other shields and adapters too.

Serial on XBee

Interfacing with an XBee module is not terribly complicated. All XBee modules offer a serial connection. In the most basic version, this involves just three pins on the XBee board: DIN (where the XBee module receives data), DOUT (where the XBee module sends data), and GND to establish a common ground reference.

This type of connection does not have any official name, but is commonly (but inaccurately) called TTL (Transistor-to-Transistor Logic) serial and is also used on the Arduino Uno between the integrated USB-to-serial converter and the main microcontroller.

It would be more accurate to say that it is an asynchronous, single-ended serial protocol running at 3.3V. Asynchronous indicates that there is...

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Description

Arduino has been established as the de facto standard microcontroller programming platform, being used for one-off do-it-yourself projects as well as prototypes for actual products. By providing a myriad of libraries, the Arduino community has made it very easy to interact with pretty much any piece of hardware out there. XBee offers a great range of low-power wireless solutions that are easy to work with, by taking all of the complexity of wireless (mesh) networking out of your hands and letting you focus on what to send without worrying about the how. Building wireless sensor networks is cost-effective as well as efficient as it will be done with Arduino support. The book starts with a brief introduction to various wireless protocols, concepts, and the XBee hardware that enables their use. Then the book expands to explain the Arduino boards to you, letting them read and send sensor data, collect that data centrally, and then even control your home from the Internet. Moving further more advanced topics such as interacting through the standard Zigbee Home Automation protocol, or making your application power-efficient are covered. By the end of the book, you will have all the tools needed to build complete, real-world solutions.

What you will learn

  • Interact with XBee boards using the XCTU program on Windows, OS X, or Linux
  • Make your Arduino boards communicate wirelessly, using XBee modules in the advanced API mode
  • Centrally collect and store measured sensor data, in the cloud or your own database
  • Connect the coordinator Arduino to the Internet and send data to web services
  • Control your environment automatically, based on sensor input from your network
  • Interact with offtheshelf ZigBee Home Automation devices
  • Make your devices batterypowered and let them sleep to get months or even years of battery life
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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Oct 19, 2015
Length: 192 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784395582
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Publication date : Oct 19, 2015
Length: 192 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784395582
Vendor :
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Table of Contents

7 Chapters
1. A World without Wires Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Collecting Sensor Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Storing and Visualizing Your Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Controlling the World Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Standalone XBee Operation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Battery Power and Sleeping Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.2
(11 Ratings)
5 star 63.6%
4 star 9.1%
3 star 18.2%
2 star 0%
1 star 9.1%
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Amazon Customer Oct 25, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
teaches the indepth programming of the ZigBee which you will not be able to learn generally.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
mtn rider May 07, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
If you want to work with Arduinos and XBees, there's no better book. This book will walk you through some of the more tricky aspects of getting XBees configured and up and running. Admittedly I didn't think the thermostat project was the best choice but it will give you an understanding of XBee capabilities and up your toolset for other projects. I especially liked the chapter on battery power and sleeping, controlling zigbee devices and the section on how to apply encryption. It's clear the author has done a lot of research so you can get on with your projects instead of wading through documents and forums
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Brian W. Aug 14, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I got this book a few days ago and did not know what to expect. I am on the last chapter of the book and I have to say that it is written very well. It is concise and easy to understand as long as you know some C/C++ coding. The examples and code that comes with the books all work well together.I am very happy with my purchase and would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Xbee Using arduio and IOT. There is enough information in this book to get you started on your project.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
HankinColorado Jan 28, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Good book.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
pmcommuter Sep 30, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I have been stepping through the chapters using two Arduinos, two XBEE S2C modules, two Sparkfun XBEE shields, a Parallax XBEE dongle, and two laptops, and have been having a blast. The tutorials and exercises are well laid out, with an increasing level of complexity as you advance through the chapters. The introduction to XCTU was clear and concise, and I was quickly up and running. This was my first experience with Arduino, but the IDE is easy to use and the code extremely simple to learn, especially if you have any background with C or C++. There is a collection of Arduino sketches ( the Code Bundle ) accompanying the book, which I downloaded from Packt, and they have all run faultlessly so far. By the way, I have the Kindle version of Kooijman's book, and so far it appears well edited and formatted. I tend to look at tech books more on my laptop than on the kindle eReader; the diagrams and pictures don't look as nice on the small e-Ink screen but are still acceptable. I like to have the book open in a window, with the Arduino IDE and serial monitor in another window. This book will take you from knowing nothing about wireless mesh networks to a fairly advance level.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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