Hands-on kit shows how to use XBee RF modules for home automation

Mouser is now stocking the XBee ZigBee Mesh Kit from Digi International. The it offers designers a hands-on way to learn how to use XBee radio frequency (RF) modules for device connectivity and mesh networking. With Digi's extensive and easy-to-use XBee API framework, designers can quickly get their ZigBee products to market, integrating features like binding and multicasting into home-automation applications. The kit provides examples and step-by-step guidance for creating efficient, low-power device communications and sensor networks. ZigBee is a popular mesh networking protocol, specifically designed for low-data-rate and low-power applications. Through its mesh and routing capabilities, ZigBee allows the transmission of data over long distances by passing the data through a mesh network of intermediate nodes to reach more distant ones. The technology supports multiple network topologies such as point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, and mesh networks and allows up to 65,000 nodes per network. ZigBee is an open standard that enables interoperability among devices from different manufacturers and allows for over-the-air firmware updates. It also offers established profiles for common applications such as energy management and lighting controls. The XBee ZigBee Mesh Kit includes three XBee development boards that feature Grove adapters, which provide interconnect capabilities with the modular Seeed Studio Grove system. The kit also includes three micro-USB cables and three XBee ZigBee modules. The modules provide up to 250 kbps of RF data and up to 1Mbps of serial (UART, SPI) data, with transmission distance ranging from 10m to 100m (line of sight).