xBee Adapter Manual

8/13/2019 xBee Adapter Manual

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New Generation Hobbies xBee Interface for MK manual

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xBee Pro Interface Board

Setup and Utilization

IntroductionThank you for purchasing the xBee interface boards pair. This pair of boards will allow you tocreate a wireless modem link between your computer running MKTools and your Mikrokopterwith the help of any of the xBee Pro boards available on the market today.

The quality and the distance of the wireless link depends on the xBee modules used. Pleasenote this package does not contain the xBee modules, those are sold separately.

Content of the package:

- 1 x FTDI USB interface board- 1 x Mikrokopter interface board- 1 x 10 cm 10 pin ribbon cable- 2 x 10 pin male ribbon cable headers.

Device and Pin Description

The xBee interface pair has been designed for your convenience such that you do not need touse the MKUSB any longer, the FTDI USB to serial interface chip is already built onto thisboard. So all whats left to do is to add your xBee modules, configure e link and initiate theconnection.

The USB interface is used to first configure both xBee modules through the xBee configurationsoftware (X-CTU) and after both modules have been configured, you are ready to initiate the

wireless connection to your computer.


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The ribbon cable with the push on connectors is provided to connect the second interfaceboard to the Mikrokopter debug port.

Configuration:

Please use the USB interface board, and push one of the xBee or xBee pro modules in thesocket just like on the picture below. Before plugging the unit into the computer, please makesure you already installed the required antenna for the xBee module, NEVER power on themodule without the proper antenna attached!!!

WARNING:WARNING:WARNING:WARNING: The following instructions provide basic connection setup only, if you require

secure point to point communication which ensure the connection only between your two xBeemodules, please refer to the manual of your xBee module and the X-CTU software.

Setup Instructions:

You will need to do the below procedures twice since you have 2 modules. With the firstmodule set up in the previous section, plug the module into your computer. Please wait a few

minutes till your Windows computer finds and installs the FTDI drivers and installs therequired COM x port for communication with your module. (X can be a number between 1 to256). If you are using Windows 7, you will see the following report:

After the driver has installed please download and install the X-CTU software from the Digiwebsite:

http://www.digi.com/support/productdetl.jsp?pid=3352&osvid=57&s=316&tp=5&tp2=0

After to software is installed, please run it, select the correct COM port and if this is a brandnew xBee module then select 9600bps for communication then click on the Test/Query button.

Please see the above sequences captured in the pictures below. If the X-CTU softwareconnects successfully to the xBee module, you should see the third window below, with areport on your modem type and firmware version.


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The next step is to set the correct baud rate for communication with the Mikrokopter. Click onthe last tab on the top called Modem configuration (1), click on the read button (2). When thevalues are displayed, scroll down till you find the Interface Data Rate, choose (6)-57600 thenclick on the Write button to save the values to your xBee module. Now please see the warningin red in the previous page this is for basic communication only, for secure communicationyou need to change other values as well (not covered in this manual)

When the write cycle completed, you can close the software, remove the module from thecomputer, and plug in your second module, repeating the X-CTU configuration steps above.


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Now you need to push the connectors on the ribbon cable, plug the first module into thesecond (MK) interface board, and connect the interface board to your Mikrokopter. Please notePIN 1 on the interface board is toward the LED just like in the picture below:

Please make sure you connect Pin1 to Pin 1 on the Mikrokopter debug port. Both interfaceboards have a red LED for convenience, this is not only an operation indicator but a power onindicator as well, it will only work if a proper and working xBee module is inserted.

When trying to connect make sure you use the correct port on the computer for the MKTools,

otherwise there will be no communication. In our testing we flew the Mikrokopter with 900Mhzand 2.4GHz xBee modules while remote controlling the Mikrokopter in 2.4GHz Spektrum RCradio.

Troubleshooting

In case you have any concerns or problems using this device, please contact us [email protected] through the Support page at www.nghobbies.com

Copyright @ 2011Copyright @ 2011Copyright @ 2011Copyright @ 2011, New Generation Hobbies., New Generation Hobbies., New Generation Hobbies., New Generation Hobbies.

xBee Adapter Manual

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