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Downloading and Installing the XCTU Software

Digi XBee 865/868 LP Development Kit Getting Started Guide

8

6. Start XCTU by double-clicking on the XCTU icon on your desktop, or by selecting 

Start > 

Programs > Digi > XCTU

The XCTU software is now ready for use.

Summary of Contents for XBee 865

Page 1: ...Getting Started Guide XBee 865 868 LP Development Kit ...

Page 2: ...in the product s and or the program s described in this manual at any time Trademarks and copyright Digi Digi International and the Digi logo are trademarks or registered trademarks in the United States and other countries worldwide All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners 2014 Digi International All rights reserved Customer support If you need as...

Page 3: ...ers 7 Installing the XCTU Software 7 Testing the Communication Link and Establishing a Mesh Network Channel Mask Settings for Europe and India 9 Performing a Range Test 9 Establish a Mesh Network 13 Configuring Digi XBee Radios Using XCTU Configuring the Remote XBee Modules Using XCTU 14 Changing from Mesh to Point to Multipoint Mode Using XCTU 15 Changing the XBee Firmware Versions using XCTU 16 ...

Page 4: ...ules and adjust your XBee settings quickly and easily Requirements To install the software mentioned in this guide you need a PC running Microsoft Windows 2000 XP Vista or Windows 7 Additional Documentation For more information about the software API operations AT command modes or the form factor please refer to the XBee 865 868LP Product Manual For more information on configuring and using the XC...

Page 5: ...Development Kit contains the following 3 XBee 868LP Modules 3 XBee Interface Boards Antennas and Accessories Digi XBee 865 868LP Kit Components Carefully unpack and verify the contents of your kit Your kit should include the following XBee Interface Board 3 Antenna 3 XBee U FL Module 3 USB Cable 2 Power Supply 2 Power Supply Adapters 2 ...

Page 6: ...ules on the XBee Interface Boards XBIB by lining the pins up with the headers and pressing the module into place 2 Attach the dipole antennas to the modules 3 Connect the first XBIB to your computer using a USB cable This first device is designated as your base radio 4 Connect the remaining modules and interface boards and set them aside for now You are now ready to run the XCTU software and to be...

Page 7: ...install please follow the USB driver installation instructions found here www digi com support kbase kbaseresultdetl jsp id 3214 If you are using Windows 2000 or XP download and install To install the USB driver 1 Download the driver setup file at ftp1 digi com support driver FTDI_Windows_Driver_Setup exe 2 Double click on the setup file A window pops up during installation and automatically close...

Page 8: ...ng the XCTU Software Digi XBee 865 868 LP Development Kit Getting Started Guide 8 6 Start XCTU by double clicking on the XCTU icon on your desktop or by selecting Start Programs Digi XCTU The XCTU software is now ready for use ...

Page 9: ...00 to operate in the 865 to 867 MHz frequency band Please refer to the XBee 865 868LP Product Manual for details Performing a Range Test Before running a range test you must establish a connection with the XCTU software 1 Double click the XCTU shortcut on your desktop 2 Under the PC Settings tab select the serial COM port associated with the development boards you have just attached to your comput...

Page 10: ...lopment Kit Getting Started Guide 10 Note The remote radio requires a P8 jumper on the XBIB loopback header CAUTION Ensure that the P8 jumper is not bridging the two pins together on the base radio This could cause XCTU to stall if the jumper is populated and requests are sent to the radio ...

Page 11: ...he Range Test tab 7 Optional Check the RSSI check box to enable the Received Signal Strength Indicator 8 Click Start to begin the range test 9 Monitor the link quality by reading the Percent section on the Range Test tab This section displays the running percentage of good packets sent to the receiving radio and looped back to the base ...

Page 12: ...distance increases beyond the maximum range of the radios you start seeing greater packet loss 10 Click Stop to end the range test The Advanced tab provides you with more options If you are running the range test with several mesh radios acting as intermediaries increase the Data receive timeout value to compensate for additional latency ...

Page 13: ... remote device further away from the base device until the signal is lost 3 Assemble another module and interface board 4 Connect with a power supply and place this device halfway between the base and remote radios The intermediate radio bridges the gap between the remote and the base and re establishes communication The network troubleshoots itself by redirecting communications as soon as a pathw...

Page 14: ...igured for API mode The following sections provide instructions for configuring your remote XBee modules using XCTU Configuring the Remote XBee Modules Using XCTU To configure the remote XBee modules using XCTU follow these instructions 1 On your base radio go to the Modem Configuration tab in XCTU 2 Click Read and the parameter types appear in the window 3 Set the base radio AP to 1 Then in bulle...

Page 15: ... can Read Write and Restore parameters on the main XCTU window and those changes occur over the air on the remote module selected in the Network window Close the Network window when you have finished with remote configuration Changing from Mesh to Point to Multipoint Mode Using XCTU By default your modules come configured to operate in mesh mode If you need to work a point to multipoint topology c...

Page 16: ...u can send information at a lower data rate to improve your receiver sensitivity which increases range 1 Click the Modem Configuration tab in XCTU 2 Select the modem type from the Modem drop down menu that corresponds with the RF data rate desired XB8 DM for the 80 Kbps version or XB8 DP for the 10 Kbps version The function set auto populates with the version associated with the selected modem typ...

Page 17: ...Bee 865 868 LP Development Kit Getting Started Guide 17 3 Select the firmware version desired from the Version drop down menu The default selected is the newest version of the firmware 4 Check the Always Update Firmware box 5 Click the Write button ...

Page 18: ...gi XBee 865 868LP Development Kit Resetting the Digi XBee 865 868LP Development Kit Each XBee USB Development Board has a reset button as shown in the following image Press the reset button to reset the module This is useful if you are having issues accessing the COM port This also resets any parameters that were changed but not written into memory Note that any changes written to the module are n...

Page 19: ...ing to this functionality Troubleshooting Communication Failure between Radios Network settings that can cause loss of communication include Baud Rate BD Parity NB and Encryption Enable EE among others Check to see if these parameters are set appropriately If you are unsure if your settings are affecting your communication you might want to try setting your modules back to their default settings T...

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