Hi, I am working for a company that builds mobile robots. We are going to a trade show in a couple of months. I’ve been told that in the past they had trouble with the mobile robot because the wifi would drop due to high level of interference. What we need is to be able to send short messages between the computer and the mobile robot and vice-versa. Basically commands to go somewhere and tell us if it completed the task and so on.
The plan is to start with a simple chat-like application to test out the integration and see if we can select a channel that would avoid interference with the Wifi when many people come into the trade show.
Is XBee, the best option?
is XBee S2C or 3, the better option?
Thank you,
Confused.
From experience at shows with XBees, they also are subject to interference from noisy environments.
Most of the interference comes from other attendees bluetooth modules on the 2.4Ghz frequency range. You may want to consider something operating in the 900-928Mhz range.
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Thank you @Kristof_2649. I’ve been considering the XBee XR 900, it looks like it could help with the noise. Would you (or anyone reading this) know if the development is any different or is it just a different range/options?
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) make the XR 900 a good candidate for that kind of application.
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Thank you, that sounds great. Would you know if the chat example included in this link work in the same way with the XR 900?
@safwan.hak
Which link are you referencing?
Many of the XBee modules feature a “transparent” mode, in which they function as a wireless replacement for a cable over which a UART (or possibly SPI) interface is implemented. These are common protocols for implementing low-bandwidth, point-to-point communications between embedded devices.
The radio bandwidth needed to accommodate that kind of traffic is much less than needed for WiFi, which is is a high-bandwidth protocol adapted for things like streaming HD video content. In the same way that a kayak can pass through waterways that a container ship cannot, a narrow-band link protocol has better odds of tolerating interference than a wide-band one does.
In such a context, a “chat” application would likely mean something like using a terminal program such as putty or X-CTU to provide a human interface to a character-parsing software routine running on the target device/robot.
Per the XR 900 User Guide, the “transparent mode” is in fact the factory default mode of operation.
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@Nathan_2268 @rick_1976 Thank you. Apologies for forgetting to include the link. This is the link I’m talking about. I wouldn’t use a terminal beyond testing but write it as part of my application by using serial communication. Same thing, but wanted to clarify the end goal.
regards,
Saf
