XBee3 Mesh Network Kit--XK3-Z8S-WZM

I am planning to create my first mesh network that I hope can send sensor data from multiple locations in a remote area to a central collection point. I envision the greatest distance between any two points in this first test network will be less than 2 miles, or perhaps less than one mile.

The digi Xbee3 mesh kit (XK3-Z8S-WZM Digi XBee3 ZigBee Mesh Kit, worldwide–$99) appears to be a good choice, but since I’m a beginner I have a few questions.

  1. Does this kit include two Xbee3 devices and one Xbee3 Pro? (I haven’t found the answer in the catalog)

  2. Is everything I need to start with Xbee mesh networking included in this kit?

  3. Is there another combination of XBee3 devices to better meet the needs of this project?

  4. Is this the most cost-effective solution?

Here are additional details that led to my tentative choice of the digi Xbee3 ZigBee Mesh Kit:

  1. Ample documentation.

  2. Each device will need battery power.

  3. Error correction.

  4. Initially data will be fetched by physically driving to the central collection point and copying it to another storage device.

  5. Reasonable price and scalability.

NOTE: The collected data will be analyzed in a lab about 40 miles from the mesh network, so ultimately it would be nice to transmit data from the field to the lab. But for now, I simply want to become acquainted with the technology.

Thanks for clarifying the kit’s contents and for any suggestions you may have for a better approach to this.

jb

@jbob,

This kit contains 3 XBee3 non-pro: XB3-24Z8US-J’s… It also contains 3 usb adapter boards with cables so you can run all 3 XBee3’s.

For your application, 1 -> 2 miles, you should look the the XBee3 pro’s… SparkFun has a good distance guide here: https://www.sparkfun.com/pages/xbee_guide

Regards,