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wireless function? — Parallax Forums

wireless function?

Connor149Connor149 Posts: 25
edited 2010-12-06 13:02 in Accessories
Im afraid i have not quite grasped the exact purpose of the xbee, say i have 2 xbee one on my computer and another on a robot. do the two xbee simply connect with eachother and say...load a program into the robot wirelessly, or do i need to program xbee connection into the microcontroller.
same question with bluetooth module.

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2010-11-29 15:51
    It turns out that you can't download programs to your Stamp or Propeller over a wireless link. The speed and timing of the wireless communications isn't up to it. What you can do is send data back and forth. Your Stamp could send the information gathered from the various sensors to a program on your PC and the PC could send information back to the Stamp about what wheel speed to set (right forward 10%, left forward 15%).

    The program on your Stamp would be designed to send and receive data to/from the xBee instead of via a wired connection like the one used for downloading programs
  • Connor149Connor149 Posts: 25
    edited 2010-11-29 16:35
    so i could say... use my keyboard to activate a servo motor? and just to put this out there, it is a propeller not a stamp sorry.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2010-11-29 16:55
    Yes.

    You will need a program on each end. One on the PC to read the keyboard and transmit something out the xBee (or Bluetooth) and one on the Propeller to receive from an xBee (or Bluetooth) device, interpret what's received and act on it (like to move a servo).
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-11-29 16:58
    Yes, you could. Whatever data you put into one XBee comes out the other. It is as if there is a wired serial connection between the two devices.

    They work the same way with the Basic Stamp and the Propeller.

    Rich H
  • kuismakuisma Posts: 134
    edited 2010-11-29 22:47
    Mike Green wrote: »
    It turns out that you can't download programs to your Stamp or Propeller over a wireless link. The speed and timing of the wireless communications isn't up to it.

    You are talking about the Propeller loader in rom now, right? Running native V.24 over the air is never a good idea, but with an own program loader, I can't see any problems loading the propeller over wireless.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2010-11-30 09:42
    The built-in loader in the Stamp and the Propeller will not work over a wireless link. There are other file transfer protocols that will work, but you'll have to write (or find) your own loader that sits in part of the boot EEPROM. The Propeller Backpack has such a loader, written so a program can be downloaded through a Stamp. Have a look at that.

    Remember that the built-in loader and the Propeller Tool are the two ends of a conversation. Neither will work with the other over a wireless link. You'll have to compile programs to a binary file with the Propeller Tool, then use a separate loader to talk to the Propeller. The process would be the same with Stamps and the Stamp Editor.
  • Connor149Connor149 Posts: 25
    edited 2010-11-30 09:48
    Woah lets not try to confuse me here, ok i get it i think, so i will need 2 programs, one loaded onto robot to recieve and interpret, and one on computer to send signal, got it.
  • ThricThric Posts: 109
    edited 2010-11-30 13:48
    You really don't need two microcontrollers if your doing something simple enough as sending decimal values to a prop.

    What i do is have one prop connected an xbee while another is connected directly to my computer using an adapter board (i think they sell one at parallax not sure, but the one I use is from sparkfun). I than use the PST to send commands.
  • Connor149Connor149 Posts: 25
    edited 2010-12-06 13:02
    I see, all I am doing is the decimal values, from keyboard. So that would work great. Thank you all for your help.
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