







How Does The XBee 3 Click Board™ Work?
The XBee 3 Click Board™ is based on the XB8X-DMUS-001, a Digi XBee® CE/RED certified RF module suitable for mission-critical wireless applications from Digi International. The XB8X-DMUS-001 can run a proprietary DigiMesh® or point-to-multipoint networking protocol utilizing a low-power Silicon Labs MCU and an ADF7023 transceiver with an integrated SAW filter offering industry-leading interference blocking. It also supports low-power sleeping nodes and has an RF line-of-sight range of up to 14km (rural range line of sight) in a combination of coverage, data redundancy, and data reliability.
The XB8X-DMUS-001 module is pre-certified for use in European countries. Operating between 863MHz and 870MHz (868MHz), it allows use in several regions, including approved European countries. It also leverages surrounding frequencies for LBT+AFA (Listen-Before-Talk and Adaptive-Frequency-Agility), significantly reducing interference by listening to the radio environment before any transmission starts and automatically shifting to a new channel when interference is detected.
The XBee 3 Click Board™ comes with a configurable host interface allowing communication with MCU using the chosen interface. The XB8X-DMUS-001 can communicate with MCU using the UART interface with commonly used UART RX, TX, and hardware flow control pins UART CTS and RTS (Clear to Send and Ready to Send) or using the SPI interface (XBee module will work as an SPI-slave only). In the case of the SPI interface, the users can use it to configure the module and write the library by themselves.
The XBee 3 Click Board™ is associated with many other features, such as the reset function and the possibility of visual and digital indicators. An active-low reset signal routed on the RST pin of the mikroBUS™ socket activates a hardware reset of the system, while a yellow LED indicator marked as ASSOC represents a visual indication of the module's connection to the network. If the LED is constantly on, it means that the module is not connected to the mobile network, while the case of standard flashing of the LED represents the normal operating mode.
The A/D pin routed on the INT pin of the mikroBUS™ socket represents a type of interrupt whose function can be selected by positioning an onboard SMD jumper to an appropriate position labelled as DTR or ATT. DTR position is a "Data terminal ready" function used to tell the XBee module that the host MCU is ready to communicate, while the ATT position (SPI Attention) represents an indicator for the SPI interface whenever the XBee module has data for the host MCU. In addition, the board also has a commissioning pushbutton marked as COMMI which, combined with an ASSOC LED, provides various simple functions to aid in deploying devices in a network.
The XBee 3 Click Board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. However, the Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.
SPECIFICATIONS
Type | ZigBee |
Applications | Can be used for applications requiring range, data redundancy, and reliability |
On-board modules | XB8X-DMUS-001 - Digi XBee® RF module from Digi International |
Key Features | Low power consumption, CE/RED certified, SAW filter for performance in noisy RF environments, Listen-Before-Talk and Frequency Agility for interference immunity, DigiMesh networking topology for redundancy and reliability, and more |
Interface | SPI, UART |
Compatibility | mikroBUS |
Click board size | L (57.15 x 25.4 mm) |
Input Voltage | 3.3V |
PINOUT DIAGRAM
This table shows how the pinout of the XBee 3 Click Board™ corresponds to the pinout on the mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).
Notes | Pin | ![]() |
Pin | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UART RTS | RTS | 1 | AN | PWM | 16 | CTS | UART CTS |
Reset | RST | 2 | RST | INT | 15 | A/D | Data Ready Indicator |
SPI Chip Select | CS | 3 | CS | RX | 14 | TX | UART TX |
SPI Clock | SCK | 4 | SCK | TX | 13 | RX | UART RX |
SPI Data OUT | SDO | 5 | MISO | SCL | 12 | NC | |
SPI Data IN | SDI | 6 | MOSI | SDA | 11 | NC | |
Power Supply | 3.3V | 7 | 3.3V | 5V | 10 | NC | |
Ground | GND | 8 | GND | GND | 9 | GND | Ground |
ONBOARD SETTINGS AND INDICATORS
Label | Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|
LD1 | PWR | - | Power LED Indicator |
LD2 | ASSOC | - | Associate LED Indicator |
JP1 | GPIO SEL | Right | Data Ready Selection DTR/ATT: Left position DTR, Right position ATT |
T1 | COMMI | - | Commissioning Button |
XBEE 3 CLICK ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Description | Min | Typ | Max | Unit |
---|---|---|---|---|
Supply Voltage | - | 3.3 | - | V |
Frequency Range | 863 | 863 | 870 | MHz |
Urban Range Line of Signt | - | - | 2.5 | km |
Rural Range Line of Signt | - | - | 14.5 | km |
RF Data Rate | 10 | - | 80 | Kbps |
Operating Temperature Range | -40 | +25 | +85 | °C |
Software Support
We provide a library for the XBee 3 Click Board™ as well as a demo application (example), developed using MikroElektronika compilers. The demo can run on all the main MikroElektronika development boards.
The package can be downloaded/installed directly from NECTO Studio The package Manager (recommended), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on the MikroE GitHub account.
Library Description
This library contains API for the XBee 3 Click Board™ driver.
Key functions
-
xbee3_get_serial_number
This function sends a get serial number command. -
xbee3_set_device_name
This function sets the device name (node identifier). -
xbee3_set_destination_address
This function sets the destination address high and low bytes.
Example Description
This example demonstrates the use of the XBee 3 Click Board™ by showing the communication between the two Click Board™ boards configured in transparent mode.
void application_task ( void )
{
#ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
xbee3_generic_write( &xbee3, DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE, strlen( DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE ) );
log_printf( &logger, "%s", ( char * ) DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE );
Delay_ms( 3000 );
#else
xbee3_process( );
if ( app_buf_len > 0 )
{
log_printf( &logger, "%s", app_buf );
xbee3_clear_app_buf( );
}
#endif
}
The full application code, and ready-to-use projects can be installed directly from NECTO Studio The package Manager (recommended), downloaded from our LibStock™ or found on the MikroE GitHub account.
Other MikroE Libraries used in the example:
- MikroSDK.Board
- MikroSDK.Log
- Click.XBEE3
Additional Notes and Information
Depending on the development board you are using, you may need USB UART Click Board™, USB UART 2 Click or RS232 Click to connect to your PC, for development systems with no UART to USB interface available on the board. UART terminal is available in all MikroElektronika compilers.
MIKROSDK
The XBee 3 Click Board™ is supported with mikroSDK - MikroElektronika Software Development Kit. To ensure proper operation of mikroSDK compliant Click board™ demo applications, mikroSDK should be downloaded from the LibStock and installed for the compiler you are using.
XBee 3 Click Board
Frequently Asked Questions
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