Overview

This is a Java API for communication with XBee/XBee-Pro series 1 (802.15.4) and series 2 (ZNet 2.5 and ZB/ZigBee Pro) OEM RF Modules, in API mode. The objective of this project is to provide a flexible and simple to use API to interact with XBee radios. In terms of flexibility, the goal is to not constrain you to a particular implementation (e.g. GUI, Web App, Processing etc.), but instead let you decide how to use it. This software has been tested on Windows, Mac, and Linux and can run on any other platform that supports Java 5 or greater and RXTX.

Note: This software requires API mode, by setting AP=2. If you are using Series 2 XBee, you'll need to install API Firmware (they ship with AT firmware), then set AP=2. This software will not work correctly with AP=1 Refer to XBeeConfiguration and WhyApiMode for more info.

News

• 4/3/11 I have created a XBeeUseCases wiki that describes several use cases for communicating with XBees.
• 11/7/10 The 0.9 release is now available! This release includes a lot of new features and an extensive redesign of the internals. See ReleaseNotes for details.
• 8/13/10 I've added a wiki that describes how to use XBee-API with Processing
• 5/10/09 Version 0.5.5 is available and includes many updates.
• 3/29/09 I have released XBee Arduino. This is a port of XBee API to the Arduino platform, allowing you to send/receive packets on Arduino.
• 1/29/09 I have released XBee XMPP. This project is built on XBee-API and uses XMPP for remote communication with an XBee network. This allows you to share an XBee with multiple applications, that can exist on different machines.
• 1/25/09 Version 0.5.1 of the XBee API is now available. This release contains two bugfixes. See ReleaseNotes for details.
• 1/17/09 Version 0.5
• 8/3/08 Version 0.4
• 6/10/08 Version 0.3.1
• 4/29/08 Version 0.3
• 4/5/08 Initial Release

Documentation

• Developer's Guide
• Javadocs
• Wiki Docs

Learning/Books

• Wireless Sensor Networks: with ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (Kindle version available)
• Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects

Examples

Here are a few examples that demostrate some common functionality:

Turn on an I/O port on a remote Series 2 (ZNet/ZB Pro) XBee:

XBee xbee = new XBee();
xbee.open("COM5", 9600);

// this is the Serial High (SH) + Serial Low (SL) of the remote XBee			
XBeeAddress64 addr64 = new XBeeAddress64(0xa, 0xb, 0xc, 0xd, 0xe, 0xf, 0, 1);

// Turn on DIO0 (Pin 20)
RemoteAtRequest request = new RemoteAtRequest(addr64, "D0", new int[{XBeePin.Capability.DIGITAL_OUTPUT_HIGH.getValue()});

xbee.sendAsynchronous(request);

RemoteAtResponse response = (RemoteAtResponse) xbee.getResponse();

if (response.isOk()) {
    System.out.println("Successfully turned on DIO0");
} else {
    System.out.println("Attempt to turn on DIO0 failed.  Status: " + response.getStatus());
}

// shutdown the serial port and associated threads
xbee.close();

Receive I/O samples from a remote Series 1 (802.15.4) XBee:

XBee xbee = new XBee();		
xbee.open("COM15", 9600);
			
while (true) {
    RxResponseIoSample ioSample = (RxResponseIoSample) xbee.getResponse();

    System.out.println("We received a sample from " + ioSample.getSourceAddress());	
			
    if (ioSample.containsAnalog()) {
        System.out.println("10-bit temp reading (pin 19) is " + ioSample.getSamples()[0].getAnalog1();
    }
}

There are many more detailed examples included in the code for both ZigBee and 802.15.4. Here are just a few:

This example contains a few sample configurations to get your ZigBee coordinator and end devices configured quickly, without needing X-CTU (windows only) ZNetApiAtExample.java

Example of sending packets from a ZigBee coordinator to an end device ZNetSenderExample.java

This example receives the packets sent in the previous example ZNetReceiverExample.java

Feature Support

The majority of the XBee specification has been implemented for both 802.15.4 (Series 1) and ZNet 2.5/ZB Pro (Series 2). See FeatureSupport for a full listing of supported API types.

About

I received my first pair of XBee Pro radios in Nov '07, after learning about them on the Arduino website. I quickly learned that to take advantage of the real power in XBee radios (e.g. I/O Samples, ACK/Delivery Status, Remote AT etc.), you need to configure the radio in API mode. I searched for open source XBee software with support for API mode, but couldn't find anything, so I decided to write my own. I started coding on 12/15/2007 and after about 300 commits and several months later I released the software here, on Google Code.

Support

Please report any bugs on the Issue Tracker For questions regarding this software, not covered in the documentation, use the Forum

Questions/Feedback

Questions about this project should be posted to http://groups.google.com/group/xbee-api?pli=1 Be sure to provide as much detail as possible.

For other stuff, I can be contacted at andrew.rapp [at] gmail.