I am having a really hard time finding the eagle files or block diagram for the xbee. I am looking to add wifi to a project but need the cost to be as low as possible. Hence, I want to build the board myself. Can someone please help me out?
I am also building boards for the XBees myself.
I am also using EAGLE for this.
I suggest you start with the Adafruit XBee breakout board, I basically took the PCB file for it and modified it to a single sided board with a few different components (beefier SMD regulator, SMD 0.1uF cap etc).
Are you building an actual xbee or building off the breakout board to incorporate an already built xbee into your project?
Well you can't build an XBee yourself, the files are closed source and the chipsets are not easily available.
You could build your own wireless module if that's what you mean.
What specs do you need in this wireless module? What are you thinking of using it/them for?
I need 2 things:
-
a positioning system with a tolerance of +/- 3 feet and a range of 1+ mile. Othinking GPS is the only viable option without a lot of investment)
-
a way to report the position back to a PC. again at a range of 1+ mile.
Cost is an issue. if everything works correctly, the person I am building the item for, will be taking it to market.
So what kind of budget are you looking at?
I would not have thought that you would get a range of 1+ miles for much cheaper than an XBee unless you simply go for low frequency RF.
What kind of security does the signal have to have?
What kind of quantity of data do you need to send/(receive?)
I need the unit cost to be no more than $100 USD. Ideally positioning and communication will be less than $70. Security and latencey are not a big concers at this point. ATM all I know that absolutely need to be sent are latitude and longitude and maybe some sort of identifier code since more than one unit may be communicating with the base PC. I was thinking of GPS and Dirt Cheap Dumb Wireless but cannot find anything about the approximate range using DCDW.