Arduino + XBee Series 1+ Processing

Projects Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer
1

I'm using four XBee series 1 radios, three of them are connected to three Lilypad Arduinos. Each one is running a program that is reading and printing values collected from pressure sensors that are attached to analog pins 0 and 2 (see attached code). I have a 4th XBee configured as the coordinator and is plugged into my computer which is running a processing program (see attached). I was expecting this program to sort through the multiple values coming from the three arduinos and stream them into 6 columns (sensor 0 through to sensor 6). I have lifted both codes from Tom Igoes tutorial on serial communication Lab: Two-way (Duplex) Serial Communication using an Arduino and Processing – ITP Physical Computing. My teacher suggested that his punctuation method should work with the radios and that I do not need to be in API mode. I'm clearly missing something. I'm new at this and I've tried to provide you with info as succinctly as possible but please bear with me if I have neglected to include something important. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Here's what's happening when I run the program:

  1. radios are communicating with coordinator and transmitting data
  2. all the data is streaming through two columns only, sensor 0 and sensor 1.
  3. I can see the data values change when I apply pressure to the different sensors but it's all messy.
  4. If I run only one radio and turn off the other two, the program runs beautifully.

Arduino code

void setup() {
// configure the serial connection:
Serial.begin(9600);

}
void loop() {
// read the sensor:
int sensorValue = analogRead(A0);
// print the results:
Serial.print(sensorValue);
Serial.print(",");

// read the sensor:
sensorValue = analogRead(A2);
// print the results:

Serial.println(sensorValue);
}

Processing Code

import processing.serial.*; // import the Processing serial library
Serial myPort; // The serial port

void setup() {
// List all the available serial ports
println(Serial.list());

// I know that the first port in the serial list on my mac
// is always my Arduino module, so I open Serial.list()[0].
// Change the 0 to the appropriate number of the serial port
// that your microcontroller is attached to.
String portName = Serial.list()[0];
myPort = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);
myPort.bufferUntil('\n');
}
void draw() {
// twiddle your thumbs
}

void serialEvent(Serial myPort) {
// read the serial buffer:
String myString = myPort.readStringUntil('\n');
if (myString != null) {
myString = trim(myString);

// split the string at the commas
// and convert the sections into integers:
int sensors[] = int(split(myString, ','));

// print out the values you got:
for (int sensorNum = 0; sensorNum < sensors.length; sensorNum++) {
print("Sensor " + sensorNum + ": " + sensors[sensorNum] + "\t");
}
// add a linefeed after all the sensor values are printed:
println();

}
}

2

I was expecting this program to sort through the multiple values coming from the three arduinos and stream them into 6 columns (sensor 0 through to sensor 6).

I can't see why you were expecting this. Each sender is sending two values. There is nothing in what is being sent to distinguish one sender from another.

You need to use API mode if you want the receiver to figure out who the sender was, OR you need to configure each sender to send data differently.

The first could send "Tom, S0Val, S1Val", while the second could send "Dick, S0Val, S1Val", and the third could send "Pedro, S0Val, S1Val". Processing would then need to sort out which was 1, 2 and 3.

3

Thanks for the feedback Paul.

If I don't use API mode, do I set up the configuration you suggested in the radios firmware or in my Arduino code? Can you provide a little more detail on this point.

I have tried using API mode on my receiver along with the examples provided in Rob Faludi's XBee-API library for processing http://www.faludi.com/examples/xbee-api-library-for-processing/ but I get this error message,
"UnsupportedClassVersionError: A library is using code compiled with an unsupported version of Java" (see attached code). Do you know how I can fix this?

/** 
 * XBee ACD API Reader
 * by Rob Faludi and Daniel Shiffman and Tom Igoe
 * http://www.faludi.com
 * http://www.shiffman.net
 * http://tigoe.net 
 * v 1.2  (added multiple samples)
 * v 1.3  (added Znet IO and AT support
 * v 1.4 added file input support
 */


import processing.core.*;
import processing.serial.*;
import xbee.XBeeDataFrame;
import xbee.XBeeReader;

    // Your Serial Port
    Serial port;
    // Your XBee Reader object
    XBeeReader xbee;

    int ad64H=0x0013A200;
    int [] ad64L={0x403E17E5,0x403E17E6,0x403E17E3};
    int [] ad16={0xFFFE,0xFFFE,0xFFFE};
    String [] ni={" 204"," 203"," 205"};

    
    static public void main(String args[]) {
        PApplet.main(new String[] { "processing.XBee"});
    }

    public void setup() {
        size(200, 200);
        // println("Available serial ports:");
        // println(Serial.list());
        port = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);
        xbee = new XBeeReader(this,port);

        // println("Setting up Xbee");

        // start() issues your initialization commands to the Xbee radio
        // start() is a blocking function (takes ~3 seconds on average) and will time out after 10 seconds
        // Do not send CN\r\n, the xbee object will do that for you
        // String response = xbee.startXBee("ATRE,ID3333,MY89,DH0,DL0");
        // println("Setup response: " + response);

        xbee.startXBee();
        println("XBee Library version " + xbee.getVersion());
    }


    // This function works just like a "serialEvent()" and is 
    // called for you when data is available to be read from your XBee radio.
    public void xBeeEvent(XBeeReader xbee) {
        println("Xbee Event!");
        // Grab a frame of data
        XBeeDataFrame data = xbee.getXBeeReading();

        // This version of the library only works with IOPackets
        if (data.getApiID() == xbee.SERIES1_IOPACKET) {

            // Get the transmitter address
            int addr = data.getAddress16();

            // Get the RSSI reading in dBM 
            int rssi = data.getRSSI();

            long addr64 = data.getAddress64();

            int totalSamples = data.getTotalSamples();
            
            for (int n = 0; n < totalSamples; n++) {
                print("Sample: " + n + "  ");

                // Current state of each digital channel (-1 indicates channel is not configured)
                int[] digital = data.getDigital(n);  
                // Current state of each analog channel (-1 indicates channel is not configured);
                int[] analog = data.getAnalog(n);   

                // This example simply prints the data to the message window
                print("16 address: " + addr + " rssi: " + rssi + "  64address: " + addr64);
                print("  digital: ");
                for (int i = 0; i < digital.length; i++) {
                    print(digital[i] + " ");
                }

                print("  analog: ");
                for (int i = 0; i < analog.length; i++) {
                    print(analog[i] + " ");
                }
                println("");

            }
        } else {
            println("Not I/O data: " + data.getApiID());
        }
    }

    public void draw() {
        background(0);
        fill(255);
        rect(frameCount % width,0,10,height);
    }

    

//  This method responds to key presses when the 
//  program window is active: These methods test the 
//  Znet AT commands and such:
    
 public void keyPressed() {

   switch (key) {

   case 'a': 
     println("Executing node discover: ");
     xbee.nodeDiscover();
     break;
   case 'b':  
     println("Executing setting destination node: ");
     xbee.setDestinationNode(" 203");
     println();
     break;
   case 'c':
     println("Querying Channel: ");
     xbee.getCH();
     break;
      case 'd':
      println("Executing sending datastring: ");
     xbee.sendDataString(ad64H, ad64L[1], "Hello!");
     break;
   case 'h':
     println("Querying DH: ");
     xbee.getDH();
     break;
   case 'i':
     println("Querying PAN ID: ");
     xbee.getID();
     break;  
      case 'l':
      println("Querying DL: ");
     xbee.getDL();
     break;
   case 'n':
     println("Querying Node Identifier: ");
     xbee.getNI();
     break;
   case '1':
     println("set pin 1 on ..E5 to HIGH ");
     xbee.sendRemoteCommand(ad64H, ad64L[0],ad16[0],"D1", 5);
     break;
      case '2':
     println("set pin 1 on ..E5 to LOW ");
     xbee.sendRemoteCommand(ad64H, ad64L[0],ad16[0],"D1", 4);
     break;
      case '3':
     println("set pin 1 on ..E6 to HIGH ");
     xbee.sendRemoteCommand(ad64H, ad64L[1],ad16[1],"D1", 5);
     break;
      case '4':
     println("set pin 1 on ..E6 to LOW ");
     xbee.sendRemoteCommand(ad64H, ad64L[1],ad16[1],"D1", 4);
     break;
     case '5':
     xbee.setIOPin(1, 5);
     break;
         case '6':
     xbee.setIOPin(1, 4);
     break;
          case '7':
     println("query MY ");
     xbee.sendRemoteCommand(0x0013A200, 0x403E17E5,0xFFFE,"MY",-1);
     break;
          case 'p':
     println("print address database");
     for (int i=0; i<ad64L.length;i++) {
       println("64:"+hex(ad64H,8)+hex(ad64L[i],8)+" 16:"+hex(ad16[i],4)+" NI:"+ni[i]);
     }
     break;    
   }
 }

 void addressupdate(int address64High,int address16) {
   for (int i=0; i< ad64L.length;i++) {
     if (ad64L[i]==address64High) {
       ad16[i]=address16;
     }
   }
 }
4

do I set up the configuration you suggested in the radios firmware or in my Arduino code?

In the Arduino code. The XBees already know that they are different (that's what API mode relies on).

Do you know how I can fix this?

No idea.