Xbee seemingly random transmission pause

Projects Networking, Protocols, and Devices
1

We are trying to establish communication between an Arduino Uno and an Arduino Mega using two XBee S1 modules.

The Uno sends the state of two joysticks to the robot 50 times a second, so in every 20 ms. The Mega receives them, but sometimes (about every 5 seconds) there is a gap of about 120 ms, when nothing is received. We have tried using a Raspberry Pi as the receiver, the problem persisted. Then we tried basically hooking the Uno Tx-Rx to RPi Tx-Rx, then the data was continuous.

Therefore we think the XBees are malfunctioning. When we first tried out the XBee modules we have accidentally wired the DIN to the Arduino Tx, without a voltage divider, the module could have gotten damaged then, but since otherwise they seem to function properly, I find it unlikely.

What might cause the pause in transmission?

2

Therefore we think the XBees are malfunctioning.

Misconfigured, more likely.

What might cause the pause in transmission?

Incorrect code.

3

Therefore we think the XBees are malfunctioning.

Misconfigured, more likely.

Can you be more specific? Which configuration parameter is likely to cause this?

What might cause the pause in transmission?

Incorrect code.

I think the code is correct, because when we wired the Uno with the Rpi leaving the XBees out, the data was arriving continuously.