WLAN transceiver module for motes?

XBee/XBeePro

Zigbee/802.15.4

Wi-fi modules have high high power consumption. I would be interested to hear about low-power WiFi RF module. Low power means c. be able to do a power-saving "ping" mode so the whole mote could be

Some modules could cycle through power-down/power-up mode.

Zigbee/802.15.4, for the US check manufacturer data sheet for the modular approval.

High power Zigbee should be able to do it. Still as for any RF communications it highly depends from antenna type and location.

I tried Maxstream kit for XBeePro and got ~700m line-of-sight range.

Zigbee/802.15.4.

h. Could bring your a perfectly cold beer anytime...

To begin with, take a look to Cirronet, Maxstream, and Aerocomm Zigbee and 802.15.4 OEM RF modules.

There are plenty other Zigbee/802.15.4 modules around.

Sounds a bit Masonic to me.

DNA

Hello Yuriy,

It could operate in bursts, provided it can be woken and sent to sleep from the laptop.

Built-in WLAN ports seem to be doing ok in power consumption because I see more and more people using little handhelds at airports and cafes, mostly to access their email accounts (meaning low net data volumes). Many of them do that via the WLAN that is provided there and not their cell phone accounts because the latter can get expensive.

Yes! Plus a couple of margaritas on hot days, heavy on the tequila and topped off with a dash of Grand Marnier.

I did check Maxstream and Aerocomm but only found "to the other device" as terms for the laptop side of things. Have to dig deeper and I will call them. I know RF quite well but not this Zigbee stuff yet, so I am wondering whether a WLAN card or port of a laptop could communicate with these modules.

Hello Genome,

But I am not a Free-Mason :-)

Hello Karuna,

Well, we don't want to communicate to a WLAN but just use the 2.45GHz WLAN protocol to pipe data from sensor to a laptop. Mostly to avoid the need for a USB RF-transceiver, something that easily breaks. I'll email you when I get back but a full-custom solution could become too expensive here. Then again, maybe it is feasible if you have a product that fits or is really close.

Hello Folks,

Meantime I am a bit closer to the goal here. In case anyone else is going to be in the same boat some day this is really close to what's needed to talk directly through a WLAN port:

Hi Joerg, If that is what you wanted, also take a look at:

They have the same type of thing, very robust and design for industrial applications. If you give their support folks a call, tell Joe that Charlie sent you... 8-)

Charlie

Hello Charlie,

Thanks, I certainly will. And if Joe answers I'll let him know ;-)

They call their products "Airborne", same as the Quatech folks do. Even the part numbers are the same. Strange.

Anyway, the downside here is that while the products with CF card interfaces are cheap ($30-$40) the minute you want RS232 on there it jumps to around $100 even though it looks like the innards are nearly the same. That is beyond budget for this case.

Of course not. Neither are the rest of us ;-)

DNA

Both of my grandfathers were... "33rd Degree", though I have not much clue what that means.

...Jim Thompson

Hello Jim,

I believe that's the highest degree bestowed on members and one has to go to Washington, D.C., for a lengthy initiation ceremony into that degree. And make a substantial donation, of course.

Double check with them. I know that there are a variety of serial ports available, including SPI and I2C, as well as asynch. It might just be the higher cost of the asynch overhead, but doesn't make much sense to me.

BTW, Joe is the support guru, not in sales, but does know where the bodies are buried... 8-)

Charlie

Then try Zigbee/802.15.4, is the cheapest solution compared with any other WLAN option. There are single chip microcontrollers with internal transcievers on zigbee.

Vasile

The CF card ones expect drivers and a TCP/IP stack on the host.

The ones with serial port have an integrated host processor with copious amounts of memory, etc. which runs the drivers, the TCP/IP stack and some small application which bridges between TCP/IP and the serial port. Quite often with a proprietary protocol.

Typically, that device is a ARM-based SBC with uCLinux on it and one of the CF-card WLAN devices attached.

Kind regards,

Iwo

Hello Iwo,

Thanks, Iwo. Just got off the phone with one company (Digi) and they basically said the same thing. We would not need all that luxury in a RS232 equipped transceiver but that's pretty much the only versions out there. The other concern is product longevity which may be just a few years on CF versions and then you have to re-write. That would not be so cool.

Hello Vasile,

I did look at that but AFAICT it will not be able to communicate via the WLAN port built into laptops. You'd need another Zigbee module at the computer and that isn't too practical here.