Weeks ago I bought a pair of XBee modules, an expansion shield with XBee socket for Arduino and a XBee USB adapter. Thinking it might be tricky to let them work, I haven’t opened the package until today. The first thing before I start playing with them is downloading the latest version of X-CTU which I heard of can configure and test the XBee module.
This is a nice piece of software with rich well-organized features. I did a simple test of the module and everything is OK and I get the module model (I think XB24 is the most common one). By setting the model, all the parameters can be listed. But I didn’t change anything, as I only have 2 modules on hand and what I can do is point-to-point communcation which doesn’t seem to need any specific configuration.
I connect one XBee module with Arduino through a expansion shield with XBee socket, and the other one with my computer through a USB adapter for XBee. What I start with is by writing a small Arduino program to receive serial data from XBee and display them on the LCD, so when I type in the terminal on the computer, the content will be displayed on the LCD wirelessly. This turns out so easy.
Useful links: