Electrical – python – How to create a network of multiple xbee s2 with python and arduino

arduinopythonraspberry pixbeezigbee

I'm working on a wireless sensor network in which I have one coordinator router (API mode 2) connected to a Raspberry Pi 2, 5 or more routers in API mode 2 as well. Each router is connected to an Arduino Uno. The Unos also have different sensors attached to them (temperature, humidity etc). I have to send data from the sensors to the coordinator and process it. I have successfully transferred data using one router and coordinator (just two XBee S2 modules). On the Arduini I'm using Andrew's library https://github.com/andrewrapp/xbee-arduino and on the Pi I'm using a Python-xbee library https://github.com/nioinnovation/python-xbee. For a single router and coordinator my codes are:
Arduino Code (Router):

#include <XBee.h>
#include <math.h> 
// create the XBee object
XBee xbee = XBee();

int sensor = A5;
uint8_t payload[8] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0};
// union to convert float to byte string
union u_tag {
    uint8_t b[4];
    float fval;
} u;


// SH + SL Address of receiving XBee
XBeeAddress64 addr64 = XBeeAddress64(0x0013a200, 0x40DC7C90);
ZBTxRequest zbTx = ZBTxRequest(addr64, payload, sizeof(payload));
ZBTxStatusResponse txStatus = ZBTxStatusResponse();

int statusLed = 13;
int errorLed = 12;

void flashLed(int pin, int times, int wait) {

  for (int i = 0; i < times; i++) {
    digitalWrite(pin, HIGH);
    delay(wait);
    digitalWrite(pin, LOW);

    if (i + 1 < times) {
      delay(wait);
    }
  }
}

double Thermistor(int RawADC)
{
  double Temp;
  Temp = log(10000.0 * ((1024.0 / RawADC - 1)));
  Temp = 1 / (0.001129148 + (0.000234125 + (0.0000000876741 * Temp * Temp )) * Temp );
  Temp = Temp - 273.15;            // Convert Kelvin to Celcius
  //Temp = (Temp * 9.0)/ 5.0 + 32.0; // Convert Celcius to Fahrenheit
  return Temp;
}

void setup() {
  pinMode(statusLed, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(errorLed, OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  float rawADC = analogRead(sensor);
  float t = Thermistor (rawADC);

  // check if returns are valid, if they are NaN (not a number) then something went wrong!
  if (!isnan(t)) {

    // convert temperature into a byte array and copy it into the payload array
    u.fval = t;
    for (int i=0;i<4;i++){
      payload[i]=u.b[i];
    }
    u.fval = 100.33;
    for (int i=0;i<4;i++){
      payload[i+4]=u.b[i];
    }

    xbee.send(zbTx);
    flashLed(statusLed, 1, 100);        // flash TX indicator


    // after sending a tx request, we expect a status response, wait up to half second for the status response
    if (xbee.readPacket(500)) {
      // got a response!
      // should be a znet tx status             
      if (xbee.getResponse().getApiId() == ZB_TX_STATUS_RESPONSE) {
        xbee.getResponse().getZBTxStatusResponse(txStatus);

        // get the delivery status, the fifth byte
        if (txStatus.getDeliveryStatus() == SUCCESS) {
          // success.  time to celebrate
          flashLed(statusLed, 5, 50); 
        } else {
          // the remote XBee did not receive our packet. is it powered on?
          flashLed(errorLed, 3, 500);
        }
      }
    } else if (xbee.getResponse().isError()) {
      //nss.print("Error reading packet.  Error code: ");  
      //nss.println(xbee.getResponse().getErrorCode());
    } else {
      // local XBee did not provide a timely TX Status Response -- should not happen
      flashLed(errorLed, 1, 50);
    }
  }
  delay(2000);
}

Raspberry Pi Code (Coordinator):

from xbee import ZigBee
import serial
import struct
import datetime

PORT = '/dev/ttyUSB0'
BAUD_RATE = 9600

def hex(bindata):
    return ''.join('%02x' % ord(byte) for byte in bindata)

# Open serial port
ser = serial.Serial(PORT, BAUD_RATE)

# Create API object
xbee = ZigBee(ser,escaped=True)

# Continuously read and print packets
while True:
    try:
        response = xbee.wait_read_frame()
        sa = hex(response['source_addr_long'])
        rf = hex(response['rf_data'])
        obj = createObject(response)
        obj.createPacket()
        print ("Temperature: %.2f" % obj.packet['temperature'],
        "Humidity: %.2f" % obj.packet['humidity'], 
        "Source Address: 0x%s" % obj.packet['sourceAddressShort'],
        "Timestamp: %s" % obj.packet['timestamp'].isoformat())
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        break

ser.close()

class createObject:
    def __init__(self, response):
        self.sourceAddrLong = hex(response['source_addr_long'])
        self.rfData = hex(response['rf_data'])
        self.sourceAddrShort = hex(response['source_addr_long'][4:])
        self.options = response.pop('options')
        self.frameType = response['id']
        self.temperature = struct.unpack('f',response['rf_data'][0:4])[0]
        self.humidity = struct.unpack('f',response['rf_data'][4:])[0]
        self.dataLength = len(response['rf_data'])
        self.packet={}
        self.dateNow = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
        self.packetJson=0

    def createPacket(self):
        self.packet.update({
                'timestamp' : self.dateNow,
                'temperature' : self.temperature,
                'humidity' : self.humidity,
                'dataLength' : self.dataLength,
                'sourceAddressLong' : self.sourceAddrLong,
                'sourceAddressShort' : self.sourceAddrShort,
                'options' : self.options,
                'frameType' : self.frameType
                })

I have a few questions that I can't find answers to. I have looked almost everywhere but still have some confusions.

1) In the Arduino code, there is a portion of code at the end where it checks for the status response (I did not write the code, found it on the internet). When I set it up, my errorLED connected to pin 12 blinks once and looking into the code it means that the "local XBee did not provide a timely TX Status Response". My question is, do I have to send a response myself from the coordinator in python or is it generated automatically? If I have to do it myself, how would I do it? Because right now, there is not response. My setup works fine as I'm getting correct values on my Pi.

2) When I have more than one router, how would I handle it in the code? Would I keep sending sensor values after every 2 seconds from the arduino and loop through the address on Pi or is there another way that it is done usually? I'm very confused about it.

3) Right now, if I add more routers, they will keep sending out frames with sensor values and the coordinator reads them in a loop. How can I setup the system such that the coordinator sends a signal to each router and asks for the data and then the router replies with the data? Is it possible?

Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance 🙂

Best Answer

  1. I think the response is generated automatically
  2. You have to make sure the coordinator knows from which router the data is coming.
  3. I think the best way to deal with this is to do asynchronous read/write. This link might be helpful.