I recently purchased a XBEE-PRO-900hp dev. kit which includes three dual processor programmable S3B radios and attached XBIB’s. I am trying to create a very specific application for my company but as a beginner programmer I would appreciate some pointers in the right direction.
The main transmitter radio will be receiving one of three commands from PLC1 at all times: Raise, lower, or stay the same. This first radio will need to continuously transmit this signal to another radio a kilometer away, connected to PLC2, which will interpret and execute the commands. I will also be putting a repeater radio with a Yagi antennae on top of a large pole about halfway to PLC2 to keep the signal strong. Communication needs to be fast, go one way, and be constant. Any interruption in radio transmission and my control process will shut down as fail-safe.
I’m thinking the easiest way to communicate these commands is to have PLC1 put 3V on any of three DIO pins, each one corresponding to a different command. I then need the DIO pins on PLC2 radio to reflect the status of the DIO pins on PLC1 radio.
My biggest challenge here is learning to program the radios using Codewarrior to have PLC2 radio reflect the status of PLC1 radio. Any recommendations or tips for accomplishing this task? Can I find sample code that does what I need? How will this transmission be configured? Do you recommend I use Digi-mesh or would some other protocol be more useful for my application? Thank you very much.