Following this post are several (about seven) threads that document some things that I have noticed about the XBee-Pro 900 when used in API mode. There don’t seem to be very many threads in this forum. Hopefully that will change as it seems like a very useful radio, at least for my application.
My application is telemetry (and possibly control) in a model aircraft. Using the XBee in Transparent Mode is very very simple, and I would have stopped there if I hadn’t decided to explore its use for control as well.
When used a control link, integrity of transmission becomes paramount. And in API mode, it seemed that there are very adequate provisions for assuring that a transmission has succeeded. I hoped as well that there would be indications (increase in Retry Count) of nearing a range limit. Therefore, I embarked on utilizing the API mode of the radio to gain access to the extra information in a systematic manner. I have been somewhat thwarted in this endeavor as it appears that the reported Retry Counts do NOT act as expected. In addition, RSSI does not seem to available. I am hopeful that the TR count (transmission errors) will give an indication of an approaching range limit, although I was hoping to detect the range limit approaching before packet transmissions started failing completely.