XBEE S1 Coordinator<->End API.. some packets still get lost. Why ?

XBee & XBee Gateway
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Hello,

This is a follow-up from a previous thread, where I had some problems with dropped packets.

http://www.digi.com/support/forum/44908/packets-dropped-sleep-problem

So, I spent couple days rewriting everything to run in API1 mode.

I have XBee S1 Coordinator connected to computer.
I have XBee S1 End Device connected to portable system.

Portable system send randomly short 8byte data info.

Nothing heavy. Maybe once in 5 seconds.

Most of the time packets do arrive, but sometimes they don’t! It happends usually when there is extended delay between two transmissions.

I still suspect some sort of sleep problem, but I just don’t see what it is and how it can be corrected.

I think I’ve looked at most of the document on the internet, but I can’t find the answer.

So here is my question again: is it possible to get reliable real-time peer-to-peer XBee connection with 99% packets arriving to destination.

I’m really out of ideas and i’m getting frustrated to the point that I start thinking that I should drop Xbee and change architecture to Bluetooth or something else.

Am I doing something wrong or I’m hitting the limits of Xbee network capabilities ? It seems so strange to me.

Thank you much!
M

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IF you are using sleep mode, then you are not performing with a Peer to peer network. A peer to peer network is where any node can and will talk to ALL other nodes in range just like a crowded elevator.

What you appear to have is a Point to point connection where the End device Polls the parent for data when it wakes up.

What I would suggest is to simply Turn off the sleep and Coordinator functions. That is use them in their default states. Then send and receive your data. If you want to make it then more reliable, configure the 16 bit addressing functions to use Point to point mode.

Just understand that if you want 100% reliable communications, first, never expect 100%. Regardless if you use a Cabled connection or a wireless one, you will loose some data. It is inevitable. Next, you will need to Implement within your Application external to your transmission medium some sort of ACK and Retry system.