new at AVR, STK600 + Zigbee??

Log in or register to post comments
Go To Last Post
16 posts / 0 new
Author
Message
alexotano
alexotano's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Thu. Mar 29, 2012
Posts: 24 View posts
#1
Posted by alexotano: Thu. Mar 29, 2012 - 03:17 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

Hi, I want to start developing with AVR, and also want to make some tests with the Zigbee protocol. I haven't buy anything yet, but Im watching the STK600, what I want to know if is it possible to add some module to the stk600 board so I can start working with zigbee.

I want just to make some test like send a message to the PC or some basic like lighting up a LED.

Im kind of lost beacause there's many things; Like a saw this RAVEN kit, it has sensors, mic and other things and a USB ready to connect to the PC, but I don't know if you can add it to the STK600.

Can some one show me the where is north?. =P

Thank you for your time, and thanks in advance.

Sorry about my poor english.

Tags:

Wireless, General Wireless Discussions
Last Edited: Fri. Oct 16, 2015 - 02:23 PM
Top
tombech84
tombech84's picture
Level: Wannabe
Joined: Thu. Nov 27, 2008
Posts: 75 View posts
Location: Denmark
Posted by tombech84: Thu. Mar 29, 2012 - 09:30 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

I am using the STK600 kit along with the STK600-Atmega128RFA1-EV1 evaluation kit. http://www.atmel.com/tools/ATMEGA128RFA1EVALUATIONKIT.aspx
The Atmega128rfa1 has a 2.4GHz zigbee transciver build in, and I find it very nice to work with. There are plenty of sample code both for full zigbee stacks and the basic RF transmission stuff available on this forum..

Top
alexru
alexru's picture
Level: Raving Lunatic
Joined: Wed. Apr 15, 2009
Posts: 8059 View posts
Location: San Jose, CA
Posted by alexru: Thu. Mar 29, 2012 - 04:07 PM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

STK600-Atmega128RFA1-EV1 is a good choice and they can work standalone, so you don't need STK600 at all.

NOTE: I no longer actively read this forum. Please ask your question on www.eevblog.com/forum if you want my answer.

Top
alexotano
alexotano's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Thu. Mar 29, 2012
Posts: 24 View posts
Posted by alexotano: Sat. Mar 31, 2012 - 12:23 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

alexru wrote:
STK600-Atmega128RFA1-EV1 is a good choice and they can work standalone, so you don't need STK600 at all.

Thanks for your both quick answer, I checked the STK600-Atmega128RFA1-EV1 and looks great!.

I been reading a lot about the topic, and I have an aplication in mind, hope you experts can help me.

I want to press a key in the computer, using zigbee. Using a push button to make a click or activate something in the PC. What I really want is to change a power point layer forward by pressing the button. Its that possible.

I dont need code I just want to know what products I need to buy or if you have any good ideas.

I'm so excite to start working with the AVR! And really happy to know that there's people helping newbies.

Thanks in advance!

Top
alexru
alexru's picture
Level: Raving Lunatic
Joined: Wed. Apr 15, 2009
Posts: 8059 View posts
Location: San Jose, CA
Posted by alexru: Sat. Mar 31, 2012 - 04:47 PM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

This can be done with any ZigBee product, couple of STK600-Atmega128RFA1 will do just fine, they even have one user button installed on a board.

NOTE: I no longer actively read this forum. Please ask your question on www.eevblog.com/forum if you want my answer.

Top
alexotano
alexotano's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Thu. Mar 29, 2012
Posts: 24 View posts
Posted by alexotano: Sat. Mar 31, 2012 - 07:28 PM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

Great to know! let me get the stuff and start with the project right away!

in the case, Ill open a threat to let you know how it goes and the stones that get in my way.

Thankyou very much!

Top
alexotano
alexotano's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Thu. Mar 29, 2012
Posts: 24 View posts
Posted by alexotano: Tue. Apr 3, 2012 - 06:15 PM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

We have the Stk600 kit and we want to make a demonstration of how the ZigBee protocol works, we were about to order the ATMEGA128RFA1 kit that comes with the two cards. but I found this RZ600 kit that has more options.

What I want to be able to do is to connect to the computer to send information, like I said in an previous post press a key or activate something in the PC.

Please give me your expert advise.

here is the manual RZ600:
http://www.atmel.com/Images/doc8...

and here the link to the store:
http://store.atmel.com/PartDetai...

Thanks again for your last very quick answers and in advance for this one.

Top
alexru
alexru's picture
Level: Raving Lunatic
Joined: Wed. Apr 15, 2009
Posts: 8059 View posts
Location: San Jose, CA
Posted by alexru: Tue. Apr 3, 2012 - 08:33 PM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

There is no BitCloud support for Rz600 MCU modules. But you can use Rz600 radio modules with STK600 and any BitCloud-compatible processor installed.
But you'll need at least two STK600 boards for this.

For simplicity I'd suggest to use MegaRF.

NOTE: I no longer actively read this forum. Please ask your question on www.eevblog.com/forum if you want my answer.

Top
alexotano
alexotano's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Thu. Mar 29, 2012
Posts: 24 View posts
Posted by alexotano: Wed. Apr 4, 2012 - 08:44 PM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

alexru wrote:
There is no BitCloud support for Rz600 MCU modules. But you can use Rz600 radio modules with STK600 and any BitCloud-compatible processor installed.
But you'll need at least two STK600 boards for this.

For simplicity I'd suggest to use MegaRF.

Hi! I hope all you are ok and thanks again for that fast answer! I really appreciate it.

Then I guess the steps will be:

Program the MegaRF to send a signal when I press the build in push button using the Stk600 board.

Then use the other MegaRF card in the stk600 and program it, so it can get the signal from the other card (you say it could be standalone so I guess running with a battery).

And here is what I'm not sure about: is it possible to use the stk600's USB to send the data to the computer or I need to manually connect two pins from the uC to an USB cable and send the data using those pins.

Sorry about my ignorance, like I first said I'm just starting with developing and I want to do it with AVRs.

I asked about the RZ600 because I saw it already comes with a USB port I really don't know if that is relevant or if it helps me.

Thanks again for the time you spend answering my silly questions.

Top
alexru
alexru's picture
Level: Raving Lunatic
Joined: Wed. Apr 15, 2009
Posts: 8059 View posts
Location: San Jose, CA
Posted by alexru: Wed. Apr 4, 2012 - 09:34 PM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

There is no way to use USB connection from STK600 (small connector can be used only with USB enabled parts and big one can't be used by application at all).

Maximum you can do is connect ATmega UART to "RS232 SPARE" header and get your data out using DB-9 connector(marked "RS232" on a board).

NOTE: I no longer actively read this forum. Please ask your question on www.eevblog.com/forum if you want my answer.

Top
alexotano
alexotano's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Thu. Mar 29, 2012
Posts: 24 View posts
Posted by alexotano: Thu. Apr 5, 2012 - 12:05 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

alexru wrote:
There is no way to use USB connection from STK600 (small connector can be used only with USB enabled parts and big one can't be used by application at all).

Maximum you can do is connect ATmega UART to "RS232 SPARE" header and get your data out using DB-9 connector(marked "RS232" on a board).

Ok, so instead of using USB I'll use the RS232 protocol, and what about the RZ600? how does it work? I checked the datasheet, and it only says that "enables" the 2.4GHz, I also readied that it can be connected to the stk600, it is not necessary for me to use the USB protocol, I just want to be sure I'm buying something that wont limit other projects. I mean the potential between the MegaRF and the rz600 is the seam, putting apart the 900MHz thing (on the Rz600).

In other words, what's the difference of working with one or the other?

Really thanks for the help!!

Top
alexru
alexru's picture
Level: Raving Lunatic
Joined: Wed. Apr 15, 2009
Posts: 8059 View posts
Location: San Jose, CA
Posted by alexru: Thu. Apr 5, 2012 - 12:53 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

RZ600 unit consists of two boards: MCU board (few MCU choices) and RF board (few RF chip choices). And you can mix and match them.

The problem here is that featured MCUs are not really popular for ZigBee development, so they are not supported by BitCloud. As the result the only useful part of this kit is RF board, but now you need compatible MCU to run the stack and a board with this MCU to plug in the radio board from Rz600.

For the MCU board you have few options: STK600 with any supported chip, Xplained-A1 board, probably something else.

NOTE: I no longer actively read this forum. Please ask your question on www.eevblog.com/forum if you want my answer.

Top
alexotano
alexotano's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Thu. Mar 29, 2012
Posts: 24 View posts
Posted by alexotano: Thu. Apr 5, 2012 - 02:54 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

alexru wrote:
RZ600 unit consists of two boards: MCU board (few MCU choices) and RF board (few RF chip choices). And you can mix and match them.

The problem here is that featured MCUs are not really popular for ZigBee development, so they are not supported by BitCloud. As the result the only useful part of this kit is RF board, but now you need compatible MCU to run the stack and a board with this MCU to plug in the radio board from Rz600.

For the MCU board you have few options: STK600 with any supported chip, Xplained-A1 board, probably something else.

Thanks a lot for the info I really appreciate it. Now we're waiting for the shipping to arrive. When it arrives I'll post the results.

Thanks a lot again!

Top
Scorpii
Scorpii's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Mon. Jun 4, 2012
Posts: 35 View posts
Location: Venezuela
Posted by Scorpii: Mon. Jun 25, 2012 - 06:48 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

alexru wrote:
RZ600 unit consists of two boards: MCU board (few MCU choices) and RF board (few RF chip choices). And you can mix and match them.

The problem here is that featured MCUs are not really popular for ZigBee development, so they are not supported by BitCloud. As the result the only useful part of this kit is RF board, but now you need compatible MCU to run the stack and a board with this MCU to plug in the radio board from Rz600.

For the MCU board you have few options: STK600 with any supported chip, Xplained-A1 board, probably something else.

I was wondering whether it was possible to use the RZ600 RF boards with the Xplained-A1 and -A3BU boards, I read the BitCloud documentation but I found no option for these configurations.

I basically want to read from the light and temperature sensors on the Xplained boards as well as energy consumption from a power meter IC-based circuit and transmit measurement information and some control commands over a ZigBee network.

Is this possible?

Top
alexru
alexru's picture
Level: Raving Lunatic
Joined: Wed. Apr 15, 2009
Posts: 8059 View posts
Location: San Jose, CA
Posted by alexru: Mon. Jun 25, 2012 - 07:04 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

Xplained-A1 is supported and tested. I'm not sure about native support for -A3BU, but it can always be added with some work.

NOTE: I no longer actively read this forum. Please ask your question on www.eevblog.com/forum if you want my answer.

Top
Scorpii
Scorpii's picture
Level: Rookie
Joined: Mon. Jun 4, 2012
Posts: 35 View posts
Location: Venezuela
Posted by Scorpii: Mon. Jun 25, 2012 - 08:35 AM
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Total votes: 0

Thanks alexru, glad to read that.

Top