“Exciting XBee” Classes at Sparkfun

I’m slated to teach two “Exciting XBee” classes for Sparkfun on the weekend of July 23rd. These will be hands-on workshops at Sparkfun’s headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. Here’s the descriptions:

  • Exciting XBee Series 1, Saturday July 23, 2011
    Veteran wireless teachers including the author of Building Wireless Sensor Networks will lead you through the basics of radio networking and beyond, using the popular point-to-point XBee Series 1 802.15.4 radios. The class begins with an introduction to all the required components, serial terminals, AT commands and the basics of going wireless. The first project will be a Basic Chat session that demonstrates how to configure and connect a pair of XBee radios together. We’ll follow that with a simple doorbell project, using the direct connection features of the XBee radio to link electronic components without needing any external microcontroller. Finally we’ll create an Arduino-based XBee midway-style horse race using acoustic sensors and XBee radio connections to generate an interactive group competition.
  • Exciting XBee Series 2, Sunday July 24, 2011
    This class begins with an introduction to all the required components, serial terminals, AT commands and the basics of mesh networking. The first project will be a Basic Chat session that demonstrates how to configure and connect coordinator and router ZigBee radios together. We’ll follow that with a simple sensor project, using the embedded I/O features of the XBee radio create a remote Arduino sensor. Finally we’ll develop a full Processing-based wireless simple sensor network using ZigBee radio connections to collect temperature data from numerous remotely-placed sensors.

All project materials are included, with students supplying their own computer and Arduino board. The two classes are designed to be independent. Certain basic material will be reviewed at the start of the second day to make sure everyone is on the same page. After that the projects and information will be largely new, so things will stay interesting all the way through. I’m especially looking forward to the horse race.

Interested? Sign up today!