ADC with Zigbee

Wireless & IoT
1

I’m trying to sample and send a audio input via zigbee. It looks like the fastest I can send the results are every 32ms (because of conversion time of the on board ADC?). Which means I can only accurately recreate signals less than 15Hz . (1/32 ms)/2 = 15.6Hz

So I’m thinking of using an external ADC and sending digital information, but I won’t have a processor on the board. Can I run an ADC without one?

How fast am I able to send using digital inputs. It looks like I can configure to send every time the input changes but I need at least 50usec. (1/10kHz)/2 = 50usec per sample.

I’m using the XBee non pro series 2 model.

Any info or suggestions are appreciated.

2

Xbee’s are designed for very slow speed sensors and sensor network. You could get a little faster data if you use an external ADC, micro-processor and the XBee’s serial interface. However, the XBee’s serial max’s out at 57.6kBaud for reliable comms. Then you will want some bytes for a simple protocol to ‘frame’ the data. Now just do the math to see what ADC sampling rate can be sent.

3

Also, Xbee series 1 are not ZigBee based and have lower protocol overhead, more bytes/frame, etc.