# distance from one arduino/Xbee to other xbee

**URL:** <https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401>\
**Category:** Wireless & IoT\
**Created:** [March 11, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401 "2009-03-11T01:26:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bwells](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@bwells](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/bwells)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401/1 "2009-03-11T01:26:05Z")

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Can someone suggest how I could measure the distance one Arduino/XBee is from another Arduion/XBee?

How far away can an an XBee be from another Xbee and still give me an accurate distance measure (if its even possible)?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![Vraz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vraz](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/Vraz)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401/2 "2009-03-11T04:12:34Z")

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I doubt this is possible. The only thing you can really query which would give any indication is signal strength. However, there are so many factors which influence signal strength that I don’t think you could draw any useful conclusions from the data.

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**Author:** ![stevech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba8739/32.png) [@stevech](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/stevech)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401/3 "2009-03-12T02:56:08Z")

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> bwells:  
> Can someone suggest how I could measure the distance one Arduino/XBee is from another Arduion/XBee?
> 
> How far away can an an XBee be from another Xbee and still give me an accurate distance measure (if its even possible)?
> 
> Thanks

to make a long complicated topic short - not practical.

read about the inverse square law in radio propagation. And non-line-of-sight RF attenuation.

there are elaborate schemes using multiple receivers and calibration data. And “TDOA” techniques. And others. But, too complicated

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**Author:** ![bwells](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@bwells](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/bwells)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401/4 "2009-03-12T11:53:49Z")

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I can work with line-of-sight. So maybe that would simplify things.

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**Author:** ![matkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@matkey](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/matkey)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401/5 "2009-03-12T17:53:19Z")

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Nope. Cant easily be done. Say you are measuring the RSSI and get value X. I walk by with a nice loud RF tone generator, and your RSSI now goes to Max. Or someone else walks by with exactly the same setup as you, and you suddenly get value X, max, value X, max etc

As previous posters have said, there are all sorts of reasons why this doesnt work ☹

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**Author:** ![stevech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba8739/32.png) [@stevech](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/stevech)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/distance-from-one-arduino-xbee-to-other-xbee/10401/6 "2009-03-12T19:35:00Z")

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> bwells:  
> I can work with line-of-sight. So maybe that would simplify things.

read about 1st principles: inverse square law.