Im researching a bit beacuse Im interested in using xbee for remote sensing.
Each module will be 1 Km (0.62 miles) away from each other so I am interested in increasing the power of the module or decreasing the error rate somehow.
I read in the forum someone that recommended a 5.6 dBi Outdoor Omni Antenna.
I have the 60mW Xbee Pro and I really not familiar with antennas. Does this module has the posibility to connect this kind of antenna?
Is there an antenna that will make the data transfer “stronger”?
Anyone tested the range in outdoors Line-of-sight with the normal wire or chip antenna?
I achieved 3/4 mile with 60mW XBees one with a chip antenna (-2dBi gain) at 6 ft. and one with a 5.6dBi omni at 20ft elevation. Didn’t test long durations for error rates though. Probably ok if clear line of sight.
The non-PRO lower power XBees would be of course less. The 2mW XBee versus the 60mW are about 15 dB different. One 14dBi antenna can offset the low power. Better, two high gain antennas!
Versions of the Xbees come with an antenna coaxial connector. If you don’t have that, then you might hack one onto the board unless you have one of the ones with a PCB chip antenna.
The best way to do this is put a high gain antenna on just one end of the link, say one end that’s on a high pole or roof. The other end might be mobile and have a crude antenna.
Calculate your link budget using an on-line tool to see what line of sight range to expect for some XBee power output, antenna gain or loss in the case of the chip antennas, and path length at 2.4GHz.
5.6dBi fair but not great. A 14dBi flat panel patch antenna would be better. Lots of these for sale, e.g., hyperlinktech.com
There are multiple antenna options on both the regular XBee and the XBee Pro. There is actually an RPSMA version of the regular XBee. For the XBee Pro, there is a U.FL version and then you can get a U.FL to RPSMA adaptor. You can then connect whatever antenna you want via RPSMA.
I would assume good Yagi antennas on each end would allow 1km on the Pro (they claim 1 mile outdoor line of sight with “proper” antennas). However, I have no firsthand experience using them in that kind of configuration.
looking at its lenght makes me think if the lenght of the cable that makes the connector influences the antenna behaviour. I mean, The cable itself looks like an antenna and for what I know, antenna lenght is an important variable of its design.
looking at its lenght makes me think if the lenght of the cable that makes the connector influences the antenna behaviour. I mean, The cable itself looks like an antenna and for what I know, antenna lenght is an important variable of its design.
So does it matter?
Thanks again!
No, except at 2.4GHz you don’t want that skinny lossy cable to be more than a few inches long. For longer antenna cables, convert to LMR400 or some 3/8 inch or so 50 ohm low loss coax. But at 2.4GHz, you really don’t want to have more than 6 ft or so of low loss coax. And it gets costly. The radios are small, so collocate them with the antenna, weather permitting.
You should consider getting a pigtail that converts to type N Male if you want to use a high gain antenna, or fat coax.
