I am doing a Wireless Data acquisition system… There will be a Master and 5 Slave devices connected in Star Topology. Master will send command to each and slave will respond accordingly. The Master is an ARM and Slaves are 8051 family uC.
My question is what should I prefer nRF24L01 or XBee?
Both satisfy my range requirement. Ease of programming and Interfacing are my concern.
One more thing, Is the case that I have to simply send data to module (both, nRF24L01/XBee) and it will automatically transmit that or I have to do some special programming for the module??
I find the XBees easy to use once their parameters are setup.
One warning, there are two different hardware versions of the XBees, Series 1 and Series 2 and each have different firmware or protocols they can run.
Study the pros and cons of each before purchase. Do check into the Digi Int Support Forum and read all the threads to learn about some of the details and differences.
I’ve used both and would personally go for the nordics. Xbees are easier to use at first, but once you have done the leg work for the nordics I prefer them. The range of the 2 seem to be almost identical when I did tests. The nordics are cheaper in bulk, smaller and have standard pitch pins, but the Xbees have standard USART communication meaning you can plug them into a computer and program their setup with a board.