XBee Range Question (noob)

Wireless & IoT
1

I was wondering if I were to mix 2 different serial 2 XBees how it would affect the range. If I were to get :

XBee 2mW Series 2.5 Chip Antenna and XBee Pro 50mW Series 2.5 Chip Antenna what can I expect?

Do you get the range of the “largest” device? Or would I need 2@50mW XBees for that?

Thanks!!

2

The max range would be shortest one way link distance. A complete RF link includes sending data and receiving an ACK else there isn’t a link as tone radio does know the other is there.

So the range is that of the 2mW XBee.

3

scampa:
I was wondering if I were to mix 2 different serial 2 XBees how it would affect the range. If I were to get :

XBee 2mW Series 2.5 Chip Antenna and XBee Pro 50mW Series 2.5 Chip Antenna what can I expect?

Do you get the range of the “largest” device? Or would I need 2@50mW XBees for that?

Thanks!!

yes, do a little link budget work:

TX power + antenna gain - path loss (distance and frequency dependent, laws of physics) - additional loss from non-line-of-sight + RX antenna gain = received signal level (RSL).

Receiver sensitivity (per vendor) - RSL shows a positive or negative margin. You’ll want a positive margin of several dB.

If you do the math in the other direction, you’ll see that it’s reciprocal, if both have the same transmitting power and receiver sensitivity.

Of course for best range, the chip antennas are the most disadvantaged; next the little wire antenna improves; the best is the u.FL connector and a gain antenna of some sort - many to choose from.