XBee® USB Adapter User Manual 
 

The XBee® USB Adapter is an XBee® ready drop-in

module which supports DIGI 802.15.4, ZIG BEE, DIGI-
MESH Family Compatible units.

Typical Applications:

 Rapid development tool for wireless

prototypes
 Production in-situ Adapter for Radio
firmware updates
 Isolated Diagnostic Tool for Radio Testing

Interface Selection

The Adapter has two user interfaces for the radio. One
interface allows a microcontroller to communicate and
control the radio, the second interface allows a USB
port to communicate and control the radio. The micro-
controller interface is isolated from the USB interface.

The selection of the user interface is determined by the

placement and alignment of the radio in a dual-row
socket pair, P1, P2 (Ref. A).

If the radio is placed and aligned in the left-most

socket pair, the microcontroller interface is
selected. This interface allows a microcontroller to
communicate and control the radio.

 
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 If the radio is placed and aligned in the right-most
socket pair, the USB port interface is selected. This
interface allows a USB port to communicate with
the radio.

Microcontroller Interface

The microcontroller interface consists of two ten pin

male headers, J1 and J2. Both headers are located on
the far-side of board (Ref. B). Note: J1; Pins 1-10,
J2; Pins 11-20.

The microcontroller interface requires one cmos logic-

level asynchronous serial port and two hardware flow
control bits. Maximum RF data rate using hardware
flow control is 250K bps. (See the enclosed schematic
for basic communication wiring).

The hardware flow control bits can be eliminated if no

overrun of the input buffer is guaranteed and reduced
communication baud rates are used.

The XBee®/XBee-PRO Radio Modules support ADC

(Analog-to-digital conversion) and digital I/O line
passing. These additional support functions are
extended from the pins of the Xbee radio to the J1, J2,
headers.

(See the Appendix, table 1-01, for J1, J2, pin-outs).

(Reference the XBee®/XBee-PRO Users

Manual for software commands that enable these
support functions and the XBee API Application Note).

 
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 The microcontroller interface has additional features;
three LED radio signal strength indicators (Ref. C), an
LED associated status indicator (Ref. E), and a reset
switch to reset the radio (Ref. D).

The LED radio signal strength indicators are three LED’s

which provide a visual indication of the RF received
signal strength (Ref. C).
HSS (Green LED), is an abbreviation for High-Signal-
Strength.
MSS (Yellow LED), is an abbreviation for Mid-Signal-
Strength.
LSS (Red LED), is an abbreviation for Low-Signal-
Strength.

An output from the radio (RSSI, pin 6), is converted into this visual three-level bargraph.

With no signal, all LED’s will be off.

With Low-Signal-Strength, the Red LED will be on.
With Mid-Signal-Strength, the Red and Yellow LED’s will be on.
With High-Signal-Strength, the Red, Yellow, and Green LED’s will be on.

As received signal strength changes from radio to radio, so will this bargragh change.

These indicators provide a quick means to determine maximum ranges and signal dead-zones.

The LED associated status indicator (ASC, Green), indicates the radio’s status of association with
other radio’s on the network. When the radio is first powered-on, this LED will blink on-off at a
very low frequency, once connected to another radio, this indicator will stay on as long as the
association between radios remains (Ref. E). If the association is nulled, the LED will return to
the blinking on-off state.

A reset switch is provided to allow the radio to be reset. This can be used for testing; nulling an
association and observing recovery, and device initialization (Ref. D).

One note about microcontroller interfacing, the radio VCC is +3.3VDC. This means all I/O to and
from the radio must not exceed a voltage level of +3.3VDC. If your incorporating this adapter
into a +5VDC design, I/O must be translated to the appropriate voltage levels.

 
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 USB Port Interface

The radio must be placed and aligned in the right-

most socket pair P1,P2, to use this interface.

Radio communication and control is supported through

the USB port. An on-board single chip; FT232R,
provides a USB to asynchronous serial data interface to
control the radio. The entire USB bus protocol is
handled on the chip.

FTDI’s royalty-free Virtual Com Port (VCP) and D2XX

drivers eliminate the requirement for USB driver
development.

Virtual COM port (VCP) drivers cause the USB device to appear as an additional COM port
available to the PC. Application software can access the USB device in the same way as it would
access a standard COM port.

D2XX drivers allow direct access to the USB device through a DLL. Application software can
access the USB device through a series of DLL function calls. The functions available are listed in
the D2XX Programmer's Guide.

To connect the XBee® USB Adapter to a USB port, a 5 Pin Mini USB cable is required. The cable
connects from the USB port to a 5 Pin Mini B connector located on the adapter board (Ref. F).

The USB port provides +5 VDC power to the adapter. An on-board +3.3 VDC regulator provides
the power required for the radio and the USB interface circuitry.

The adapter is now a stand-alone unit. All command

and control of the radio is through the USB port.

The USB port interface can be used as a quick-start for

software development by quickly establishing
communication between two adapters.

The USB interface supports firmware upgrades of the

radio. Keeping the firmware updated in the radio is
important. It eliminates firmware bugs and supports
increased functionality.

The stand-alone capability of the unit supports in-situ firmware upgrading or allows the adapter,
if socketed, to be removed from the product and upgraded.

Two hardware features from the microcontroller interface are extended to the USB port
interface; the LED associated status indicator and the reset switch.

 
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RF Wireless Development Windows Quick Start Guide

1. Go to the FTDI chip site, download the current FTDI Virtual COM port (VCP) drivers.
Choose the correct Operating System and Processor Architecture. Select the WHQL
certified drivers.

2. On the FTDI chip site Home Page, choose Support, choose Documents, Choose
installation guides, download the appropriate installation guide.

3. Place and align a radio into the rightmost P1,P2 socket pair. Observe that all pins are in
correct alignment with the socket pair

4. Connect a 5-Pin Mini-B cable from the USB port from the computer to the Mini-B
connector on the development tool . Note: the ASC LED should be blinking.

5. Install the FTDI drivers. If you have problems installing, just unplug the Mini-B cable and
reinstall the cable. Windows will try to reinstall the drivers. Note: the COM Port
assignment when the drivers are successfully installed.

6. Download the current Digi International XCTU General Diagnostics and Utilities program.
Install the program. (Link is on the Product page). Make sure you allow the installation
program to update the Firmware Source Versions. Depending upon your connection
speed, this could take a few minutes to perform the complete source update.

7. Once the installation is complete, start the XCTU program. You should see this:

 
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Note: the USB Serial Port (COM4 in this case) should match the COM Port installed by the
FTDI driver installation.

8. Leave the settings as is. The default Baud-Rate of the radio is 9600, Flow Control: None,
Data Bits: 8, Parity: None, and Stop Bits: 1. Press Test/Query. You should see this:

If you receive an error message: unable to communicate with the Modem, Press Retry
and communication should be established. Note: the Modem type should match the
Xbee model installed and note the firmware version. Basic communication is now
established. Press OK to return to the Main Menu.

9. Next, we are going to check to see if there exists a new update for the firmware and
update the firmware if a new version does exist. On the Main Menu, press the Modem
Configuration Tab. The program moves the Remote Configuration Window:

 
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 Under Modem Parameters and Firmware; Press the Read button. The program scans
the attached radio and reports the firmware command parameters.

 
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The Modem, Function Set, Version (Firmware), and command parameters have all been filled in
by the scan.

10. Press the Down-Arrow button on the Version. As you can see in our case, the current
firmware version is highlighted and a new firmware version does exist.

Select the new firmware; 10E8 and the command parameters are updated in the
Window.

11. Under Modem Parameters and Firmware; Press the Write button. The program
initializes the Modem and programs the new firmware into the Modem. Observe the
USB indicators: TXD and RXD. They should be blinking as the program writes and reads
to and from the Modem.

12. When the programming completes, Under Modem Parameters and Firmware; Press the
Read button. The parameter window blanks as the program reads, at the end of the
scan, the new firmware parameters 10E8 are updated. Note the new firmware version
listing at the bottom of the window.

 
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 This completes the firmware update, close the XCTU program.

We suggest downloading the XCTU Users Guide for this program and exploring the additional
capabilities of the XCTU program. The Link for this manual is located on the product page.

 
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Appendix

Table 1-01 Pin Assignments for the XBee USB Adapter J1 and J2 Headers:

J1 HDR & Pin# Name Direction Description

J1-1 VCC Input Power Supply +3.3 VDC

J1-2 DOUT Output XBEE UART Data Out

J1-3 DIN Input XBEE UART Data In

J1-4 DO8 Output XBEE Digital Output 8

J1-5 /RESET Input XBEE Module Reset (200ns min.)

J1-6 PWM0/RSSI Output XBEE PWM 0/RX Sig Strength Indicator

J1-7 PWM1 Output XBEE PWM1

J1-8 GND Input Ground

J1-9 DTR / SLEEP_RQ / DI8 Input XBEE DTR/Sleep Control/ Data Input 8

J1-10 GND Input Ground

J2 HDR & Pin# Name Direction Description

J2-11 AD4/DIO4 Either XBEE Analog Input 4 or Digital I/O 4

J2-12 /CTS / DIO7 Either XBEE CTS Flow Control or Digital I/O 7

J2-13 ON / /SLEEP Output XBEE Module Status Indicator

J2-14 VREF Input Voltage Reference for A/D Inputs

J2-15 Associate / AD5 / DIO5 Either XBEE ASC Indicator/Analog In 5/Dig I/O 5

J2-16 /RTS / AD6 / DIO6 Either XBEE RTS Control/Analog In 6/Digital I/O 6

J2-17 AD3 / DIO3 Either XBEE Analog In 3 or Digital I/O 3

J2-18 AD2 / DIO2 Either XBEE Analog In 2 or Digital I/O 2

J2-19 AD1 / DIO1 Either XBEE Analog In 1 or Digital I/O 1

J2-20 AD0 / DIO0 Either XBEE Analog In 0 or Digital I/O 0

 
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Appendix

Table 1-02 Pin Assignments for XBee – Xbee Pro Radio Modules

 
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 1 2 3 4 5 6

C1 C6

3.3VDC 3.3VDC
100NF 50V 100NF 50V
3.3 VDC 3.3 VDC
GND GND
VCC VCC
A A
J1 J2 J1 J2
1 20 1 20
VCC AD0/DIO0 VCC AD0/DIO0 DI/O0
2 19 2 19
TXD RXD AD1/DIO1 TXD RXD AD1/DIO1 DI/O1
3 18 3 18
RXD TXD AD2/DIO2 RXD TXD AD2/DIO2 DI/O2
U1 U3
4 17 4 17
DO8 AD3/DIO3 PWM OUT DO8 AD3/DIO3 DI/O3
5 16 5 16
RESET CTS/AD6/DIO6 RESET CTS/AD6/DIO6 DI/O5
6 15 6 15
C2 PWM0/RSSI ASC/AD5/DIO5 C7 PWM0/RSSI ASC/AD5/DIO5
100NF 50V 7 14 100NF 50V 7 14
PWM1 VREF PWM1 VREF
8 13 8 13
GND ON/SLEEP GND ON/SLEEP
GND 9 12
GND 9 12
DTR/SLPRQ/DI8 RTS/DIO7 DI7 DTR/SLPRQ/DI8 RTS/DIO7 DI/O6
10 11 10 11
GND AD4/DIO4 GND AD4/DIO4 DI/O4
MICROCONTROLLER MICROCONTROLLER
ZBEE PRO ZBEE PRO
GND GND
B B
GND GND

BASIC WIRELESS COMMUNICATION WIREING WIRELESS COMMUNICATION WITH DIGITAL I/O PORT EXTENSION

C3

3.3VDC
100NF 50V
3.3 VDC
GND
VCC

J1 J2
1 20
VCC AD0/DIO0 AIN0
2 19
TXD RXD AD1/DIO1 AIN1
3 18
RXD TXD AD2/DIO2 AIN2
U2
C 4 17 C
DO8 AD3/DIO3 AIN3
5 16
RESET CTS/AD6/DIO6 AIN4
6 15 VREF
C4 PWM0/RSSI ASC/AD5/DIO5
100NF 50V 7 14
PWM1 VREF
C5
8 13
GND ON/SLEEP
GND 9 12 100NF 50V
DTR/SLPRQ/DI8 RTS/DIO7
10 11 GND
GND AD4/DIO4 AIN5
MICROCONTROLLER
ZBEE PRO
GND

GND
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