I got some time this Labor Day weekend (2011) to get an XBee  interfaced with the Propeller processor. The pictures show the tiny interface board required to change the pin spacing from the XBee to fit the spacing on the Prototype Breadboard. This is some more of the micro soldering I have written about before. That’s all this board does is change the pin spacing.

What I can see here is the XBee running in full duplex. That means it can listen and talk at the same time. Just like talking on the telephone. Well, maybe I can’t do that but the telephone does it very well.  🙂  That’s a pretty big deal in the world of communication and has certainly removed some concern from me determining if this system will work fast enough for good control. I think that is not an issue at all now that I can use the Propeller.

Dedicating one of the cogs (processors) in the Propeller to just manage the communications means I can do whatever else necessary with the other cogs and not slow down the two way communications with the shore unit.