Discussions

Use the DNT900 in place of an XBee -- open source adapter board

Posted by andy j on March 22, 2012 at 8:59am

Hello All!

I am working on a interface board that will allow the DNT900 radio to plug in to XBee sockets (specifically the XBee900 pro, and those of the same pinout). The DNT900 is cheap, ($70 per radio), 900 Mhz, up to 1 watt @ 115200 baud [or greater speeds at lower output power], and very highly configurable with encryption, multiple network topologies, and more options.

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FEATURES::

-Plugs in to XBee Sockets

-Uses RFM DNT900 1watt capable radio

-Powered by ATmega128 processor (manages radio)

-Easily accessible SPI connections for quick programming

-4.5-22v input, sources up to 500mA @ 3.3v for other devices

-1.5" x 2.5" board with SMA connector for an antenna

-Tri-color LED for status indication including power on, link, and tx/rx

-Configuration button (press to set mode / pair radios / etc)

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I am interested in seeing if there is a market for this interface board. Boards should cost ~ $65 per pair not including the dnt900 radios. This is a ballpark on the pricing, but it makes for a very competitively priced option to the digi xtreme 900 1watt (at ~350 per pair + tricky connector). please let me know your thoughts and ideas to this!

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For those of you interested in the integration manual for the radio - this is the good one

http://www.rfm.com/products/data/dnt900dk_manual.pdf

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Here is an image of the gerber files:

picccn.png

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I will NOT however have the time to write all the code for the atmega128 chip - but will make the SPI connections (for programming) very connectable via pin header. I intend it to be programmed from AVRstudio.

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Replies

  • David C. Allen January 31, 2013 at 8:37am

    Any update on the status of this project?

    Thanks,

     

    David

  • SaadT August 21, 2012 at 1:49am

    By the way, i'm also planning to include an on-board power supply (to convert LiPo voltages to regulated 5V and 3.3 V supplies) for the DNT900 and IC's. Do you think it's a good idea? If yes, what, in your opinion, should be the LiPo voltage range it should support? (bigger range means increased cost :( )

  • SaadT August 21, 2012 at 1:45am

    Hey guys.

    I'm designing a carrier board for the DNT900. USB, RS232, UART5V, UART3.3V interfaces. Let me know if you're interested and i'll let you know once i've completed the boards.

    Nice to see other people using the DNT900 too. It's a very good radio.

    Cheers,

    Saad

  • John Lundberg June 18, 2012 at 12:25pm

    Does anyone have a progress report on this?

  • Simon Bull June 1, 2012 at 5:01am

    Any progress with this project?   I had spotted these modules too and was about to order some from Digikey.com when I came across your thread.   Are you still going to make some adaptors to fit into an xbee carrier board?   Why not just make a new carrier board and forget about xbees?

    I wasnt planning on doing anything fancy with these modules, just a straight serial line replacement.   Were you thinking of trying to optimise them in some way?

  • John Lundberg April 15, 2012 at 1:06pm

    Looking good Andy.

    I'll take a set of the adapters when you finish your revs.  Let me know.

    Great job Andy.  Keep it up.

    John

  • Jake Stew April 1, 2012 at 11:13pm

    I don't understand...  You're making an adapter board to make a more powerful radio attach to a less powerful radio?  WTF?

  • WhiteRabbit March 25, 2012 at 6:40am

    it sounds like long range telemetry,congrats Andy.

  • Brad Smith March 22, 2012 at 9:51pm

    sounds like a winner to me ,,,what did they say in that movie "if you build it they will come " . gotta check and see if the power supply on my xbee boards will handle the dnt if not might need to add a voltage regulator on the board

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