What is "xbee"

XBee is the brand name of a family of form factor compatible radio modules from Digi International. The first XBee radios were introduced under the MaxStream brand in 2005 and were based on the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard designed for point-to-point and star communications at over-the-air baud rates of 250 kbit/s.

Two models were initially introduced — a lower cost 1 mW XBee and the higher power 100 mW XBee-PRO. Since the initial introduction, a number of new XBee radios have been introduced and all XBees are now marketed and sold under the Digi brand.

The XBee radios can all be used with the minimum number of connections — power (3.3 V), ground, data in and data out ( UART), with other recommended lines being Reset and Sleep. Additionally, most XBee families have some other flow control, input/output (I/O), analog-to-digital converter (A/D) and indicator lines built in. A version called the programmable XBee has an additional on-board processor for user’s code. The programmable XBee and a surface-mount version of the XBee radios were both introduced in 2010.