Wireless Control Application Kit

The Wireless Control Application Kit provides a reference to interface a license-free 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz wireless data module to a new or existing Rabbit-based embedded system.

The Wireless Control Application Kit comes with samples, libraries and hardware to integrate low-cost wireless connectivity operating at frequencies of either 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz with a Rabbit device. The kit contains one Rabbit single board computer and two Digi RF modules for full application reference, which can also serve as a template for a robust wireless implementation where a serial connection is required. The Wireless Control Application Kit offers a serial connection alternative where wired cables are not practical to use as well as exemplifies the versatility and simplicity of adding wireless connectivity to an embedded application. Applicationsinclude simple remote monitoring, proximity sensor readings, wireless I/O control, and data transmission.

The kit contains a low power LP3500 single board computer with a power-save mode that draws less than 100 µA, 26 industrialized I/O, 8 A/D inputs w/ programmable gain, 6 serial ports and available keypad/display peripherals. It is then partnered with your choice of a low-cost 900 MHz 9XCite module featuring over-the-air throughput data rates up to 38.4 Kbps or the longer range 2.4 GHz 24XStream module with range of up to 3 miles (outdoor RF line-of-site) with the appropriate antenna.

A Modbus master PC application allows the user to control the single board computer as a Modbus wireless slave device, and it is designed to be easily portable for other ModBus slave devices. This allows any standard Modbus wired/wireless serial master application to control and monitor the digital and analog I/O in near real-time. In addition, we have implemented a PPP Host/Client direct wired/wireless connection to demonstrate how to use Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to make a direct connection over a wireless serial port. Using a direct PPP connection allows wired/wireless serial devices to utilize common protocols like HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3, etc. This can be especially useful for devices that only have serial interfaces and no Ethernet and/or WiFi. Using our RabbitWeb software module, the LP3500 can serve web pages accessible from to offer accessibility from the Internet.

Digi Partnership

Rabbit and Digi are teaming up to supply embedded control and wireless solutions for customers to develop a variety of wireless control systems. Digi's wireless modems are easy-to-use and provide reliable delivery of critical data between devices. The flexibility of Digi RF Modules creates the perfect fusion of range, power-conservation, performance and networking features to ensure accurate and reliable RF communications.

Key Features

• Low power LP3500 with low-EMI Rabbit 3000 microprocessor
  • up to 512K each of Flash and SRAM
  • 26 industrialized digital I/O
  • A/D inputs and PWM outputs
  • 6 serial ports, one relay
  • 2 dedicated function ports for easy connection to Serial Flash, keypad/display, and other devices
• Two Digi license-free RF Modules, FCC approved
• Complete software libraries and samples
• ModBus control and PPP support for serving web pages
• RabbitWeb simplified html programming software with real-time refresh mechanism
• User-friendly interface for simple wireless set-up and configuration

Design Advantages

• Reference application that uses a license-free wireless module to connect Rabbit-based devices
• Various RF topology support: peer-to-peer, point-to-point
• Easily scalable for commercial deployment applications
• Use of a non-Ethernet single-board computer serve up web pages
• Royalty-free software modules

Applications

• Low-cost wireless embedded control applications
• Ideal for remote monitoring of equipment, devices, locations
• Data logging applications
• Wireless ModBus communication and control