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The XBee ZigBee modules from Digi International are available in two major classifications: XBee Series 1 and XBee Series 2 modules. The Series 1 and Series 2 modules are quite similar, but selection of a module should be based upon application specific needs.

The XBee Series 1 and Series 2 radios have the same footprint, and for the most part-are pin for pin compatible (few differences in the placement of ADC/IO lines), but are NOT interoperable. Series 1 and Series 2 use different application profiles, which are unique to each radio family. They can however, use the same RS232 or USB interface boards.

Product comparison specification Quick Facts:

Since hardware specifications aren't much different, the differences between XBee Series 1 and 2 are more evident in the firmware features. There are several other differences in the firmware, but listed below are some of the more differences.

• 802.15.4 XBee Series 1 comes standard with 802.15.4 firmware for point-point or star topology. This mature firmware offers ADC (analog-to-digital conversion) inputs, Digital I/O line passing, and 128-bit AES. XBee Series 2 does not offer any 802.15.4-only firmware; it is always running ZigBee mesh firmware. 802.15.4 is much faster typically than ZigBee. Latencies in 802.15.4 can generally be calculated, whereas Digi has no quantitative latency information on the XBee Series 2.
  


• ZigBee The ZigBee protocol is no longer supported on the XBee Series 1 radio as per the article listed here:
  
  http://www.digi.com/support/kbase/kbaseresultdetl.jsp?id=2182
  
  This firmware is based on Freescale's ZigBee stacks, and offers only coordinator and router functionality with no end nodes, no ADC, no Digital I/O, no sleep or low-power modes. XBS2 offers full ZigBee mesh firmware based on the EmberZNet stack. XBS2 offers coordinator, router, and end node functionality. XBS2 offers Digital I/O, remote configuration (you can change parameters on a remote node), low-power (sleep) modes on end nodes, with ADC and 128-bit AES functionality coming soon.
  



• ZigBee Advanced Features XBS1 ZigBee firmware, once implemented fully, will still have limitations on network topologies, such as how many hops a message can go (max depth), and how many routers a parent node can support (max children). XBS2 uses random addressing, which does not have limitations on max depth or max children.

  A user can set up groups of nodes that share a Multicast ID. The multicast ID is essentially a 64-bit address that is stored in a binding table. All 64-bit multicast ID(s) in a system are defined by the user. Multicast transmissions are just like broadcast transmissions, except only modules that have a binding table entry with a particular multicast ID will be able to receive transmissions for that multicast ID.

  XBS1 only has unicast (transmit to one module) or broadcast (transmit to all in the network). Other features unique to the XBS2 are Network Notifications whenever new nodes join the network, and Aggregate Routing for quickly setting all end nodes with a route back to a central node.

  
  

A study of the product manuals to compare the Series 1 and Series 2 radios more completely is left to the user. However, Digi Applications Engineers are available to discuss these differences in greater detail, and can be reached at 1-801-765-9885.