Wireless Communication - Making Things Talk - page 197

Choosing Which XBee Accessories to Buy

There are so many XBee accessories on the market now
that picking the right parts can be confusing. There
are basically three ways you'll use XBees in this topic's
projects:

Xbee to microcontroller. For this, you can either use a
breakout board on which to mount the XBee, or a wireless
shield for a regular Arduino. Or, you can use an Arduno Fio,
which has an XBee mount built in.

Xbee to computer via uSb-to-Xbee adapter. There are
many of these available. Figure 6-12 shows two models, the
SparkFun XBee Explorer in red, and the XBee USB adapter
board—available from Adafruit and Parallax—in blue.

Xbee standalone. For this, XBee breakout boards work well,
as does the XBee LilyPad board. The XBee LilyPad, the XBee
Explorer Regulated (Spark Fun part no. WRL-09132) and the
Adafruit XBee adapter kit (Adafruit part no. 126) all feature
built-in voltage regulators, so you can use your XBee with a
wider range of power supplies.

Figure 6-12. XBee accessories. Clockwise from top left: XBee USB adapter, XBee
Explorer, Arduino Fio, Arduino wireless shield, XBee LilyPad.