Network Commissioning And Diagnostics; Place Devices; Test Links In A Network - Loopback Cluster; Transparent Operating Mode Configuration (Ap = 0) - Digi XBee 3 ZigBee User Manual

Network commissioning and diagnostics

Place devices

For a network installation to be successful, installers must be able to determine where to place
individual XBee devices to establish reliable links throughout the network.

Test links in a network - loopback cluster

To measure the performance of a network, you can send unicast data through the network from one
device to another to determine the success rate of several transmissions. To simplify link testing, the
devices support a Loopback cluster ID (0x12) on the data endpoint (0xE8). The cluster ID on the data
endpoint sends any data transmitted to it back to the sender.
The following figure demonstrates how you can use the Loopback cluster ID and data endpoint to
measure the link quality in a mesh network.
The configuration steps for sending data to the loopback cluster ID depend on what mode the device
is in. For details on setting the mode, see
on the device's mode.

Transparent operating mode configuration (AP = 0)

To send data to the loopback cluster ID on the data endpoint of a remote device:
1. Set the CI command to 0x12.
2. Set the SE and DE commands to 0xE8 (default value).
3. Set the DH and DL commands to the address of the remote (0 for the coordinator, or the 64-bit
address of the remote).
After exiting Command mode, the device transmits any serial characters it received to the remote
device, which returns those characters to the sending device.
API operating mode configuration (AP = 1 or AP = 2)
Send an Explicit Addressing Command frame - 0x11
source and destination endpoint.
The remote device echoes back the data packets it receives to the sending device.

RSSI indicators

It is possible to measure the received signal strength on a device using the DB command. DB returns
the RSSI value (measured in -dBm) of the last received packet. However, this number can be
Digi XBee® 3 Zigbee® RF Module
AP (API Enable). The following sections list the steps based
using 0x12 as the cluster ID and 0xE8 as both the
Place devices
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