MaxStream announces XBee, the 40-mile range ZigBee bridge

Ah, Zigbee, that funnily-named wireless mesh network that has investors excited with thoughts of people controlling all sorts of things from all sorts of locations with Bluetooth-like two-way communication. MaxStream, the company already all over the whole 40 mile wireless thing, announced the XBee Xtender, promising to extend ZigBee and 802.15.4 networks up to 40 miles. Damn right we said miles. The XBee comes in an aluminum casing with dipole antennas and runs at the 900 MHz 1-Watt XTend frequency. This is pretty big news seeing as how ZigBee networks are designed to be so low-power, yet this little modem uses a powerful band at such a long distance; as for low cost (which is usually the words ZigBee proponents follow the low-power tagline), the XBee is set to start at $399. For 40 miles though, that's, what, just under $10 a mile?

[Thanks, Vernon J]

[Keef @ Oct 26th 2006 8:03AM]

more coverage for more people to hack you and steal your info....

[Deluxe @ Oct 26th 2006 8:16AM]

I think it comes with a free 20 meter tinfoil roll :D

[CB @ Oct 26th 2006 8:19AM]

Oooh 900mhz, just what GSM in the rest of the world operates on, I see in my crystal ball...e-bay and then I see men in suits driving vans covered in aerials feeling your collar.

[Richard @ Oct 26th 2006 10:26AM]

Um... the 900mhz band is a LOT LOT LOT more than just GSM. GSM only occupies a small portion of it.

In the 900 range, you'll find public service/safety, commercial 2 way systems (both simplex and trunked), all sorts of mid-speed data, ham radio, etc.

[Boyce Dimaala @ Oct 26th 2006 8:34AM]

Does this mean I can DL stuffs using my laptop @ work? hehehehe

[Richard @ Oct 26th 2006 10:28AM]

Okay, so they claim 40 miles.

But at what height?

1 Watt at 900mhz is NOTHING. Nothing. The 900mhz ham network me and a few ham friends tried to build in Toronto a few years back were based on 35 watt commercial radios, and range was a few miles AT BEST.

Somehow the only way I can see this system getting 40 miles @ 1W TX power is if both nodes are on top of very large towers that allow line of sight.

I'm skeptical at best.

[... @ Oct 26th 2006 10:36AM]

The Xtend modems are made by maxstream, and you gan get full info on them at http://www.maxstream.net/products/xtend/oem-rf-module.php

That insane range is given by the -110db rx sensitivity, although I believe that the 40mi thing MAY have been measured with a directional antenna, although it was done on he ground.

I should also point out that you only get the full -110db rx when you turn the fr link rate down to 9600baud, if you want the 110k then you only get -100db.


In any case, these wireless modules are great little buggers, I have been using a pair on a rocket born telemetry system for years now and it has never lost link (until it falls below the horsion ) :)

[zacelston @ Oct 26th 2006 2:12PM]

actually you need to determine the reception area, which would be pi*r^2 or 1256 sqmiles or $0.31 per mile covered.

[linuxguy @ Oct 26th 2006 6:00PM]

> The Xtend modems are made by maxstream, and you gan get full info on them at http://www.maxstream.net/products/xtend/oem-rf-module.php

I was getting excited about this and then I noticed that the Maxstream people are based in Lindon, UT. This city is the world headquarters of the SCO Group. Many of us in the Linux world have determined that there is something really really wrong with the water supply in that city. The people in Lindon appear to make very large and bold claims that they simply cannot back up with evidence.

Anything Maxstream says should be taken with large grains of salt.

[Adam @ Oct 26th 2006 8:42PM]

ZigBee radios are great! We're starting to work with them a lot at ITP (http://itp.nyu.edu), though we don't really have a need to cover 40 miles...yet.

Also, ZigBee supports mesh networking. So, in theory, you could place this bridge every 40 miles along a road and hop the network signal all the way back to civilization.

[Mike @ Oct 26th 2006 9:55PM]

The only possible way to get 40 miles would be direct line of site using 2 very large, high gain directional dish antennas, with 1' of feedline to the modems. I assume they are using the 900mhz ISM band, which already has a lot of traffic and interference from cordless phones and other consumer devices. Very doubtful this would work beyond a few miles in a metro rf environment.

[THG @ May 12th 2007 12:44PM]

We use the Maxstream stuff for radio link on GPS telemetery units. I can tell you from experience that these units will operate over a line of sight link using 2db gain antennas well over 20 miles at 100mw, with data still readable at 40 miles+ At 1 watt we don't know how far they go because we've not been able to test beyond that.

I know, I did not think they would work that well either. Impressive stuff.

Tracks of these tests can be seen at http://www.gpsflight.com