Fun fact: NASAs Digi XBee® network that was deployed 200 miles above Earth was constructed completely out of off-the-shelf components?
As part of a NASA initiative to efficiently experiment with new ideas and technologies, the development team created their entire network out of commercial off-the-shelf components. Using devices like Arduino and Digi XBee, the engineering team was able to create a network to reliably gather critical data on Exo-Brake technology.
An Arduino Mega processed data and acted as the gateways engine, which connected the local XBee network to the long-range Iridium satellite uplink. As seen in the diagram above, the gateway was placed within the payload of the Exo-Brake and gathered sensor data from three XBees-3-axis acceleration, temperature and pressure. Data was then sent back down to mission control for analysis.
You can read more about the launch at these links:
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