
New March 2013 Nuts and Volts Article introduces WI-FI applications using the Roving Networks RN-XV WI-FI module and the PIC 32 Bit Experimenter . The article focus is on WI-FI communication examples that are useful for remote WI-FI sensors. The Roving Networks RN-XV is a self-contained WI-FI module, with lots of capability, and better yet, it is fairly inexpensive. The module interfaces to the Experimenter through a serial UART interface for both command and data transfer. The RN-XV does most of the heaving lifting for WI-FI communication, leaving the Experimenter to focus on application.
We introduce some new software tools, and work through several exercises and setups with these configurations. All code is available for download from both the Nuts and Volts web site and KibaCorp. All software tools are free and available from the designated vendor web sites. The network communications used with the article exercises incorporates TCP (Internet Transmission Control protocol). TCP provides a reliable, guaranteed point to point ordered delivery data from one network device to another. This TCP communications is ideal for remote sensing and control applications.