The XBee time clock is back up and running on the ITP floor. It has been changed from a broadcast to a responder model. This is both more efficient generally, and faster in practice. The new PIC code for the clock is matched with new sample Arduino code that any project can incorporate to pick up accurate Eastern Standard/Daylight Time. This is the first of my series of Sociable Objects.
TECHNICAL INFO:
To get the time, set your XBee to:
– PAN ID: C
– Destination Low: 1
– My Address: 0
Then send “GET”. You’ll receive a time string is in the following format: *20061003143227 where the year is 2006, month is October, day is the 3rd, hour is 14 (2 p.m.), minute is 32 and second is 27.
The clock also broadcasts the time in human readable format once per minute to all addresses on PAN ID CC.
Every hour, the system grabs a time update from the National Institute of Standards, and adjusts itself accordingly so that its signal is always accurate.