The new features of the firmware are:
1) reduced delays when continuously sending or receiving data
2) Support for remote reset

These when taken together allow Arduinos to be remote programmed.

So to set this up we need an XRF connected to the Arduino (I’ll call this the remote XRF) and an XRF connected to your PC (the host XRF).

Wiring, the remote XRF needs GND, PWR, Rx, Tx and pin 17 hooked up – see the fritzing diagram below,
the host XRF needs to be connected serially to the host PC – e.g. by using a FTDI cable; GND, PWR Rx, Tx and pin 16 need connecting.

Remote XRF setup:
You need to give the remote XRF an ID (command ATMY) e.g. to give the ID “NN” to the node enter the AT command “ATMY NN”.
You also need to set up the baud rate to match that expected by the bootloader. This is 115200 for a UNO bootloader and 57600 for a standard ATMega386 bootloader.
For the Uno
ATBD 1C200
and for the standard Arduino
ATBD E100

Host XRF setup:
You need to tell the host XRF the ID of the remote XRF to program.
To set a remote ID of NN
ATRI NN
you also need to enable the remote reset (1 to enable and 0 to disable)
ATRP 1
Finally you need to set the baud rate as for the remote XRF.
ATBD 1C200 or ATBD E100

Now you are all set up – run the Arduino IDE, select the board type and the port for the host XRF and program.

Note: This method of programming is intolerant of any radio noise or other XRF radio traffic on the same frequency/panID. I understand future firmware updates may improve this, but at the moment you may need to try and upload more than once – the Arduino IDE will tell you if it succeeded.

Images:

Host XRF to PC.

Remote XRF to Arduino. Note Pin 17 of the XRF should be connected to the DTR line if the Arduino has a FTDI connector, also if used the capacitor value is 100nF.

I built this onto a small XRF module board that Ciseco produce. Miles assures me that these will be available soon. The boards contain a 3v3 regulator as well as sufficient prototyping space for the connections needed.

Photo of the remote setup, Nanode, XRF and XRF module board

Photo of the host setup – SparkFun FTDI board, AdaFruit XBee board and XRF

Videos:

Disclosure: Miles (Ciseco) lives near to me, we met at the Nottingham Hackspace. In return for beta testing Miles supplies me with some of his kit.

The code assumes some familiarity with the ethershield examples.

#include <etherShield.h>

static uint8_t mymac[6] = {0x54,0x55,0x58,0x10,0x00,0x28};
static uint8_t myip[4] = {192,168,1,25};
// Default gateway. The ip address of your DSL router. It can be set to the same as
// websrvip the case where there is no default GW to access the
// web server (=web server is on the same lan as this host)
static uint8_t gwip[4] = {192,168,1,1};

//============================================================================================================
// Pachube declarations
//============================================================================================================
#define PORT 80                   // HTTP

// the etherShield library does not really support sending additional info in a get request
// here we fudge it in the host field to add the API key
// Http header is
// Host: <HOSTNAME>
// X-PachubeApiKey: xxxxxxxx
// User-Agent: Arduino/1.0
// Accept: text/html
#define HOSTNAME "www.pachube.com\r\nX-PachubeApiKey: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"          // my API key
static uint8_t websrvip[4] = {173,203,98,29};  // www.pachube.com
#define HTTPPATH "/api/9999.csv"      // The feed

EtherShield es=EtherShield();

#define BUFFER_SIZE 500
static uint8_t buf[BUFFER_SIZE+1];

void browserresult_callback(uint8_t statuscode,uint16_t datapos){
 Serial.print("Received data, status:"); Serial.println(statuscode,DEC);
 if (datapos != 0)
 {
  Serial.println((char*)&buf[datapos]);
  // now search for the csv data - it follows the first blank line
  // I'm sure that there is an easier way to search for a blank line - but I threw this together quickly
  // and it works for me.
  uint16_t pos = datapos;
  while (buf[pos])    // loop until end of buffer (or we break out having found what we wanted)
  {
   while (buf[pos]) if (buf[pos++] == '\n') break;   // find the first line feed
   if (buf[pos] == 0) break; // run out of buffer
   if (buf[pos++] == '\r') break; // if it is followed by a carriage return then it is a blank line (\r\n\r\n)
  }
  if (buf[pos])  // we didn't run out of buffer
  {
   pos++;  //skip over the '\n' remaining
   Serial.print("CSV line is:");
   Serial.println((char*)&buf[pos]);
  }
 }
}

void setup(){
 Serial.begin(9600);
 Serial.println("Ethershield Get example");

 /*initialize enc28j60*/
 es.ES_enc28j60Init(mymac);

 //init the ethernet/ip layer:
 es.ES_init_ip_arp_udp_tcp(mymac, myip, PORT);

 // init the web client:
 es.ES_client_set_gwip(gwip);  // e.g internal IP of dsl router

 es.ES_client_set_wwwip(websrvip);  // target web server

}

void loop()
{
 static uint32_t timetosend;
 uint16_t dat_p;
 while(1){
  // handle ping and wait for a tcp packet - calling this routine powers the sending and receiving of data
  dat_p=es.ES_packetloop_icmp_tcp(buf,es.ES_enc28j60PacketReceive(BUFFER_SIZE, buf));
  if (dat_p == 0)
  {
   if (millis() - timetosend > 10000)  // every 10 seconds
   {
    timetosend = millis();
    Serial.println("Sending request");
    // note the use of PSTR - this puts the string into code space and is compulsory in this call
    // second parameter is a variable string to append to HTTPPATH, this string is NOT a PSTR
    es.ES_client_browse_url(PSTR(HTTPPATH), NULL, PSTR(HOSTNAME), &browserresult_callback);
   }
  }
 }
}

For the sensor communications I have decided to standardize on the JeeLabs JN4. Most sensors will connect directly to the sensor controllers, but for the CC128 then I will use a bare board Arduino as a data concentrator.

For the first part of this project I will build the data storage unit. This will have:

1) Seeeduino 328 – chosen due to the additional 3.3v power available.
Update 24/2/10: I am revising this decision as the Seeeduino has placed the 500mA fuse on the 5v line (not on the USB 5v line), I need more than this (it is the LCD back light that draws most of this) and the fuse keeps cutting power. I will probably end up with a standard Duemilanove and put a 3.3v regulator in for the 3.3v devices.
Update 25/2/10: Measured current required – 305mA (180mA without the LCD) – so it must be the regulator cutting out because the heat sink is not adequate. Moved to Duemilanove, with 100mA 3.3v LDO regulator and although the 5v regulator does get hot I do not have any cutout problems.

2) Arduino ethernet shield

3) XBee-pro 802.15.4 for serial wireless communications connecting to the Arduino via a XBee shield.
Update: Using the JeeLabs JN4 with RFM12B operating at 868MHz for the wireless communications

4) 128Kbyte I2C FRAM (RAMTRON) this will be used to hold message queues – this is 3.3v

5) 2GB SD card – initially with uALFAT controller (I2C 3.3v), but I intend to use a SD card directly for the final version.

6) I2C serial LCD – based upon my own ATTiny2313 I2C Serial LCD adapter

7) I2C battery backed RTC to use as a time stamp for all readings.

I am using my own level converter (based upon this) to drive the 3.3v I2C bus from 5v.

I have gathered the necessary hardware and will start detailed design at the weekend.