xbee and arduino in mesh network

Question

I'm working on aproject with xbee(s2) and Arduino UNO , My plan is to create a mesh sensor network from 5 nodes , each node consist of xbee connect to Arduino through xbee shield, and number of sensors connect to Arduino , one of this node must be as xbee coordinator and the others as router or end device . My question is in which mode must I use in each xbee (AT or API mode) and why??? And can I use the coordinator as API and router as AT mode or I must use all of its node in API mode to verify mesh network and why?? Please if any one Know any idea about it or any useful tutorial on how to set up arduino and xbee to recived sensor data packets from each node

Answer 1

Yes, you can mix AT mode and API mode devices on the same network. A typical configuration has the coordinator in API mode with a smart host that can parse the API messages, and sensor nodes running AT mode so they can just send bursts of serial data and have the XBee automatically direct it to the coordinator.