Various wireless chips are available for electronics projects. Here is a brief comparison.
Name
|
Frequency
|
Data rate
|
Range
|
Current
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
Price
|
XBee
|
2.4 GHz (IEEE 802.15.4)
|
250 kbps
|
~90m
|
? mA
|
|
- Fast
- Easy to use
- P2P mesh network
- No configuration needed for serial communications
- 128-bit AES encryption
- DigiMesh protocol available
|
- Slightly expensive
- Maximum of 8 nodes per coordinator ("hub")
|
~$23
|
Nordic WRL
|
2.4 GHz
|
20 kbps
|
Personal area
|
30µA
|
- max 65000 simultaneous connections on Shared Channel Network
- Many network topographies supported
- Drop in serial interface
|
- max 4 2-way simultaneous connections
- No built in encryption
|
~$20
|
Holy Stone ASK RF
|
315 MHz / 434 MHz
|
2400 bps/ 4800 bps
|
~150 meters
|
3.5 mA
|
- Really cheap
- Drop in serial communications
|
- Assymetric design; recievers are not transmitters
- Only one transmitter per network
- Non-open frequency
- Fairly large package
|
~$10 per pair
|