Stickbee

Stickbee

When the idea of the StickBee was born our goal was to develop a USB device that can provide the collected data in different ways, depending on the connected device.

Mass storage mode

The StickBee can operate as a picture converter if connected to a lower intelligence device such as digital photo frames, DVD/media-players, monitors or simple TVs via their USB ports. In this case the dongle acts like a mass storage that contains slideshow images visualizing the collected data. The built in firmware generates pictures in the most common and used file format .jpeg.

Generated image samples

The amount of pictures can be parameterized so several type of information or historical data could be displayed. If the display has keys or buttons that allow the stepping of the pictures stored on the connected mass storage, it is available to access the previously generated images until they get overwritten with the latest data. The image overwriting time interval is a setup parameter.

Application mode

When StickBee is connected to a device with higher intelligence (e.g. PC) that is able to run Java applications the firmware recognizes the ability and offers the installation of the StickBee Home application automatically.
The installation files are stored in the built-in flash memory.

Settings pane of the Java application

After installation the Java application offers you the following main functions:

• custom setup of the StickBee device
• management of the generated image templates
• processing and visualization of the collected data from the ZigBee network
• automatic firmware update

Following our ease-of-use directive there is no need to pre-setup the device parameters, the application connects automatically to the device. Once the dongle is connected to a PC the generated images can be exported to the PC’s hard-drive or any other medium. During the management of the image templates the StickBee does not have to be connected due to the Java applications stand-alone mode. In this case the synchronization of the edited templates will be done automatically at the next connection of the dongle. The generated images are following a previously installed templates that are free to replace, but the their modification is only available by using the Template Editor. Template Editor is only available for the utility company with exclusive license and encryption.

The template editor allows to create utility branded templates with individual patterns and values to show. During the creation the displayable attributes to edit:

• Actual prices (up to 4 decimal places)
• Power (W or kW)
• Cost of Power (W/$ or kW/$ with up to 4 decimal places)
• Energy (Wh or kWh)
• Cost of Energy (Wh/$ or kWh/$ with up to 4 decimal places) of the past 24 hours and the estimated monthly costs
• Meter registers/tariff registers (kWh, kWh/$)
• Billing period dates (current/next)
• Text Message Surface
• Pairing process page (refreshes every second until successful pairing)
• Current Time & Date
• Weather forecast (from utility forecast messages)/Optional
• ZigBee parameters (PAN ID, RF Channel, etc.)
• Alarms, diagnostics

The application can handle several differently configured dongles using their own profile, their data and setups cannot get mixed or lost.

Device parameters

Power Supply: 5V DC (from USB port)
Power Consumption: Less than 1W average
Temperature: -10-60°C
Humidity: 90%
Communication: IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee), USB 2.0 (standard Type A)