The XBee shield allows an Arduino board to communicate wirelessly back to a computer or to another XBee shield/modem. It is based on the XBee module from MaxStream. It can be used as a serial/usb replacement or you can put it into a command mode and configure it for a variety of broadcast and mesh networking options. The shields breaks out each of the Xbee's pins to a through-hole solder pad. It also provides female pin headers for use of digital pins 2 to 7 and the analog inputs, which are covered by the shield (digital pins 8 to 13 are not obstructed by the shield, so you can use the headers on the board itself).
This is an excellent small sized board to allow your AeroQuad to communicate wirelessly with the Configurator for ease of PID tuning and other telemetry capabilities planned for the future (reporting battery level, GPS information, etc.). It is powered through the Arduino's ICSP header and has a convenient accessible reset button.
