To get started, an Explorer 16 development board is required. All Explorer 16 development boards are shipped with connector J5 installed. The IrDA® Standard PICtail Plus Daughter Board should be inserted into one of the top two sockets of J5. The orientation of the IrDA Standard PICtail Plus Daughter Board should be such that the optical sensors points toward the prototyping area on the Explorer 16 development board. If the board is inserted into the top most socket, UART1 must be utilized for infrared communication. If the board is inserted into the second top most sockets, UART2 must be utilized for infrared communication.

The IrDA™ Standard PICtail Plus Daughter Board can be used in conjunction with the IrDA Standard Stacks for Microchip 16-bit and PIC32 microcontrollers (see application note AN1071). The demonstration projects provided with the stack can be programmed into an Explorer 16 demonstration board and interact with either Explorer 16 demonstration board, or another device that also supports the pertinent IrDA® Standard protocol.