Chapter 1 - Hello ZigBee

Abstract

This chapter provides information on how to apply ZigBee appropriately to achieve wireless control that simply works. The wireless control market has a number of unique needs for which ZigBee is ideally suited, because ZigBee is highly reliable, cost-effective, able to achieve very low power, highly secure, and an open global standard. Low data rate of Zigbee adds a constraint in achieving the low power and low cost criteria. ZigBee is all about wireless monitoring and control and is a standard networking protocol aimed at the wireless control market. The ZigBee protocol fits on 8-bit microcontrollers, with 16- and 32-bit solutions available. It is great at wireless control; where anywhere from two to thousands of nodes are all connected together, in a multi-hop mesh network. It enhances reliability through mesh networking, acknowledgments and use of the robust IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Multiple silicon and stack vendors, ZigBee modules, and many available resources all contribute to low development costs for ZigBee devices. It uses AES 128-bit security for encryption and authentication. ZigBee Alliance membership is required in order to ship ZigBee technology in products and it provides early access to specifications. ZigBee covers many markets, including home, commercial and industrial automation, medical, and location-based services. ZigBee networks can be put together in a very ad hoc (random) fashion, and they simply work. ZigBee can communicate to individual nodes or groups and these devices remember their settings across resets and power outages.