With the rise of innovations and improvements in the area of Internet Of Things (IoT), there was a need for having a low to mid-range low power consumption protocol. Bluetooth is one such protocol, however, it is high on power consumption and is not really suitable when several IoT devices want to communicate with each other or gateway for very long durations. ZigBee is IEEE specification meant to create PAN (Personal Area Network) with low power-low bandwidth requirements.
What is ZigBee?
The name ZigBee originates from the waggle dance that Honeybee does when she wants to communicate the discovery of pollen grain. This dance is really a social communication. The protocol enables the IoT devices to communicate with each other, at times acting as a repeater and thereby improving the overall communication.
ZigBee specification is simpler and less expensive as compared to other WPAN (Wireless PAN) such as BlueTooth and WiFi.
Characteristics:
- Low power consumption – 100mW
- Range: 10 to 100 meters ( while in line of sight)
- Transmission rate: 250 kbit/s
- secured by 128-bit symmetric encryption key
- can use mesh networking to send data over large distances
- The device must have a battery life of at least 2 years
There are several specifications for various areas:
- Home Automation
- Telecommunication Services
- Healthcare
- Remote Control
- Commercial Building Automation
Device Types
There are 3 different types of ZigBee devices:
- ZigBee Coordinator (ZC): The root of the network and may connect with other networks. It stores information about the network and acts as a repository for secure-keys.
- Router (ZR): It can run an application as well as transmit data from ZEDs to ZC.
- End Device (ZED): ZEDs collect data and transmit it to ZR or ZC. They can’t relay data from other ZEDs or ZRs.
Related Links
Related Keywords
Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), WPAN, BAN, 6LoWPAN, WiFi, NFC, Internet Of Things
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