IJCST Vol. 3, Issue 1, Jan.

- March 2012

ISSN : 0976-8491 (Online) | ISSN : 2229-4333 (Print)

ZigBee: A Review
1
1,2,3

Gurpreet Singh, 2Raghav Bhardwaj, 3Karamjeet Singh, 4Sahil Mehla

Rayat Bahra College of Engineering and Bio-Technology for Women, Sahauran,

Mohali, Punjab, India
4
Software Engineer, Wipro Technologies, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Abstract
Past several years have witnessed a rapid development in the
wireless network area. So far wireless networking has been
focused on high-speed and long range applications. However,
there are many wireless monitoring and control applications for
industrial and home environments which require longer battery
life, lower data rates and less complexity than those from existing
standards. For such wireless applications a new standard called
ZigBee has been developed by the ZigBee Alliance. ZigBee is a
technological standard created for Control and sensor networks.
It is based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The IEEE 802.15.4
standard specifies the PHY Layer and MAC Layer for low data
rate wireless PANs. This paper includes ZigBee Alliance, IEEE
802.15.4 model, applications and advantages of ZigBee, future
scope of ZigBee.
Keywords
ZigBee, IEEE 802.15.4, Networks
I. Introduction
ZigBee is a technological standard created for control and sensor
networks based in IEEE 802.15.4. ZigBee is a specification for
a suite of high level communication protocols using small, lowpower digital radios based on an IEEE 802.15.4 standard for
personal area networks [1]. Applications include wireless light
switches, electrical meters with in-home-displays, consumer and
industrial equipment that requires short-range wireless transfer of
data at relatively low rates. It is the most promising communication
protocol for WPAN. IEEE -> IEEE802 -> IEEE802.15 ->
IEEE802.15.4 -> ZIGBEE
1. The IEEE 802 standard gives specifications for the Local Area
Networks (LAN).
2. The IEEE802.15 standard is a working group for WPAN.
3. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard specifies the PHY Layer and MAC
Layer for low data rate wireless PANs. It was completed in May
2003.
4. The ZigBee specifications were approved on 14 December
2004.
5. The ZigBee Alliance announced public availability of
Specification 1.0 on 13 June 2005.
ZigBee Alliance is a group of companies creating wireless
solutions for use in Residential, Commercial and Industrial
Applications. The technology used by ZigBee specification is
intended to be simpler and less expensive than other Wireless
Personal Area Networks such as Bluetooth. ZigBee is a low-cost,
low-power, wireless mesh network standard. The low cost allows
the technology to be widely deployed in wireless control and
monitoring applications. Low power-usage allows longer life
with smaller batteries. Mesh networking provides high reliability
and more extensive range. ZigBee chip vendors typically sell
integrated radios and microcontrollers with between 60KB and
256KB flash memory.
ZigBee operates in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM)
radio bands; 868MHz in Europe, 915MHz in the USA and Australia,
and 2.4GHz in most jurisdictions worldwide. Data transmission

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rates vary from 20 to 250 kilobits/second. ZigBee network layer

natively supports both star and tree typical networks and generic
mesh networks. Every network must have one coordinator device
tasked with its creation, the control of its parameters and basic
maintenance. Within star networks, the coordinator must be the
central node. Both tree and mesh allows the use of ZigBee routers
to extend communication at the network level.
II. ZigBee Alliance [2]
Zigbee Alliance is an association of companies working together
to define an open global standard for making low-power wireless
networks. The intended outcome of ZigBee Alliance is to create
a specification defining that how to build different network
topologies with data security features and interoperable application
profiles. The association includes companies from a wide spectrum
of categories, from chip manufactures to system integration
companies. The number of members in the association is rapidly
growing and is currently over 125. Among the members one can
find Philips, Samsung, Motorola and LG. Digi is a member of the
ZigBee Alliance and has developed a wide range of networking
solutions based on the ZigBee protocol. XBee and XBee-PRO
modules and other XBee-enabled devices provide an easy-toimplement solution that provides functionality to connect to a wide
variety of devices [3]. ZigBee Alliance provided some ZigBee
devices which are widely used as follows:A. XBee and XBee-PRO ZB
Fig. 1, shows ZigBee modules support the latest ZigBee PRO
feature set and allow for interoperability with ZigBee devices from
other vendors. With XBee, users can have their ZigBee network
up-and-running in a matter of minutes.

Fig. 1: XBee and XBee-PRO ZB

B. XBee and XBee-PRO ZB Adapters
It provides simple ZigBee communication via a variety of
connection options including RS-232, RS-485, digital I/O and
analog I/O.

Fig. 2: XBee and XBee-PRO ZB Adapters

C. Connect Port X Gateways
This allows you to IP-enable ZigBee networks by aggregating
device data and making that information available over an Ethernet,
cellular, or Wi-Fi connection. ConnectPort X gateways offer
programmability and configuration options to most effectively
manage devices on a ZigBee network.

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IJCST Vol. 3, Issue 1, Jan. - March 2012

ISSN : 0976-8491 (Online) | ISSN : 2229-4333 (Print)

Then both FFD and RFD devices can connect to the PAN
coordinator. All networks within the radio sphere of influence
must have a unique PAN identity. All nodes in a PAN must talk
to the PAN Coordinator.
Fig. 3: ConnectPort X Gateways
III. The Name ZigBee
The name ZigBee [3], is come from the domestic honeybee
which uses a zig-zag type of dance to communicate important
information to other hive members. This communication dance
(the ZigBee Principle) is what engineers are trying to emulate
with this protocol a bunch of separate and simple organisms that
join together to tackle complex tasks.

2. Peer-to-Peer Network Formation

In fig. 5, there is also a PAN coordinator, but it differs from the
star topology in that any device can communicate with any other
device as long as they are in the range of one another.

IV. IEEE 802.15.4

The goal IEEE had when they specified the IEEE 802.15.4
standard was to provide a standard for ultra-low complexity,
ultra-low cost, ultra-low power consumption and low data rate
wireless connectivity among inexpensive devices. The raw data
rate will be high enough (maximum of 250 kb/s) for applications
like sensors, alarms and toys.
A. Components of the IEEE 802.15.4
IEEE 802.15.4 networks use three types of devices [3].
1. The Network Coordinator
It maintains overall network knowledge. It is the most sophisticated
one of the three types and requires the most memory and computing
power.
2. The Full Function Device (FFD)
FFD supports all IEEE 802.15.4 functions and features specified by
the standard. It can function as a network coordinator. Additional
memory and computing power make it ideal for network router
functions or it could be used in network-edge devices.
3. The Reduced Function Device (RFD)
RFD carries limited (as specified by the standard) functionality
to lower cost and complexity. It is generally found in networkedge devices. The RFD can be used where extremely low power
consumption is a necessity.
B. Network Topologies
IEEE 802.15.4 can manage two types of networks, i.e. star topology
or the peer-to-peer topology. In ZigBee, these two topologies can
be combined to build so-called mesh networks.
1. Star Network Formation
The first FFD that is activated may establish its own network and
become a Personal Area Network (PAN) coordinator.

Fig. 5: Peer-to-Peer Topology

The peer-to-peer topology allows more complex network
formations to be implemented, such as the mesh topology.
C. 802.15.4 ZigBee Physical Layer
It defines the transmitting raw bits. Frequency of operation and
data rate as per IEEE Standard.
1. Energy Detection (ED)
Before a signal is transmitted the device goes in the receive
mode to detect and estimate the signal energy level in the desired
channel.
2. Link Quality Indication (LQI)
Measure of quality of packets received at the receiver. Higher the
SNR, high is the quality.
3. Clear Channel Assessment (CCA)
To ensure that the channel is clear. Not in use by any other
device. Zigbee is a wireless technology developed as an open
global standard to address the unique needs of low-cost, lowpower wireless M2M networks. The ZigBee standard operates
on the IEEE 802.15.4 physical radio specification and operates in
unlicensed bands including 2.4 GHz, 900 MHz and 868 MHz. The
802.15.4 specification [4], upon which the ZigBee stack operates
gained ratification by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) in 2003. The specification is a packet-based
radio protocol intended for low-cost, battery-operated devices. The
protocol allows devices to communicate in a variety of network
topologies and can have battery life lasting several years.

Fig. 4: Star Topology

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IJCST Vol. 3, Issue 1, Jan. - March 2012

ISSN : 0976-8491 (Online) | ISSN : 2229-4333 (Print)

C. Consumer Electronics
To provide more flexible management of lighting, heating, cooling,
security and home entertainment systems such as TV, DVDs,
home theatre.
D. PC and Peripherals
To integrate the system to perform different types of tasks, we
have input/output devices as well as high speed processors, storage
media and many other devices such as joystick, OMR.
E. Home Control
To integrate the lighting, heating, cooling and security or we can
say that it is responsible for controlling the home.

Fig. 6: Layers of IEEE 802.15.4

D. Medium Access Control Layer
The Medium Access Control (MAC) layer handles the network
association and disassociation and has an optional super frame
structure with beacons for time synchronization and a Guaranteed
Time Slot (GTS) mechanism for high priority communications.
V. ZigBee Advantages
The ZigBee protocol is designed to communicate data through
hostile RF environments that are common in commercial and
industrial applications.
ZigBee protocol features include:
1. ZigBee provides support for multiple network topologies such
as point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and mesh networks.
2. It has low duty cycle which provides long battery life.
3. ZigBee has Low latency.
4. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) is used in ZigBee
technology.
5. ZigBee has ability to use upto 65,000 nodes per network.
6. 128-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption for
secure data connections are used in it.
7. Collision avoidance, retries and acknowledgements are one
of the most efficient features of ZigBee.
VI. ZigBee Applications [5]
There are many applications that are having redundant, selfconfiguring and self-healing capabilities of ZigBee wireless mesh
networks. These applications include:
A. Building Automation
It provides security, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air
conditioning) refers to technology of indoor or automotive
environmental comfort. Now HVAC is widely used in the buses
and cabs. It is also used in lighting control, access control and
Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR or AMR-NB) audio codec is a patented
audio data compression scheme optimized for speech coding.
B. Energy Management and Efficiency
To provide greater information and control of energy usage,
provide customers with better service and more choice, better
manage resources, and help to reduce environmental impact.

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F. Telecommunication Services
It covers information services, Mobile Commerce, also known as
M-Commerce or mCommerce, is the ability to conduct commerce
using a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, Personal Digital
Assistant (PDA), smartphone, or other emerging mobile equipment
such as dashtop mobile devices.
G. Industrial Automation
To extend existing manufacturing and process control systems
reliability[6]. The interoperable nature of ZigBee means that these
applications can work together, providing even greater benefits.
H. Personal Health Care
ZigBee Alliance provided many devices which helps for
the fitness of patients such as personal wellness monitoring,
Electrocardiograph (ECG), chronic disease monitoring, glucose
meter and pulse oximeter.

Fig. 7: Applications of ZigBee Technology [5]

VII. Future Scope
Chipcon is using ZigBee to produce a road map product that
reduces the chip and system costs and increases integration level
with low power consumption. Sensors are currently being used in
environmental and agricultural applications, but the main target
- home automation. ZigBee technology is also being used and
tested in applications related to health monitoring.
VIII. Conclusions
ZigBee is most promising technological standard for low data
rate, low power consumption and has a long battery life. ZigBee
networks are reliable and self-healing. These networks are easy
to deploy which is cheaper as compared to other technologies.
Today main issue is its complexity of ZigBee networks. The main
problem in this is security because intruders can easily hack ZigBee
networks and too much technology makes people lazy.
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ISSN : 0976-8491 (Online) | ISSN : 2229-4333 (Print)

The evolution of ZigBee technology is a big achievement, which

will likely be targeted for use in applications such as road map
tracking, medical application, consumer electronics, PC, Personal
healthcare, commercial and residential control and many more by
applying different actions.
References
[1] wisegeek (2012),What Is ZigBee?, [Online].Available:http://
www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ZigBee.htm
[2] Wikipedia (2012),ZigBee, [Online].Available: http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ ZigBee
[3] webstaff (2005),ZigBee for wireless networking, [Online]
Available:http://webstaff.itn.liu.se/~shago/Exjobb/ZigBee.
pdf
[4] ZigBee.org (2012),ZigBee Smart Energy Overview
[Online]. Available:http://www.ZigBee.org/ Standards/
ZigBee SmartEnergy/Overview.aspx
[5] Daintree (2010),Getting Started with ZigBee and IEEE
802.15.4, [Online].Available: http://www.daintree.net /
downloads/whitepapers/ZigBee_primer.pdf
[6] freescale (2009),ZigBee Wireless Sensor Applications for
Health, Wellness and Fitness, [Online].Available:http://
www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/white_paper/
MWGZigBeeWP.pdf?tid=mMdl?tid=AMdlDR
Gurpreet Singh received his B.Tech.
degree in Information Technology
from DAV Institute of Engineering
& Technology, Jalandhar in 2009 and
M.Tech. degree in Computer Engineering
from University College of Engineering,
Punjabi University, Patiala, India.
Presently, he is a teaching as a Assistant
Professor at Rayat Bahra College of
Engineering and Bio-Technology for
Women, Sahauran, Mohali. He has
more than 5 research publications in
International, National Conferences and Journals. His research
interests include Wireless Communication, Network Security,
Computer Networks and Data Communication.

IJCST Vol. 3, Issue 1, Jan. - March 2012

Karamjeet Singh received his B.Sc.

(Mathematics) degree from Punjabi
University, Patiala, India in 2005 and
M.Sc. (Mathematics) from Guru Nanak
Dev University, Amritsar in 2007. He
had completed his M.Tech. (Computer
Science and Engineering) from Punjabi
University Patiala, India in 2010. He is
working as Assistant Professor at Rayat
Bahra College of Engineering and BioTechnology for Women, Sahauran,
Mohali. India. His current research interest includes Image
Processing, Artificial Neural Network, and Computer Graphics.
He is the member of professional societies IACSIT (International
Association of Computer Science and Information Technology),
Singapore, IAENG (Member of International Association of
Engineers), China. He is also a member of IETE.
Sahil Mehla received his B.Tech. degree in
Electronics & Communication Engineering
from DAV Institute of Engineering &
Technology, Jalandhar in 2011. He taught
as a Assistant Professor in Department
of Electronics at GITM, Kurukshetra
University. Presently, he is working with
Wipro Technologies, Bangalore. His
research interests include Digital Signal
Processing, Embedded System and Wireless
Communication.

Raghav Bhardwaj received his

B.Tech. degree in Computer Science
& Engineering from Rayat Institute of
Engineering & Information Technology,
Ropar in 2011. Presently, he is a
teaching as a Assistant Professor at
Rayat Bahra College of Engineering and
Bio-Technology for Women, Sahauran,
Mohali. His research interests include
Computer Networks and Wireless
Communication.

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