> WIRELESS PAGING USING IEEE STANDARD 802.15.

4 ZIGBEE AND PIC 16F873< 1

Wireless Paging Using ZigBee in Wireless Personal

Area Network(WPAN).
B.S.Balaji B.E.(M.Tech),
[email protected],
SJB Institute of Technology,
Bangalore – 560 060.

 transmitters contained in mobile phones is problematic or

Abstract— Paging is a one-way telecommunication service prohibited. One such type of location is a large hospital
providing the means to send a short message to a pager. complex, where cellular coverage is often weak or nonexistent,
Traditional wide-area paging systems are mainly based on wired and where radio transmitters are suggested to interfere with
data transfer from paging area controllers to the base stations. In sensitive medical equipment.
this paper we present a novel method to implement paging
The basic types of paging services include, tone, numeric, text
networks. Conventional paging networks use normally leased
land lines to send pages from the paging network controller to the
(alpha) and voice. Two types of paging systems, one-way, or
base stations located all over the country. In many cases the cost two-way paging systems can deliver these messages. One-way
of those land lines is prohibitive, and therefore alternatives must paging systems only permit the sending of messages from the
be found. The new paging architecture proposed in this paper for paging system to the pager. Two-way paging systems allow the
Wireless Personal Area Network consists of a IEEE 802.15.4 confirmation and response of a message from the pager to the
based ZigBee. It is a unidirectional paging and a cost effective system as well.
solution for communication in Personal Area Network as the
lifetime of ZigBee is more and the power consumed by ZigBee is Depending on the type of service, the message may be either a
less compared to other wireless technologies like Bluetooth, IEEE
numeric message, an alphanumeric message, or a voice
802.11a/b, etc. It can be designed as bidirectional if the Paging
Transmitter/Receiver is interfaced with a Alphanumeric Keypad message. Paging system are typically used to notify a
and LCD screen then the PC can be removed from the subscriber of the need to call a particular telephone number or
architecture and this makes the device more compact. In addition travel to known location to receive further instruction. In
to increase the paging capacity, the network has to be efficiently modern paging systems, new headlines, stock quotations, and
routed. faxes may be sent. A message is sent to a paging subscriber via
the paging system access number (usually a toll-free telephone
Index Terms— PC (Personal Computer), ZigBee (XBee), PIC number) with a telephone number) with a telephone keypad or
16F873, LCD, WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network), IEEE modem. The issued message is called a page. The paging
802.15.4. system then transmits the page throughout the service area
using base stations which broadcast the page on a radio carrier.
I. INTRODUCTION

In today‟s highly competitive world in many of today‟s

professional offices, the ability to quickly contact employees
has become a necessity. PAGING is one of the best solutions
to meet every need for interoffice communications PAGING is
a wireless communication system in which the text message is
Figure(a) Pager.
transmitted to the user having a receiving module at his end.
Although paging technology is years old, the lifecycle of
paging systems is likely to continue because paging systems
II. WORKING PROCEDURE – LITERATURE SURVEY.
generally have much better and more reliable in building radio
coverage, have smaller low cost devices (pagers), and the
service cost can be substantially less than other systems such The „Wireless Paging System‟ is built using several blocks
as cellular radio. Pagers are still in use today in places for consisting of hardware interface. These building blocks and
instant and quick short text messaging or faster communication their interrelationship is shown in the figure (c) & (d). The
between peer to peer, where mobile phones typically cannot overall explanation of block diagram goes like this:
reach users and in places where the operation of radio The main aim of the paper is to develop a wireless
communication system based on Wireless Paging in WPAN
using the PIC microcontroller and ZigBee technology such that
> WIRELESS PAGING USING IEEE STANDARD 802.15.4 ZIGBEE AND PIC 16F873< 2

the user at the other end gets message on the LCD display. The consists of some intelligent programming in System C for
PC is connected to the PIC through the interface card 8255 Communication between Transmitter & Receiver, and in
PPI that is connected to the parallel port of the PC as shown in assembly language using MPLAB software for PIC 16F873 to
the block diagram in figure b & c which consists of both the be applied as Transmitter and Receiver. It can also be
Wireless paging Transmitter and Receiver. The PIC is designed in to various network, figure (d).
connected to the ZigBee Receiver picks up the signals and
feeds it to PIC microcontroller which provides the necessary
data to the LCD.
When the user types the message that text is converted to
binary and the data comes out parallel from the 8255, the PIC
converts data parallel to serial and transmits through ZigBee
Transmitter. At the other end the PIC receives the signal and
converts it from serial to parallel and by driving by LCD the
message is displayed.
Figure (d). Various Networks.

B. Paging System
Paging systems are communication systems that send brief
messages to subscriber. Paging systems vary widely in their
complexity and coverage area. While simple paging systems
may cover a limited range of 2 to 5km, or may even be
confined to within individual buildings, wide area paging
systems can provide worldwide coverage. Though paging
receiver is simple and inexpensive, the transmission system
required is quite sophisticated. Wide area paging systems
consist of network of telephone lines, many base station
transmitters, and large radio towers that simultaneously
broadcast a page from each base station. Simulcast transmitters
may be located within the same service area or in different
cities or countries. Paging system is designed to provide
reliable communication to subscribers wherever they are;
whether inside a building, driving on a highway, or flying in an
airplane. This necessitates large transmitter powers and low
data rates for maximum coverage from each base station.
Figure (e) shows a diagram of a wide area paging system.

Figure (b) & (c). Wireless Paging – Block Diagram, Transmitter - Receiver.

A. Implementation
It provides the correct implementation idea about the paper.
This is briefly explained as follows:
 Personal Computer is interfaced with PPI card using a
Printer port or Parallel port cable.
Figure (e). Wide Area Paging system.
 Ports of PPI card (A0-A7) pin are connected to PIC
16F873 Port B (B0-B7) pin for data and PPI B7 pin
is connected to PIC C7 pin for control signals.
 PIC 16F873 “C6” pin is connected to ZigBee at C. ZigBee
“DIN” pin for transmitting the data. ZigBee is a wireless network protocol specifically designed
 At receiver, ZigBee “DOUT” pin is connected to the for low data rate sensors and control networks. ZigBee is a
PIC “C7” pin for receiving the data. consortium of software, hardware and services companies that
PIC Port B (B0-B7) is interfaced with LCD used mainly for have developed a common standard for wireless, networking
displaying data and “C1” & ”C6” pin is interfaced with the of sensors and controllers. While other wireless standards are
“EN” and “RS” pin to control the LCD. The Wireless Paging concerned with exchanging large amounts of data, ZigBee is
> WIRELESS PAGING USING IEEE STANDARD 802.15.4 ZIGBEE AND PIC 16F873< 3

for devices that have smaller throughout needs. The other ZigBee offers
driving factors are low cost, high reliability, high security, low
battery usage, simplicity and interoperability with other
ZigBee devices. When Compared to other wireless protocol
ZigBee wireless protocol offers low complexity. It also offers
three frequency bands of operation along with a number of
network configurations and optional security capability.
Figure (h). ZigBee Module

 Low power consumption – optimized for low

battery operation.
 License free operation in the 2.4GHz band.
 Simple protocol definition – can be implemented
on low – cost micro controllers.
 Hundreds of devices per network.
 Network flexibility – star, cluster tree or mesh
configuration.
 Data rate up to 250 kbps.
Figure (f). IEEE 802.15.4 & ZigBee working model.
 Small size – The developed solution will be less
The IEEE 802.15.4 standard and the ZigBee technology than 9mm  9mm.
address easy, low-cost deployment of power-friendly and
flexible implementations of a virtually unlimited number of
wireless low data rate monitoring and control applications. Difference between Bluetooth and ZigBee
The application sphere of this wireless personal area network
(WPAN) technology ranges from industrial monitoring and Feature(s) IEEE 802.11b Bluetooth ZigBee
control, home automation, sensor networks to gaming, medical Power Profile Hours Days Years
and automotive solutions. The various layers of the IEEE Complexity Very Complex Complex Simple
802.15.4/Zigbee technology together with the interaction Nodes/Master 32 7 64000
between the IEEE standard, the ZigBee Alliance and end-user Enumeration upto 3 Enumeration upto 10
providers are shown in Figure (f). Latency Enumeration 30ms
seconds seconds
The IEEE 802.15.4 standard1 specifies the Physical (PHY) Range 100 m 10m 70m-300m
and Media Access Control (MAC) layers at the 868 MHz, 915 Extendability Roaming possible No YES
MHz and 2.4 GHz ISM bands, enabling global or regional
Data Rate 11Mbps 1Mbps 250Kbps
deployment. The air interface is direct sequence spread
Authentication Service Set 128 bit AES and Application
spectrum (DSSS) using BPSK for 868 MHz and 915 MHz and Security 64 bit, 128 bit
ID (SSID) Layer user defined
O-QPSK for 2.4 GHz. The access method in IEEE 802.15.4-
enabled networks is carrier sense multiple access with collision TABLE II. Comparisons between Bluetooth & ZigBee.
avoidance (CSMA-CA). The IEEE 802.15.4 PHY includes
receiver energy detection (ED), link quality indication (LQI) III. ADVANTAGES OF PAGING SYSTEM
and clear channel assessment (CCA).
 A pager costs less.
 Better battery life.
 Simulcasting is superior technology. The way
information is usually transmitted to a conventional
pager is called "simulcasting." This technical term
means "simultaneous broadcasting" from multiple
transmitters (and towers).
 Better penetration into buildings and fewer missed
messages
 Efficient use of radio resources.
 Smaller, lighter weight unit and is more convenient to
TABLE I. IEEE 802.15.4 PHY parameters utilize effectively.
> WIRELESS PAGING USING IEEE STANDARD 802.15.4 ZIGBEE AND PIC 16F873< 4

IV. RESULTS VI. FUTURE SCOPE

The PC to LCD wireless text transmission system can be
The Wireless Paging system is tested and the results are as improved in many ways so as to withstand the market
follows: challenges. Here are some points, which can be
 The data or text message send through the transmitter to considered as future enhancement in our project:
receiver is received successfully without degrading or  A receiver module can be made so compact that a
corrupting with in the maximum distance of 15 – 20 user can carry it any where with in a limited area or in
meters. a personal area network, such there is no question of
 The speed of data transmission is 30us. missing an important and emergency message even
 Power consumption – ZigBee: 2.8 – 3.5V, and Paging when the concern person is not at his place.
System – 2 “AA” 1.5V Batteries.  The Wireless Paging system which is one way
(message can be sent only in one direction) can be
V. CONCLUSION made two ways by interfacing a keyboard and PPI
card at receiver side, LCD display at transmitter side
This paper focuses on one piece of the wireless space, the so as to improve the communication systems
paging sector. This is done primarily due to the special interest performance by sending the messages in both
on embedded system and wireless communication with the directions.
networks and technology which can be used in the paging
industry. Paging systems and all the components needed to
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Figure (j). Wireless Paging in Mesh network can be implemented in big

organization in future.