ZigBee

ZigBee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication

protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios.
The technology defined by the ZigBee specification is intended to be simpler and less
expensive than other wireless personal area networks (WPANs), such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Applications include wireless light switches, electrical meters with in-home-displays, traffic
management systems, and other consumer and industrial equipment that requires short-range low-
rate wireless data transfer.
Its low power consumption limits transmission distances to 10–100 meters line-of-sight,
depending on power output and environmental characteristics. ZigBee devices can transmit data
over long distances by passing data through a mesh network of intermediate devices to reach more
distant ones. ZigBee is typically used in low data rate applications that require long battery life and
secure networking (ZigBee networks are secured by 128 bit symmetric encryption keys.) ZigBee
has a defined rate of 250 kbit/s, best suited for intermittent data transmissions from a sensor or input
device.
ZigBee was conceived in 1998, standardized in 2003, and revised in 2006. The name refers
to the waggle dance of honey bees after their return to the beehive.

Overview
ZigBee is a low-cost, low-power, wireless mesh network standard targeted at the wide
development of long battery life devices in wireless control and monitoring applications. Zigbee
devices have low latency, which further reduces average current. ZigBee chips are typically
integrated with radios and with microcontrollers that have between 60-256 KB flashes memory.
ZigBee operates in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands: 2.4 GHz in most
jurisdictions worldwide; 784 MHz in China, 868 MHz in Europe and 915 MHz in the USA and
Australia. Data rates vary from 20 kbit/s (868 MHz band) to 250 kbit/s (2.4 GHz band).
The ZigBee network layer natively supports both star and tree networks, and generic mesh
networking. 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 trees and meshes allow the use of ZigBee routers to extend communication at the
network level.
ZigBee builds on the physical layer and media access control defined in IEEE standard
802.15.4 for low-rate WPANs. The specification includes four additional key components: network
layer, application layer, ZigBee device objects (ZDOs) and manufacturer-defined application objects
which allow for customization and favor total integration. ZDOs are responsible for some tasks,
including keeping track of device roles, managing requests to join a network, as well as device
discovery and security.
 ZigBee is one of the global standards of communication protocol formulated by the
significant task force under the IEEE 802.15 working group. The fourth in the series, WPAN Low
Rate/ZigBee is the newest and provides specifications for devices that have low data rates, consume
very low power and are thus characterized by long battery life. Other standards like Bluetooth and
IrDA address high data rate applications such as voice, video and LAN communications.

Use cases
ZigBee protocols are intended for embedded applications requiring low power consumption
and tolerating low data rates. The resulting network will use very small amounts of power —
individual devices must have a battery life of at least two years to pass ZigBee certification.
Typical application areas include:
• Home Entertainment and Control — Home automation such as in QIVICON, smart lighting,
advanced temperature control, safety and security, movies and music
• Wireless sensor networks — Starting with individual sensors like Telosb/Tmote and Iris
from Memsic
• Industrial control
• Embedded sensing
• Medical data collection
• Smoke and intruder warning
• Building automation

Application profiles
The current list of application profiles either published, or in development are:

Released specifications
ZigBee Home Automation 1.2
• Smart Energies 1.1b
• Telecommunication Services 1.0
• Health Care 1.0
• RF4CE – Remote Control 1.0
• RF4CE – Input Device 1.0
• Remote Control 2.0
• Light Link 1.0
• IP 1.0
• Building Automation 1.0
• Gateway 1.0
• Green Power 1.0 (Optional battery-less remote control feature of ZigBee 2012)
• Retail Services
Specifications under development
ZigBee Smart Energy 2.0
• Smart Energy 1.2/1.3
• Light Link 1.1
• Home Automation 1.3
The ZigBee Smart Energy V2.0 specifications define an Internet protocol to monitor,
control, inform and automate the delivery and use of energy and water. It is an enhancement of the
ZigBee Smart Energy version 1 specifications.[15] It adds services for plug-in electric vehicle
charging, installation, configuration and firmware download, prepay services, user information and
messaging, load control, demand response and common information and application profile
interfaces for wired and wireless networks. It is being developed by partners including:
• HomeGrid Forum responsible for marketing and certifying ITU-T G.hn technology and
products
• HomePlug Powerline Alliance
• International Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International
• IPSO Alliance
• SunSpec Alliance
• Wi-Fi Alliance.
In 2009, the RF4CE (Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics) Consortium and ZigBee
Alliance agreed to deliver jointly a standard for radio frequency remote controls. ZigBee RF4CE is
designed for a broad range of consumer electronics products, such as TVs and set-top boxes. It
promised many advantages over existing remote control solutions, including richer communication
and increased reliability, enhanced features and flexibility, interoperability, and no line-of-sight
barrier. The ZigBee RF4CE specification lifts off some networking weight and does not support all
the mesh features, which is traded for smaller memory configurations for lower cost devices, such
as remote control of consumer electronics.
With the introduction of the second ZigBee RF4CE application profile in 2012 and increased
momentum in MSO market, the ZigBee RF4CE team provides an overview on current status of the
standard, applications, and future of the technology.

Radio hardware
The radio design used by ZigBee has been carefully optimized for low cost in large scale
production. It has few analog stages and uses digital circuits wherever possible.
Though the radios themselves are inexpensive, the ZigBee Qualification Process involves a
full validation of the requirements of the physical layer. All radios derived from the same validated
semiconductor mask set would enjoy the same RF characteristics. An uncertified physical layer that
malfunctions could cripple the battery lifespan of other devices on a ZigBee network. ZigBee radios
have very tight constraints on power and bandwidth. Thus, radios are tested with guidance given by
Clause 6 of the 802.15.4-2006 Standard. Most vendors plan to integrate the radio and
microcontroller onto a single chip getting smaller devices.
 This standard specifies operation in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz (worldwide), 915 MHz
(Americas and Australia) and 868 MHz (Europe) ISM bands. Sixteen channels are allocated in the
2.4 GHz band, with each channel spaced 5 MHz apart, though using only 2 MHz of bandwidth. The
radios use direct-sequence spread spectrum coding, which is managed by the digital stream into the
modulator. Binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) is used in the 868 and 915 MHz bands, and offset
quadrature phase-shift keying (OQPSK) that transmits two bits per symbol is used in the 2.4 GHz
band.
The raw, over-the-air data rate is 250 kbit/s per channel in the 2.4 GHz band, 40 kbit/s per
channel in the 915 MHz band, and 20 kbit/s in the 868 MHz band. The actual data throughput will
be less than the maximum specified bit rate due to the packet overhead and processing delays. For
indoor applications at 2.4 GHz transmission distance may be 10–20 m, depending on the
construction materials, the number of walls to be penetrated and the output power permitted in that
geographical location.[21] Outdoors with line-of-sight, range may be up to 1500 m depending on
power output and environmental characteristics. The output power of the radios is generally 0-20
dBm (1-100 mW).

Device types and operating modes

ZigBee devices are of three kinds:
• ZigBee Coordinator (ZC): The most capable device, the Coordinator forms the root of the
network tree and might bridge to other networks. There is precisely one ZigBee Coordinator
in each network since it is the device that started the network originally (the ZigBee
LightLink specification also allows operation without a ZigBee Coordinator, making it more
usable for over-the-shelf home products). It stores information about the network, including
acting as the Trust Center & repository for security keys.[31][32]
• ZigBee Router (ZR): As well as running an application function, a Router can act as an
intermediate router, passing on data from other devices.
• ZigBee End Device (ZED): Contains just enough functionality to talk to the parent node
(either the Coordinator or a Router); it cannot relay data from other devices. This
relationship allows the node to be asleep a significant amount of the time thereby giving
long battery life. A ZED requires the least amount of memory, and, therefore, can be less
expensive to manufacture than a ZR or ZC.
The current ZigBee protocols support beacon and non-beacon enabled networks. In non-
beacon-enabled networks, an unspotted CSMA/CA channel access mechanism is used. In this type
of network, ZigBee Routers typically have their receivers continuously active, requiring a more
robust power supply. However, this allows for heterogeneous networks in which some devices
receive continuously while others only transmit when an external stimulus is detected. The typical
example of a heterogeneous network is a wireless light switch: The ZigBee node at the lamp may
constantly receive, since it is connected to the mains supply, while a battery-powered light switch
would remain asleep until the switch is thrown. The switch then wakes up, sends a command to the
lamp, receives an acknowledgment, and returns to sleep. In such a network the lamp node will be at
least a ZigBee Router, if not the ZigBee Coordinator; the switch node is typically a ZigBee End
Device.
 In beacon-enabled networks, the special network nodes called ZigBee Routers transmit
periodic beacons to confirm their presence to other network nodes. Nodes may sleep between
beacons, thus lowering their duty cycle and extending their battery life. Beacon intervals depend on
data rate; they may range from 15.36 milliseconds to 251.65824 seconds at 250 kbit/s, from 24
milliseconds to 393.216 seconds at 40 kbit/s and from 48 milliseconds to 786.432 seconds at
20 kbit/s. However, low duty cycle operation with long beacon intervals requires precise timing,
which can conflict with the need for low product cost.
In general, the ZigBee protocols minimize the time the radio is on, so as to reduce power
use. In beaconing networks, nodes only need to be active while a beacon is being transmitted. In
non-beacon-enabled networks, power consumption is decidedly asymmetrical: Some devices are
always active while others spend most of their time sleeping.
Except for the Smart Energy Profile 2.0, ZigBee devices are required to conform to the
IEEE 802.15.4-2003 Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Network (LR-WPAN) standard. The
standard specifies the lower protocol layers—the physical layer (PHY), and the Media Access
Control portion of the data link layer (DLL). The basic channel access mode is "carrier sense,
multiple access/collision avoidance" (CSMA/CA). That is, the nodes talk in the same way that
humans converse; they briefly check to see that no one is talking before he or she start, with three
notable exceptions. Beacons are sent on a fixed timing schedule and do not use CSMA. Message
acknowledgments also do not use CSMA. Finally, devices in beacon-enabled networks that have
low latency real-time requirements may also use Guaranteed Time Slots (GTS), which by definition
do not use CSMA.

Software
The software is designed to be easy to develop on small, inexpensive microprocessors. For
more detail, please use one or more of the sources listed in the References section below, or go
directly to the ZigBee Alliance web site using the External links provided below.

Network layer
The main functions of the network layer are to enable the correct use of the MAC sublayer
and provide a suitable interface for use by the next upper layer, namely the application layer. Its
capabilities and structure are those typically associated to such network layers, including routing.
On the one hand, the data entity creates and manages network layer data units from the
payload of the application-layer and performs routing according to the current topology. On the
other hand, there is the layer control, which is used to handle configuration of new devices and
establish new networks: it can determine whether a neighboring device belongs to the network and
discovers new neighbors and routers. The control can also detect the presence of a receiver, which
allows direct communication and MAC synchronization.
The routing protocol used by the network layer is AODV. To find the destination device, it
broadcasts out a route request to all of its neighbors. The neighbors then broadcast the request to
their neighbors and onward until the destination is reached. Once the destination is reached, it sends
its route reply via unicast transmission following the lowest cost path back to the source. Once the
source receives the reply, it will update its routing table for the destination address of the next hop
in the path and the path cost.

Application layer
The application layer is the highest-level layer defined by the specification and is the
effective interface of the ZigBee system to its end users. It comprises the majority of components
added by the ZigBee specification: both ZDO and its management procedures, together with
application objects defined by the manufacturer, are considered part of this layer.

Main components
The ZDO (ZigBee Device Object), a protocol in the ZigBee protocol stack, is responsible for
overall device management, security keys, and policies. It is responsible for defining the role of a
device as either coordinator or end device, as mentioned above, but also for the discovery of new
(one-hop) devices on the network and the identification of their offered services. It may then go on
to establish secure links with external devices and reply to binding requests accordingly.
The application support sublayer (APS) is the other main standard component of the layer,
and as such it offers a well-defined interface and control services. It works as a bridge between the
network layer and the other elements of the application layer: it keeps up-to-date binding tables in
the form of a database, which can be used to find appropriate devices depending on the services that
are needed and those the different devices offer. As the union between both specified layers, it also
routes messages across the layers of the protocol stack.