ZigBee: Working with Wireless Control

摘要

Wireless monitoring and control applications for industrial and home markets require longer battery life, lower data rates, and less complexity than those available from existing wireless standards. An IEEE 802.15 task group is investigating a low data rate solution with multi-month to multi-year battery life and low complexity. A highly integrated single-chip approach is the preferred solution of semiconductor manufacturers developing IEEE 802.15.4 compliant transceivers. The IEEE standard at the PHY is the significant factor in determining the radio frequency (RF) architecture, and topology of ZigBee-enabled transceivers. ZigBee defines the network, security, and application framework profile layers for an IEEE 802.15.4-based system. ZigBee's network layer supports three networking topologies: star, mesh, and cluster tree. Star networks are common and provide for very long battery life operation. Mesh, or peer-to-peer, networks enable high levels of reliability and scalability by providing more than one path through the network. Cluster-tree networks use a hybrid star/mesh topology that combines the benefits of both for high levels of reliability and support for battery-powered nodes.