ZigBee is a specification for wireless personal area networks (
WPANs) operating at 868
MHz, 902-928 MHz, and 2.4 GHz. A WPAN is a
personal area network (a network for interconnecting an individual's devices) in which the device connections are wireless. Using ZigBee, devices in a WPAN can communicate at speeds of up to 250
Kbps while physically separated by distances of up to 50 meters in typical circumstances and greater distances in an ideal environment. ZigBee is based on the
802.15
specification approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (
IEEE-SA).
ZigBee provides for high data throughput in applications where the duty cycle is low. This makes ZigBee ideal for home, business, and industrial automation where control devices and sensors are commonly used. Such devices operate at low power levels, and this, in conjunction with their low duty cycle (typically 0.1 percent or less), translates into long battery life. Applications well suited to ZigBee include heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting systems, intrusion detection, fire sensing, and the detection and notification of unusual occurrences. ZigBee is compatible with most topologies including peer-to-peer, star network, and mesh networks, and can handle up to 255 devices in a single WPAN.
>> Stay up to date by receiving the latest IT term daily. Simply check "Word of the Day" to register.
This was last updated in September 2005
Dig Deeper
-
Bluetooth wireless connectivity has been creeping quietly into many of the devices that workers carry into the enterprise every day. ABI predicts that roughly half of the 1.2 billion cell phones sold this year will include Bluetooth. IMS Research estimates that Bluetooth was embedded in one out of three laptops last year, growing to 75% by 2012. How can on-the-go professionals put these Bluetooth devices to work? Let's take a look.
-
Discover the real beauty of Bluetooth -- the rich set of capabilities and applications defined at higher levels of the Bluetooth protocol stack.
-
In part-two of this series, Lisa Phifer considers the hardware options for adding wireless to your PDA or smartphone.
-
People who read this also read...
-
Resources from around the Web