ZIGBEE Module

Introduction:
ZigBee Module is a low-cost, low-power, wireless mesh networking standard. The low cost
allows the technology to be widely deployed in wireless control and monitoring applications, the
low power-usage allows longer life with smaller batteries, and the mesh networking provides
high reliability and larger range. Temco has developed a embedded antenna of wireless data
communication module, which adopts standard ZigBee wireless technology. This module is in
line with the Industry Standard applications of wireless data communication module.

This module can achieve transparent data transmission between many devices, and it can form a
MESH network. This device has the characteristics of small volume, ultra-low power
consumption and low-cost. It can be either as an independent data transmission termination or be
easily embedded into a variety of products to form a short-range wireless data transmission
solution. This device network has the characteristics of electric power-saving, reliability, low
cost, large capacity and security, and it can be widely used in various fields of automatic control.
The target application domains are aimed at industry, home automation, telemetry and remote
control, vehicle automation, agriculture automation, medical care and so on, such as lighting
control automation, wireless data acquisition and monitoring sensor, oil field, electric power,
mining and logistics management etc.

Fig: Zigbee Module

ZigBee is a communication protocol used to create personal area networks with small, low-
power digital radios. This IEEE 802.15.4 specification is developed and managed by the ZigBee
alliance with major applications in the industrial, scientific and medical industries. Owing to the
low data rate, it is preferred in simpler and less expensive wireless networks. Preferred over short
ranges of about 20 meters, data can be transmitted over long distances by passing it through a
mesh network of intermediate devices.

Hardware:

The radio designs used by zigbee are optimized for low cost in large scale production. It has few
analogue stages and use digital circuits wherever possible. The protocols are designed to
communicate data through hostile RF environments. The current protocols support beacon and
non-beacon enabled networks. In non-beacon-enabled networks, an unslotted CSMA/CA
channel access mechanism is used. In this type of network, the routers typically have their
receivers continuously active, requiring a more robust power supply. ZigBee devices are
basically of three types,

Coordinator: The network topologies of a zigbee network require a coordinator node for
controlling the data transmission in the network. The coordinator stores information about the
network and acts as a repository for security keys.

Router: As well as running an application function, a Router can act as an intermediate router,
passing on data from other devices.

End devices: These are the end devices equipped with sensors to measure some parameter.
These can only transfer data to either the router or the coordinator. Since the end devices can’t do
anything else, this preserves power and increases their battery life.

Network properties:
ZigBee builds on the physical layer and media access control defined in IEEE standard 802.15.4
for low-rate WPANs. WPAN Low Rate 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. It
operates in the ISM band i.e. 2.4 GHz worldwide except 784 MHz in China, 868 MHz in Europe
and 915 MHz in the USA and Australia. It is also more economical than Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
which makes it simpler. The devices can run for years on inexpensive batteries for a host of
monitoring and control applications. The network layer support star and tree networks and mesh
networking.

Data transfer:
The data is transferred in packets. These have a maximum size of 128 bytes, allowing for a
maximum payload of 104 bytes. Although this may appear low when compared to other systems,
the applications in which 802.15.4 and ZigBee are likely to be used should not require very high
data rates.

The standard supports 64 bit IEEE addresses as well as 16 bit short addresses. The 64 bit
addresses uniquely identify every device in the same way that devices have a unique IP address.
Once a network is set up, the short addresses can be used and this enables over 65000 nodes to
be supported.

It also has an optional superframe structure with a method for time synchronisation. In addition
to this it is recognised that some messages need to be given a high priority. To achieve this, a
guaranteed time slot mechanism has been incorporated into the specification. This enables these
high priority messages to be sent across the network as swiftly as possible.

Zigbee Alliance:

The Zigbee Alliance works to simplify wireless product integration to help product
manufacturers introduce energy-efficient wireless control into their products faster and more
cost-effectively. Alliance members create standards that offer reliable, secure, low-power and
easy-to-use wireless communication, using an open standards development process to guide their
work. The alliance is organized by committees, work groups, study groups, task forces and
special interest groups.

There are three types of membership with different rights and benefits:

 An adopter offers access to final, approved specifications, participation in interoperability

events and access to standard work/task group documents and development activities.

 A participant offers voting rights in work groups and has early access to all Zigbee Alliance
standards and specifications in development.

 A promoter offers automatic voting rights in all work groups, final approval rights on all
standards and a seat on the alliance's board of directors.
ZigBee Protocol Architecture:

The ZigBee Alliance developed the ZigBee device object (ZDO), the application support sub
layer (APS), the network layer, and security management. IEEE 802.15.4 is used for the MAC
layer and physical layer.

Fig: Zigbee protocol Architecture

The ZigBee protocol architecture is divided into three sections, as follows:

 IEEE 802.15.4, which consists of the MAC and physical layers.

 ZigBee layers, which consist of the network layer, the ZigBee device object (ZDO), the
application sub layer, and security management.
 Manufacturer application: Manufacturers of ZigBee devices can use the ZigBee application
profile or develop their own application profile.
Physical Layer:

The physical layer performs modulation on outgoing signals and demodulation on incoming signals. It transmits
information and receives information from a source. Table 2.2 shows the physical layer frequency band, data
rate, and channel numbers.

Media Access Control (MAC) Layer:

The functions of the MAC layer are to access the network by using carrier-sense multiple access
with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), to transmit beacon frames for synchronization, and to
provide reliable transmission.

Network Layer:

The network layer is located between the MAC layer and application support sub layer. It
provides the following functions:

 Starting a network
 Managing end devices joining or leaving a network
 Route discovery
 Neighbor discovery

Application Support Sub layer (APS):

The application support sublayer (APS) provides the services necessary for application objects
(endpoints) and the ZigBee device object (ZDO) to interface with the network layer for data and
management services. Some of the services provided by the APS to the application objects for
data transfer are request, confirm, and response. Furthermore, the APS provides communication
for applications by defining a unified communication structure (for example, a profile, cluster, or
endpoint).

 Application object (endpoint): An application object defines input and output to the APS.
For example, a switch that controls a light is the input from the application object, and the
output is the light bulb condition. Each node can have 240 separate application objects. An
application object may also be referred to as an endpoint (EP) shows an example of home
control lighting.

Fig: Home control lightning

 ZigBee device object (ZDO): A ZigBee device object performs control and management of
application objects. The ZDO performs the overall device management tasks:

Determines the type of device in a network (for example, end device, router, or coordinator)
 Initializes the APS, network layer, and security service provider

Performs device and service discovery

Initializes coordinator for establishing a network

Security management

Network management

Binding management

 End node: Each end node or end device can have multiple EPs. Each EP contains an
application profile, such as home automation, and can be used to control multiple devices or
a single device. More to the point, each EP defines the communication functions within a
device. As shown in, the bedroom switch controls the bedroom light, and the remote control
is used to control three lights: bedroom, hallway1, and hallway2.
 ZigBee addressing mode: ZigBee uses direct, group, and broadcast addressing for
transmission of information. In direct addressing, two devices communicate directly with
each other. This requires that the source device has both the address and endpoint of the
destination device. Group addressing requires that the application assign a group
membership to one or more devices. A packet is then transmitted to the group address in
which the destination device lies. The broadcast address is used to send a packet to all
devices in the network.

Advantages:

 Low power consumption. At the low power consumption standby mode, two No.5 dry-
charged batteries can support one node to work 6 ~ 24 months, or even longer.
 Low cost. Because of dramatically simplifying the protocol, Zigbee reduces the
requirements for the communications controller. It is protocol patent fee free.
 Low rate. Zigbee can work at the low rate of 20 ~ 250 kbps.
  Short range. Transmission range is generally between 10 ~ 200 m (32.8feet~ 656feet).
 Short time delay. The response speed of Zigbee is very fast, in general, it merely need
10ms from the into work state and it merely need 20 ms from nodes connect into the
network state.
 High capacity. Zigbee can adopt star topology, tree topology and mesh network structure,
composing of up to 65, 000 network node.
 High security. Zigbee provides a three-tier security model, including the use of Worry
 Free Security settings, the access control list (ACL) to prevent illegally accessing the data
and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES 128) symmetry password.
 License-free frequency band. Zigbee adopts direct sequence spread spectrum of the
industrial scientific medical (ISM) band. 2. 4 GHz (global).

Applications:

 Sensor Network( WSN)

 Automatic meter reading system of water, gas, heat, electricity meters
 Intellectual traffic control, signal lights control and street lights control
 Fire safety alarm, building monitoring -Catering order, canteen’ s sale of food system
 Access control, time and attendance system
 PTZ monitoring, engine room equipment monitoring
 Store & Logistics, laser guns, bar code reader -RFID remote data transmission
 Meeting ballot system