By Nick Giannaris ZigBee
Personal Area Network (PAN) A computer network used for communication among devices in a close proximity. Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) A wireless personal area network Some of these Standards are: Wireless Systems for Automation (SP100.11) Wireless Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (WirelessHART) 6LoWPAN, IPv6 over low power personal area network ZigBee, by the ZigBee Alliance Some of these Applications: Building & Home Automation (ex. door, garage, security & lighting control, etc.) Industrial and Process Automation (ex. pressure, temperature, flow, level sensing, etc.) Energy and Utility Automation (ex. power monitoring, remote metering, etc.) RFID and Logistics (ex. product monitoring & tracking, etc.) Medical Monitoring (ex. heart, pressure monitoring, etc.)
IEEE 802.15 is the 15th working group of the IEEE 802 and specializes in Wireless PAN (Personal Area Network) standards. It includes seven task groups (numbered from 1 to 7) Task Group 1: Bluetooth Task Group 2: Coexistence (of wireless personal networks with other wireless devices) Task Group 3: High Rate WPAN (WLAN) Task Group 4: Low Rate WPAN Task Group 5: Mesh Networking Task Group 6: Body Area Network (BAN) Task Group 7: PHY and MAC for Visible Light Communications (VLC)
CSMA/CA Overview A station that wants to transmit a frame, it first listens for other transmitted signals over the medium. If there is no traffic, it continues to wait for a time interval called the short inter-frame space. If there is still no traffic on the medium, the device will start transmitting, otherwise it has to wait until the medium is clear to repeat the waiting interval.
Coordinators Responsible for the overall network management Routers Expand network coverage and discover the best route to the destination over which to transfer a message. End-Devices Located in the furthest outreach of the ZigBee network Sourcing or sinking information to the rest of the network. Integrated to a host of different types of sensors and at the edge points. ZigBee Trust Center Provides security management and services to the network. ZigBee Gateway device is used when we want to connect a ZigBee network to another type of network (protocol conversion)
Physical Layer Performs modulation on outgoing signals and, demodulation on incoming signals. It transmits information and receives information from a source. Three frequency bands with different number of channels are supported.
MAC Layer Responsible for accessing the network using CSMA/CA for: Beacon frames for synchronization Provides reliable transmission method Network Layer Responsible for the following functions: Neighbor discovery Route discovery Starting a network Managing end-devices (nodes) joining or leaving the network
Application Support Sub-Layer (APS) Provides services necessary for application objects (endpoints) Provides services to the ZigBee Device Object (ZDO) for data and management services Provides communication for different applications by defining a unified communication structure (profile, cluster or endpoint)
ZigBee Device Object (ZDO) Determines the type of device in a network (coordinator, router, enddevice) Initializes the following layers: Application Support Sub-layer (APS) Network layer Security service provider Performs device and service discovery Initializes coordinator in order to establish the network Management of: Security Network Binding
End Device (Node) Each end node can have multiple endpoints Each endpoint contains an application profile and can be used to control multiple devices or a single device Each endpoint defines the communication functions within a device Addressing Modes Direct: Two devices communicate directly. Full addressing is required. Group: Application assigns a group membership to one or more devices Broadcast: Used to send a packet to all devices simultaneously
The SmartRF05 evaluation board is the motherboard in several development kits for Low Power RF devices from Texas instruments. The board has a wide range of user interfaces, such as: The evaluation board is the platform for the evaluation modules and can be connected to the PC via USB to control the RF module. 3x16 character serial LCD display Full speed USB 2.0 interface UART LEDs Serial Flash Potentiometer Joystick Buttons Breakout pins