ZIGBEE TECHNOLOGY AND IT'S APPLICATIONS

        

   ZigBee is a wireless technology designed to addre
ss the needs of low-cost,low-power wireless sensor and control networks in any market.It is a device that can transmit data over long distances by passing data through intermediate devices to reach more distant ones, creating a mesh network; i.e., a network with no centralized control or high-power transmitter/receiver able to reach all of the networked devices. Zigbee’s “realiable wireless performance and battery operation” makes it ideal for remote sensor networks operating on limited battery power.

 Zigbee signals operate like network signals and most closely resemble Bluetooth and WiFI. These devices put themselves to sleep when not in use, thereby

conserving power. This makes these devices ideal for battery-operated applications because they can last for several years before needing new batteries

                 Zigbee  has often been regarded as a mini version of Wi-Fi. Keeping some features like range, power consumption apart, zigbee and wi-fi are often used in similar applications in terms of household based wireless communication. These short range wireless technologies even share common ISM band of 2.4GHz, use same spread spectrum technique. Interestingly, both of have been developed and proposed in a different mindset and hence some significant differences exist between these two.  Zigbee is restricted to Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN), reaching 10-30meter in usual applications. Recently, there have been some applications which tend to reach 100m in terms of range. Wi-Fi serves up for PAN and WLAN area networks with an average range between 30 to 100 meters.

               

  While Bluetooth focuses on connectivity between large packet user devices, such as laptops, phones, and major peripherals, Zig Bee is designed to provide highly efficient connectivity between small packet devices. As a result of its simplified operations, which are one to two full orders of magnitude less complex than a comparable Bluetooth device, pricing for these devices is extremely competitive, with full nodes available for a fraction of the cost of a Bluetooth node. They are also actively limited to a through-rate of 250 Kbps, compared to the much larger pipeline of 1 Mbps for Bluetooth, and operates on the 2.4 GHz ISM band, which is available throughout most of the world.

                            

             

   Zig Bee has been developed to meet the growing demand for capable wireless networking between numerous low-power devices. In industry, it is being used for next generation automated manufacturing, with small transmitters in every device on the floor, allowing for communication between devices to a central computer. This new level of communication permits finely-tuned remote monitoring and manipulation. In the consumer market, the technology is being explored for everything from linking low-power household devices such as smoke alarms to a central housing control unit, to centralized light controls.

       ZigBee Application

     1.Zigbee Smart Energy

                    It defines an IP-based protocol to monitor, control, inform and automate the delivery and use of energy and water. It helps to create greenery homes by giving consumers the information and automation needed to easily reduce their power consumption and save money.

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 2. Zigbee Home Automation

                

                   ZigBee devices have been slow in gaining acceptance in the home automation market.This is largely because, since ZigBee devices are open-source, devices from one manufacturer sometimes have difficulty communicating with devices from a different manufacturer. is the industry leading global standard helping to create smarter homes that enhance the comfort, convenience, security and energy management for the consumer. It is the technology of choice for world-leading service providers, installers and retailers.ZigBee Home Automation delivers a standard that can make every home a smarter, safer and more energy efficient environment for consumers and families. 

 

 For better understand about Zigbee Home Automation Watch the Video below

 3. ZIgBee Communicates Via Radio

ZigBee devices are designed to communicate via radio frequencies. ZigBee has adopted 2.4 GHz for it’s worldwide standard frequency. Because of potential bandwidth interference, ZigBee uses 915 MHz in the United States and 866 MHz in Europe.

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