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ZigBee Low-Power Wireless Networking
asmithmd1 writes "Do you you have a great idea for a wireless device that really doesn't need the 1 Mbit/sec (and high power consumption) of Bluetooth? Well you will have a new choice soon, ZigBee. Zigbee is the trademark for IEEE 802.15 Personal Area network low data rate standard. Designed to run in low power 8 bit devices at data rates of 20k bits/second, a ZigBee node will run for months if not years on one set of batteries. With heavy hitters like Motorola and Phillips behind it and chips available soon for half the cost of bluetooth, it looks like it will become a reality."
I'm wondering how the cost and battery life would compare to infrared. It seems relatively cheap (to me at least, since just about every wireless remote I have is IR-based) to have a LED that emits IR light, but it would also be cool to have wireless remotes based on this technology. Sunlight coming in through the window can disrupt IR communications, and line of sight can get to be a pain depending on how the components are positioned. It also seems response time might be better, but I'm nss. I'm still running an IR remote on the batteries that came with it (4 AAAs) at 4 years and going, so battery life is a definite concern.
"Do you you have a great idea for a wireless device that really doesn't need the 1 Mbit/sec (and high power consumption) of Bluetooth?
20 kbits/second is too slow for most applications. While perhaps it's sufficient for cellular data, mice, and keyboard, I don't see what else you could use it for. PDA syncing took forever at 56kbit/sec even (thank god for USB). And it certainly couldn't work for wireless phone headsets. "
The question was 'what can you do with it', not 'what can't you do with it'. Saying what it can't do is easy. No idea why you got modded up for that.
"Derp de derp."
wireless keyboards, wireless mice...they all could go with the whole "less battery consumption" idea. maybe those remotes rich people have that control the lights and radios in all 2390847 rooms in their oversized house. With only 20kbits/sec there isn't much that can be done other then controlling electronic devices. It's sure as hell too slow for any data transfer other then plain text.
your sins into me, oh my beautiful one.
This is a perfect solution for utilities trying to do real time monitoring of the consumption of gas, electricty and water.
This is my sig.
"chips available soon for half the cost of bluetooth"
Several years ago Bluetooth claimed to be available soon at low cost. It took longer to solve the problems, and it's cost more than expected at least initially.
Eyes open please.
This could really help with broader data transfer on scientific studies. Remote environmental sensors along a sensitive part of a river transmitting to a data crunch relay, for studying fish habitat comes to mind. The 02 saturation, water temp stream level, even chemical changes could be easily watched during critical periods. I am sure there are very many other uses, building air conditioning zones, dangerous chemical sniffers. Really scookum alarm systems that can send all sorts of local data from different locations to a hub. As far as I am concerned the internet apps would be suitable for text mail, and thats about it but the broader practical applications are huge.
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
I know that you speed demons on SlashDot laugh at anything this "low-speed", but for me this is a GODSEND. All I've ever wanted is a low-speed, low-power, reliable wireless tech that would let me bop around the apartment with a laptop and stay telnetted into my server (from which I connect to MU*s and read my email in PINE). I don't need 11Mbps, or 1Mbps, or even .5Mbps. This is exactly what I need, and it looks like the price is right.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
Two years ago, I had the privilage of participating in the IEEE Computer Soceity International Design Competition 2001, which gave university students (such as myself) the opportunity to build something useful out of Bluetooth. Back then, Bluetooth had been The Next Big Thing (tm) for maybe a year. The competition gave me a first-hand look at why Bluetooth is still The Next Big Thing (tm), two years later.
Two years ago, Bluetooth seemed to be doing everything right. Created by Ericsson, and supported by 3Com, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba, it couldn't help but succeed. In the buzzword-compatible trade press, Bluetooth, and the Personal Area Networks it creates, are destined to change the way our handheld computing devices communicate with each other. That's great -- I'd love to use my Visor to read Slashdot headlines, using my wireless phone for its Internet connection. Bluetooth has a great vision, but (at least two years ago) it lacks something far more important: superior development tools. Without worthwhile development tools, and the documentation to back them up, only those with large pockets and iron wills will succeed. Curious students (like myself two years ago) will turn away sadly, wishing there were more, but doubting anything will ever happen.
Why is it important that the small developers get involved? Palm created the handheld market not only by having a low-cost, easy-to-use handheld, but by allowing any kid in his parents' basement to develop PalmOS applications. Ninty-five percent of them may have been crap, but five percent of all the world's Palm-programming geeks is still a whole lot of stuff to attract the Palm-using masses.
ZigBee looks fascinating, and it's something I'll keep my eye on, but unless they learn from Bluetooth's mistakes, it'll be a lot of radio noise for nothing.
This would be fantastic for billions of devices in the world that don't need massive bandwidth:
fire and intrusion alarms,
Too important to put on wireless.
periodic appliance and vehicle telemetry dumps,
These already have wired power or large batteries--no need for low power limitations
remote controls for doorknobs and electrical items and so forth, electric and gas meters, cable box uplinks, sump pump failure alarms, water heater leak detectors, etc.
These are all things you don't want to be susceptible to interference, or don't need low power. Any good ideas?
Why do people (well, mostly Americans) never write Motorolla, but too often write Phillips where it should be Philips
That's because Motorola is the only Motorola that Americans know. Whereas Phillip is a name that is most commonly seen spelled with two l's, hence the tendency to spell Philips with two l's.
Here's a question: What about security? And not just for this "ZigBee" system, but for wireless networking and Bluetooth as well. Don't you think that with these PAN networks, security is going to be important?
Since I saw a Bluetooth keyboard the other day, I laughed and realised that keystroke loggers are obsolete. Why should a cracker go to the trouble of futzing around trying to get a user to install a trojan or leave a port open, when they can just point a hi-gain antenna at his desktop and read what the user's typing on the keyboard.
Hasn't anyone noticed all the hassle and screaming and yelling about the crappy security WEP provides? See http://www.starkrealities.com/wireless003.html The reason that happened is that people found out that when wireless networking is used, CRACKERS BREAK IN THROUGH THE CRAPPY SECURITY. Then they mess with your systems, steal your data and zombify your servers!
In the case of 802.11?? the crackers had to be withing a few yards to break in. With a PAN, they have to be within a few feet. Maybe you live in a lead-lined cavern all alone, but most people who use tech are walking around and sitting down next to people all the time. So if you just go and sit in a waiting room while using Bluetooth or some other PAN, the person sitting behind you pretending to play games on his PDA is breaking into your systems and slurping all your passwords and credit card numbers while you sit there none the wiser.
This looks like a security nightmare. Who wants that?
Sometimes the "writing on the wall" is blood spatter...
yea, it would be great to use the keyboard from the other room, even better if you could still see the monitor!!
as for the IR remote, try pointing the thing at the celing, most people have white celings, and they reflect enough of the IR to let you go around your stone deaf son.
Yes. ZigBee is based on IEEE 802.15.4, which supports multi-hop networks with an arbitrary number of hops. 15.4 has a 16-bit logical address field, so network order is limited in practice by the application's tolerance for multi-hop message latency--which, in most of the applications for which it is designed, is relatively high.
DS SS using CDMA provides a wide range of orthogonal codes for frequency re-use. That is why CDMA is popular for cellphones, because the RF path is the same for all receivers and transmitters, they just use different spreading codes.
There is some level of interference between different spreading codes, but it is small and looks like additive guassian white noise (AGWN), which is more easilly handled than fast-fading or Rayleigh channel models.
FH can more easilly mark and avoid narrowband interference areas, but there is no problem with multiple CDMA DS devices operating in the same spectrum. You can also mark off narrowband interference areas with DS, but it is a little tougher to implement.