ZigBee

Thad Orrhaus Kosh McHeart

ZigBee Overview
Low-Power Wireless Communication
Quick Wake-up Low-Cost Mesh Network On top of IEEE 802.15.4 (Link Layer) Power Monitoring Building Automation Alarm Systems Medical Applications

Applications

Personal Area Networks

ZigBee PANs are mesh networks. Coordinators are responsible for starting and managing membership. Routers participate in routing data and allow other devices to join. End Devices are battery powered RF nodes which may sleep.

Starting a PAN
Coordinator will select PAN ID and Channel.
Energy Scan PAN Scan

Routers and End Devices can join and inherit the Coordinators PAN ID.

Joining a PAN
End Devices and Routers must join a PAN.
Can be configured to join a specific PAN ID or any available PAN.

Three criteria must be satisfied:

A Router or Coordinator must permit joining. A Router or Coordinator must be able to support additional children. Network Security Configurations must match.

Device Addressing
16-bit Network Address
Assigned upon joining. Unique within PAN, but can change. Used to route data.

64-bit Address
Permanent address which uniquely identifies a node.

Data Transmission
Broadcast
Propagate throughout entire network. Destination: 0x000000000000FFFF The Coordinator and all Routers retransmit 3 times

Unicast
Transmission has a specific destination. Network Address Discovery may be necessary.

Unicast Route Discovery

Based upon Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector routing (AODV)

The XBee
Interfaces with a host device through UART.

Serial Interface Protocols

Transparent Operation
Acts as a Serial Line replacement. Data is packetized and sent if:
No more characters are sent within timeout 72 bytes are in buffer (packet full) Command Mode Sequence is recieved.

API Operation
API Operations are communicated through a structured interface.

Transparent Operation
Entering Command Mode
Wait for Guard Time Send 3 Command Sequence Characters (+++ by default) Wait for Guard Time

API Frames

AT Commands

A Working Example
Microchip UNO32
Arduino UNO form factor-compatible PIC32 Dev. Board

Xbee Arduino Shield

Hardware interface between Xbee and Arduino

XBee Explorer USB

Virtual COM Port

A Working Example: Configuration

A Working Example: Programming

References
XBee Manual
http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Wireless/Zigbee/XBee-2.5-Manual.pdf

XBee Shield Reference

http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoXbeeShield

Configuring XBees Tutorial

http://www.instructables.com/id/Changing-Xbee-Baud-Rates/

Questions and Comments

ZigBee Stack