Up until fairly recently ZigBee and WLAN together were believed by pundits to be a low data rate and high data rate, respectively, replacement for Bluetooth. Now, it appears ZigBee will be carving out a niche below and overlapping with Bluetooth integration opportunities. As a cheaper to manufacture and simpler to integrate platform, ZigBee is making rapid advancements. User groups are still hashing out details, and like with Bluetooth, ZigBee will certainly undergo a second round of specification tweaking once enough models are deployed in consumer products to gain significant feedback. Pricing appears to be in the $1 target range, which does make ZigBee more attractive then Bluetooth where application do not require more than a few 10s of kbps data. One big advantage ZigBee has over Bluetooth is a sleep mode that keeps battery drain to a minimum and allows some applications to go for years between battery changes. The links listed here will get you started in your quest for ZigBee technology information.
According to the ZigBee Alliance, it derives its name from the zigzag path of bees that serves to signal a new food source to other members of the colony. The bees’ survival depends on the continuous communication of information between every member of the colony.
Offers standard RF modules for operation in the license-free ISM bands at 315 / 433 / 429 / 868 / 915 / 2450 MHz, including ZigBee, provides compact modules that are easy to integrate and easy to use, for shortest possible time-to-market, for applications such as building and industrial automation, telemetry, automated meter reading, home automation, wireless sensor networks, asset tracking.
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard.
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