Zigbeetechnology

For the last few years, we've witnessed a great expansion of remote control devices in our day-to-day life. Five years ago, infrared (IR) remotes for the television were the only such devices in our homes. Now we quickly run out of fingers as we count the devices and appliances we can control remotely in house. This number will only increase as more devices are controlled or monitored from a distance, especially if through cell phones. And we can expect this number to increase even more if power consumed by these devices is very very less. To interact with all these remotely controlled devices, we'll need to put them under a single standardized control interface that can interconnect into a network, specifically a HAN or home-area network. One of the most promising HAN protocols is ZIGBEE, a software layer based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. This paper will introduce you to ZigBee -- how it works and how it is going to make life more comfortable in future.

INTRODUCTION
Technologists have never had trouble coming up with potential applications for wireless sensors. In a home security system, for example, wireless sensors would be much easier to install than sensors that need wiring. The same is true in industrial environments, where wiring typically accounts for 80% of the cost of sensor installations. And then there are applications for sensors where wiring isn't practical or even possible.
One alternative to avoid wiring is to have remote for each device. Why so many remotes? Right now, the more remotely controlled devices we install in our homes, the more remotes we accumulate. Devices such as TVs, garage door openers, and light and fan controls predominantly support one-way, point-to-point control. They are not interchangeable and they don't support more than one device. Because most remotely controlled devices are proprietary and not standardized among manufacturers, even those remotes used for the same function (like turning on and off lights) are not... [continues]

Read full essay