Smart Homes | Zigbee Alliance

Aim: Understanding Zigbee and its real time applications. Abstract: Zigbee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios, such as for home automation, medical device data collection, and other low-power low-bandwidth needs, designed for small scale projects which need wireless connection. Zigbee is a low-power, low data rate, and personal area wireless ad hoc network.

Keyword: Zigbee, Application, China Smart Homes, Impact

Introduction: Zigbee is a low-cost, low-power, wireless mesh network standard targeted at battery-powered devices in wireless control and monitoring applications. Zigbee delivers low-latency communication. Zigbee chips are typically integrated with radios and with microcontrollers. Zigbee operates in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands: 2.4 GHz in most jurisdictions worldwide; though some devices also use 784 MHz in China, 868 MHz in Europe and 915 MHz in the USA and Australia, however even those regions and countries still use 2.4 GHz for most commercial Zigbee devices for home use. Data rates vary from 20 kbit/s (868 MHz band) to 250 kbit/s (2.4 GHz band). Zigbee builds on the physical layer and media access control defined in IEEE standard 802.15.4 for low-rate wireless personal area networks (WPANs). The specification includes four additional key components: network layer, application layer, Zigbee Device Objects (ZDOs) and manufacturer-defined application objects. ZDOs are responsible for some tasks, including keeping track of device roles, managing requests to join a network, as well as device discovery and security. The Zigbee network layer natively supports both star and tree networks, and generic mesh networking. Every network must have one coordinator device. Within star networks, the coordinator must be the central node. Both trees and meshes allow the use of Zigbee routers to extend communication at the network level. Another defining feature of Zigbee is facilities for carrying out secure communications, protecting establishment and transport of cryptographic keys, cyphering frames, and controlling device. It builds on the basic security framework defined in IEEE 802.15.4. Zigbee PRO, also known as Zigbee 2007, the enhanced Zigbee Pro Specification, was finalized in 2007. A Zigbee PRO device may join and operate on a legacy Zigbee network and vice versa. Due to differences in routing options, Zigbee PRO devices must become non-routing Zigbee End-Devices (ZEDs) on a legacy Zigbee network, and legacy Zigbee devices must become ZEDs on a Zigbee PRO network. The applications running on those devices work the same, regardless of the stack profile beneath them. The first Zigbee Application Profile, Home Automation, was announced November 2, 2007.

Analysis: Zigbee protocols are intended for embedded applications requiring low power consumption and tolerating low data rates. Zigbee is not for situations with high mobility among nodes. Hence, it is not suitable for tactical ad hoc radio networks in the battlefield, where high data rate and high mobility is present and needed. The resulting network will use very small amounts of power individual devices must have a battery life of at least two years to pass Zigbee certification. Typical application areas include:

Home Entertainment and Control—Home automation such as in QIVICON, smart lighting, advanced temperature control, safety and security, movies and music

Wireless sensor networks—Starting with individual sensors like Telosb/Tmote and Iris from Memsic

Industrial control

Embedded sensing

Medical data collection

Smoke and intruder warning

Building automation

Remote wireless microphone configuration, in Shure Wireless Microphone Systems

Home Automation: Home automation or domotics[1] is building automation for a home, called a smart home or smart house. It involves the control and automation of lighting, heating (such as smart thermostats), ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and security (such as smart locks), as well as home appliances such as washer/dryers, ovens or refrigerators/freezers.[2] Wi-Fi is often used for remote monitoring and control. Home devices, when remotely monitored and controlled via the Internet, are an important constituent of the Internet of Things. Modern systems generally consist of switches and sensors connected to a central hub sometimes called a "gateway" from which the system is controlled with a user interface that is interacted either with a wall-mounted terminal, mobile phone software, tablet computer or a web interface, often but not always via Internet cloud services. While there are many competing vendors, there are very few worldwide accepted industry standards and the smart home space is heavily fragmented.[3] Manufacturers often prevent independent implementations by withholding documentation and by litigation.[4] The home automation market was worth US$5.77 billion in 2013, predicted to reach a market value of US$12.81 billion by the year 2020.[5]

Building automation: Building automation is the automatic centralized control of a building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting and other systems through a building management system or building automation system (BAS). The objectives of building automation are improved occupant comfort, efficient operation of building systems, reduction in energy consumption and operating costs, and improved life cycle of utilities. Building automation is an example of a distributed control system – the computer networking of electronic devices designed to monitor and control the mechanical, security, fire and flood safety, lighting (especially emergency lighting), HVAC and humidity control and ventilation systems in a building.[1] BAS core functionality keeps building climate within a specified range, provides light to rooms based on an occupancy schedule (in the absence of overt switches to the contrary), monitors performance and device failures in all systems, and provides malfunction alarms to building maintenance staff. A BAS should reduce building energy and maintenance costs compared to a non-controlled building. Most commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings built after 2000 include a BAS. Many older buildings have been retrofitted with a new BAS, typically financed through energy and insurance savings, and other savings associated with pre-emptive maintenance and fault detection. A building controlled by a BAS is often referred to as an intelligent building,[3] "smart building", or (if a residence) a "smart home". Commercial and industrial buildings have historically relied on robust proven protocols (like BACnet) while proprietary protocols (like X-10) were used in homes. Recent IEEE standards (notably IEEE 802.15.4, IEEE 1901 and IEEE 1905.1, IEEE 802.21, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.3at) and consortia efforts like nVoy (which verifies IEEE 1905.1 compliance) or QIVICON have provided a standards-based foundation for heterogeneous networking of many devices on many physical networks for diverse purposes, and quality of service and failover guarantees appropriate to support human health and safety. Accordingly, commercial, industrial, military and other institutional users now use systems that differ from home systems mostly in scale. See home automation for more on entry level systems, nVoy, 1905.1, and the major proprietary vendors who implement or resist this trend to standards integration.

Shure: Shure Incorporated is an American audio products corporation. It was founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a consumer and professional audio-electronics manufacturer of microphones, wireless microphone systems, phonograph cartridges, discussion systems, mixers, and digital signal processing. The company also manufactures listening products, including headphones, high-end earphones, and personal monitor systems. Shure was founded by Sidney N. Shure in 1925 as "The Shure Radio Company", selling radio parts kits several years after completely manufactured radios became commercially available. The company's office was located at 19 South Wells Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The following year, Shure published its first direct mail catalog, which was one of only six radio parts catalogs in the United States at the time. By 1928, the company had grown to over 75 employees, and Sidney's brother, Samuel J. Shure, joined the company, which was renamed Shure Brothers Company. The company moved into new offices at 335 West Madison Street in Chicago. In 1929, with the advent of the Great Depression and the increased availability of factory-built radios, Shure Brothers Company was forced to greatly reduce their staff and became the exclusive US distributor of a small microphone manufacturer.[specify] In 1930, Samuel J. Shure left the company. Zigbee Alliance: Zigbee is the only global, standards-based wireless solution that can conveniently and affordably control the widest range of devices to improve comfort, security and convenience for consumers. It is the technology of choice for world-leading service providers, installers and retailers who bring the benefits of the Internet of Things into the Smart Home. Zigbee is the language for a wide variety of smart home devices so companies can deliver an integrated ecosystem of home monitoring, energy management, heating and cooling, security and convenience devices. Today, Zigbee is used by a variety of cable and telecommunication companies including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, EchoStar, DirecTV, Charter, Rogers, Deutsche Telekom, Videocon. These companies are using Zigbee in their set-top boxes, satellite transceivers and home gateways to deliver home monitoring and energy management solutions to their customers. Zigbee is also available in products from retailers around the world enabling the do-it-yourself-er to easily install and create their own smart home to improve their comfort and efficiency.

Conclusion: Zigbee is the language for a wide variety of smart home devices so companies can deliver an integrated ecosystem of home monitoring, energy management, heating and cooling, security and convenience devices. Today, Zigbee is used by a variety of cable and telecommunication companies including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, EchoStar, DirecTV, Charter, Rogers, Deutsche Telekom, Videocon. These companies are using Zigbee in their set-top boxes, satellite transceivers and home gateways to deliver home monitoring and energy management solutions to their customers. Zigbee is also available in products from retailers around the world enabling the do-it-yourself-er to easily install and create their own smart home to improve their comfort and efficiency.

Future Enhancement One thing is for certain: ZigBee won’t stay the way it is for long. The protocol is finding its way into lots of new markets so new capabilities are bound to develop quickly. One of the most interesting ventures from the ZigBee Alliance is a new protocol being developed in cooperation with the HomePlug Alliance: ZigBee Smart Energy 2.0. This new standard is broadly envisioned as a networking and application integration platform for messages between customer devices and energy services providers. The stated goal of the ZigBee+HomePlug collaboration is to “Develop a common system architecture and application profile interfaces for home energy devices, supported by a comprehensive certification process that delivers secure, robust, reliable, plug and play interoperability with AMI and Smart Grid applications.” It is reasonable to expect that innovations made in the Smart Energy 2.0 specification will inform other application profiles and, therefore, the path of ZigBee going forward.

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