1.

INTRODUCTION
It was in 1896 that Guglielmo Marconi invented the first wireless telegraph. In 1901 sent
telegraphic signals across the Atlantic ocean from Cornwall to St. John’s New foundland;a
distance of 1800 miles. Over the last century, advances in wireless technologies have led to
the radio, the television, the mobile telephone, and communication satellites. All type of
information can now be send to any corner of the world. A wireless network is a flexible data
communication system, which uses wireless media such as radio frequency technology to
transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for wired connections. Wireless
networks are used to augment rather than replace wired networks and are most commonly
used to provide last few stages of connectivity between a mobile user and wired network.
Wireless networks use electromagnetic waves to communicate information from one point
to another without relying on any physical connection. Radio waves are often referred to as
radio carriers because they simply perform the function of delivering energy to a remote
receiver. The data being transmitted is superimposed on the radio carrier so that it can be
accurately extracted at the receiving end. Once data is superimposed (modulated) onto the
radio carrier, the radio signal occupies more than a single frequency, since the frequency or
bit rate of the modulating information adds to the carrier. Multiple radio carriers can exist in
the same space at the same time without interfering with each other if the radio waves are
transmitted on different radio frequencies. To extract data, a radio receiver tunes in one radio
frequency while rejecting all other frequencies. The modulated signal thus received is then
demodulated and the data is extracted from the signal. Wireless networks offer the following
productivity, convenience, and cost advantages over traditional wired networks: Mobility:
provide mobile users with access to real-time information so that they can roam around in the
network without getting disconnected from the network. This mobility supports productivity
and service opportunities not possible with wired networks. Installation speed and simplicity:
installing a wireless system can be fast and easy and can eliminate the need to pull cable
through walls and ceilings.Reach of network: the network can be extended to places which
cannot be wired More Flexibility: wireless networks offer more flexibility and adapt easily to
changes in the configuration of the network. Reduced cost of ownership: while the initial
investment required for wireless network hardware can be higher than the cost of wired
network hardware, overall installation expenses and life-cycle costs can be significantly
lower in dynamic environments Scalability: wireless systems can be configured in a variety
of topologies to meet the needs of specific applications and installations. Configurations can
be easily changed and range from peer-to-peer networks suitable for a small number of users .

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2. EXISTING STANDARDS
In the world of wireless communication there are many standards existing today, each with a
specific application field and characteristics which best suites the need. However among so
many standard we will only discuss about Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee as they are the most
complementary standards among all. 

2.1.Wi-Fi (IEEE standard 802.11)

Wi-Fi is the wireless way to handle networking. It is also known as 802.11 networking and
wireless networking. The big advantage of Wi-Fi is its simplicity. Mobile connectivity for
computers is a rapidly growing requirement. Of the schemes that are available the IEEE
802.11 standard, often termed Wi-Fi has become the de-facto standard. With peak operating
speeds of around 54 Mbps it is able to compete with many wired systems. As a result of the
flexibility and performance of the system, many Wi-Fi “hotpots” have been set up and more
are following. These enable people to use their laptop computers as they wait in hotels,
airport lounges, cafes, and many other places using a wire less link rather that needing to use
a cable.

2.2.BLUETOOTH

King of Denmark between 940 and 981 AD. His name translates as “Bluetooth” and this was
used Bluetooth is based on IEEE standards 802.15.1. Bluetooth has now established itself in
the market place enabling a variety of devices to be connected together using wireless
technology. Bluetooth technology has come into its own connecting remote headsets to
mobile phones, but it is also used in a huge number of other applications as well. 
Bluetooth technology originated in 1994 when Erricsson came up with a concept to use a
wireless connection to connect items such as an earphone and a cordless headset and the
mobile phone. The name of the Bluetooth standard originates from the Danish king Harald
Blatand who was as his nickname. A brave warrior, his main achievement was that of uniting
Denmark under the banner of Christianity, and then uniting it with Norway that he had
conquered. The Bluetooth standard was named after him because Bluetooth endeavors to
unite personal computing and telecommunications devices. Bluetooth is a wireless data
system and can carry data at speeds up to 721 Kbps in its basic form and in addition to this it
offers up to three voice channels. Bluetooth technology enables a user to replace cables
between devices such as printers, fax machines, desktop computers and peripherals, and a
host of other digital devices. Furthermore, it can provide a connection between an ad-hoc
wireless network and existing wired data networks. The technology is intended to be placed
in a low cost module that can be easily incorporated into electronics devices of all sorts.
Bluetooth uses the license free Industrial, Scientific and Medical(ISM) frequency band for its
radio signals and enables communications to be established between devices up to a
maximum distance of 100 metres. Running in the 2.4 GHz ISM band Bluetooth employs

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frequency hopping techniques with the carrier modulated using Gaussian Frequency Shift
Keying (GFSK). After a network connection is established between two devices they change
their frequency 1600 times per second thus leaving no time for interference, and if by chance
there is interference it will be for few microseconds. No other sub network will be working at
the frequency at which other sub networks work, thus eliminating interference. 

2.3.ZIGBEE

ZigBee is a wireless networking standard that is aimed at remote control and sensor
applications which is suitable for operation in harsh radio environments and in isolated
locations, It builds on IEEE standard 802.15.4 which defines the physical and MAC layers.
Above this ZigBee defines the application and security layer specifications enabling
interoperability between products from different manufacturers. In this way ZigBee is a
superset of the 802.15.4 specification. With the applications for remote wireless sensing and
control growing rapidly it is estimated that the market size could reach hundreds of millions
of dollars as early as 2007. This makes ZigBee a very attractive proposition, and one, which
warrants the introduction of a focused standard.

3.INTRODUCTION TO ZIGBEE
The past few years have witnessed a rapid growth of wireless networking. However, up to
now wireless networking has been mainly focused on high – speed communications, and
relatively long range applications such as IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network standards.
The first well known standard focusing on low rate wireless personal area networks was
BLUETOOTH. However it has limited capacity for networking of many nodes. There are
many wireless monitoring and control applications in industrial and home environments
which require longer battery life, lower data rates and less complexity than those from
existing standards. For such wireless applications, a new standard called IEEE 802.15.4 has
been developed by IEEE. The new standard is also called ZigBee.

3.1.THE ZIGBEE ALLIANCE

The ZigBee standard is organized under the auspices of the ZigBee Alliance. The ZigBee
alliance is an organization of companies working together to define an open global standard
for making low power wireless networks. The intended outcome of ZigBee alliance is to
create a specification defining how to build different network topologies with data security
features and interoperable application profiles. This organization has over 150 members, of
which seven have taken on the status of what they term “promoter.” These seven companies
are Ember, Honeywell, Invensys, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Philips and Samsung. A big
challenge for the alliance is to make the interoperability to work among different products.

3
To solve this problem, the ZigBee Alliance has defines profiles, depending on what type of
category the product belongs to. For example there is a profile called home lightning that
exactly defines how different brands of home lightning-products should communicate with
each other. Under the umbrella of the ZigBee Alliance, the new standard will be pushed
forward, taking on board the requirements of the users, manufacturers and the system
developers. The Alliance has specified three profiles Private Profile: In this profile
interoperability is not at all important. However producers cannot use the official ZigBee
stamp, but can claim that ‘based on ZigBee platform’. Published Profile: A private profile is
shared among other users. Still one cannot use official ZigBee stamp, but can claim ‘based on
ZigBee platform’. Public profile: It is the official ZigBee profile. 

3.2. THE NAME ZIGBEE

The name ZigBee is said to come from the domestic honeybee which uses a zigzag type of
dance to communicate important information to other hive members. This communication
dance (“The ZigBee Principle”) is what engineers are trying to emulate with this protocol a
bunch of separate and simple organisms that join together to tackle complex tasks. 

3.3. WHY ZIGBEE

 There are a multitude of standards like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi that address mid to high data
rates for voice, PC LANs, video etc. However, up till now there hasn’t been a wireless
network standard that meets the unique needs of sensors and control devices. Sensors and
controls don’t need high bandwidth but they do need low latency and very low energy
consumption for long battery lives and for large device arrays. There are a multitude of
proprietary wireless systems manufactured today to solve a multitude of problems that don’t
require high data rates but do require low cost and very low current drain. These proprietary
systems were designed because there were no standards that met their application 
requirements. These legacy systems are creating significant interoperability problems with
each other and with newer technologies. The ZigBee Alliance is not pushing a technology;
rather it is providing a standardized base set of solutions for sensor and control systems. Here
are the following points that justify the use of ZigBee over the existing standards. Low power
consumption, simply implemented: Users expect batteries to last many months to years!
Consider that a typical single-family house has about 6 smoke/CO detectors. If the batteries
for each one only lasted six months, the home owner would be replacing batteries every
month! In contrast Bluetooth, which has many different modes and states depending upon
your latency and power requirements, ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 has two major states:
active(transmit/receive) or sleep. The application software needs to focus on the
application, not on which power mode is optimum for each aspect of operation. Even mains
powered equipment needs to be conscious of energy. ZigBee devices will be more ecological
than their predecessors saving megawatts at it full deployment. Consider a future home that
has 100 wireless control/sensor devices, Case 1: 802.11 Rx power is 667 mW (always on) @

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100 devices/home & 50,000 homes/city = 150 3.33 megawatts. Case 2: 802.15.4 Rx power is
30 mW (always on) @ 100 devices/home & 50,000 homes/city = 150 kilowatts. 
Case 3: 802.15.4 power cycled at .1% (typical duty cycle) = 150 watts Low cost to the users
means low device cost, low installation cost and low maintenance. ZigBee devices allow
batteries to last up to years using primary cells (low cost) without any chargers (low cost and
easy installation). ZigBee’s simplicity allows for inherent configuration and redundancy of
network devices provides low maintenance. High density of nodes per network: ZigBee’s use
of the IEEE 802.15.4 PHY and MAC allows networks to handle any number of devices. This
attribute is critical for massive sensor arrays and control networks. Simple protocol, global
implementation: ZigBee’s protocol code stack is estimated to be about 1/4th of Bluetooth’s or
802.11’s. Simplicity is essential to cost, interoperability, and maintenance. The IEEE
802.15.4 PHY adopted by ZigBee has been designed for the 868 MHz band in Europe, the
915 MHz band in N America, Australia, etc; and the 2.4 GHz band is now recognized to be a
global band accepted in almost all countries. 

3.4 IEEE 802.15.4

 IEEE 802.15 is the working group 15 of the IEEE 802 which specializes in Wireless PAN
standards. It includes four task groups (numbered from 1 to 4): Task group 1
(WPAM/Bluetooth) deals with Bluetooth, having produced the 802.15.1 standard, published
on June 14, 2002. It includes a medium access control and physical layer specification
adapted from Bluetooth 1.1. Task group 2 (coexistence) deals with coexistence of Wireless
LAN (802.11) and Wireless PAN. Task group 3 is in fact two groups: 3 (WPAN High Rate)
and 3a (WPAN Alternate Higher Rate), both dealing with high-rate WPAN standards (20
Mbit/s or higher). Task group 4 (WPAN Low Rate) deals with low rate but very long battery
life (months or even years). The first edition of the 802.15.4 standard was released in May
2003. In March 2004, after forming Task Group 4b, task group 4 put itself in hibernation. 
The new Task Group 4b aims at clarifying and enhancing specific parts of the Task Group .

3.5 COMPONENTS OF IEEE 802.15.4 STANDARDS

IEEE 802.15.4 networks use three types of devices.The network coordinator maintains the
overall network knowledge. It is the most sophisticated one of the three types and required
the most memory and computing power. The Full Function Device (FFD) supports all IEEE
802.15.4 functions and features specified by the standard. It can function as a network
coordinator. Additional memory and computing power make it ideal for network router
functions or it could be used in network-edge devices (where the network touches the real
world). The Reduced Function Device (RFD) carries limited (as specified by the standard)
functionality to lower cost and complexity. It us generally found in network-edge
devices.

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4.NETWORK TOPOLOGIES
ZigBee supports: star topology, peer-to-peer topology and cluster tree.

4.1 .STAR TOPOLOGY

In the star topology, the communication is established between devices and a single to
central controller, called the PAN coordinator. The PAN coordinator may be mains the
powered while the devices will most likely be battery powered. Applications benefit a
from this topology include home automation, personal computer (PC) peripherals, toys
and games. After an FFD is activated for the first time, it may establish it own network
and become the PAN coordinator. Each start network chooses a PAN identifier, it is
not currently use by any other network , allows each star network indepently.fig(1)shows.

Figure(1)

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4.2. PEER-TO-PEER TOPOLOGY

In peer-to-peer topology, there is also one PAN coordinator. In contrast to star topology,
any device can communicate with any other device as long as they are in a range of one
another. A peer-to-peer network can be ad hoc, it is self-organizing and a self-healing.
Applications such as industrial control and monitoring, wireless sensor networks, asset
and inventory tracking would benefit from such a topology. It also allows multiple hops
to route messages from any device to any other device in the network. It can provide
reliability by multipath routing.

4.3.CLUSTER-TREE TOPOLOGY

Cluster-tree network is a special case of a peer-to-peer network in which most devices are
FFDs and an RFD may connect to a cluster-tree network as a leave node at the end of an
branch. Any of the FFD can act as a coordinator and provide synchronization services to
other devices and coordinators.
Only one of these coordinators however is the PAN coordinatorThe PAN coordinator
forms the first cluster by establishing itself as the cluster head (CLH) with a the cluster
identifier (CID) of zero, choosing an unused the PAN identifier, and broadcasting beacon
frames to neighboring devices. A candidate device received a beacon frame may request
to join the network at the CLH. If the PAN coordinator permits the device to join, this will
add this new device as a child device in its neighbour list. The newly joined device will
add the CLH as its parent in its neighbor list and begin transmitting periodic the beacons
such that other candidate devices may then join the network at that device.

5.ZIGBEE PROTOCOL STACK

The ZigBee protofol stack is 1/4 th of that of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It may be helpful to think
of IEEE 802.15.4 as the physical radio and ZigBee as the logical network and application
software. Following the standard Open Systems Intenconnection (OSI) reference model,
ZigBee’s protocol stack is structured in layers. The first two layers, physical (PHY) and
media access (MAC) are defined by the IEEE 802.15.4 standard . The layers above them are
defined by the ZigBee Alliance. The IEEE working group passed the first draft of PHY and
MAC in 2003.figure(2) shows.

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Figure(2).

5.1.APPLICATION (APL) LAYER

The top layer in the ZigBee protocol stack consists of the Application Framework, ZigBee
Device Object (ZDO), and Application Support (APS) Sublayer.

Application Framework Provides a description of how to build a profile onto the ZigBee
stack (to help ensure that profiles can be generated in a consistent manner). It also specifies a
range of standard data types for profiles, descriptors to assist in service discovery, frame
formats for transporting data, and a key value pair construct to rapidly develop simple
attribute-based profiles.

Application Objects,Software at an endpoint that controls the ZigBee device. A single ZigBee
node supports up to 240 application objects. Each application object supports endpoints
numbered between 1 and 240 (with endpoint 0 reserved for the ZigBee Device Object
(ZDO)).

Zigbee Device Object,Facilitates communication between the APS and NWK layers with the
ZDO. Allows the ZDO to deal with requests from applications for network access and
security using ZDP (ZigBee Device Profile) messages.

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Application Support Sublayer,Responsible for providing a data service to the application and
ZigBee device profiles. It also provides a management service to maintain binding links and
the storage of the binding table itself .

5.2,SECUIRTY SERVICE PROVIDER (SSP)

Provides security mechanisms for layers that use encryption (NWK and APS).
Initialized and configured through the ZDO.

5.3.NETWORK LAYER

Handles network address and routing by invoking actions in the MAC layer. Its tasks include
starting the network (coordinator), assigning network addresses, adding and removing
network devices, routing messages, applying security, and implementing route discovery.

5.4.THE PHYSICAL LAYER (PHY)

ZigBee-compliant products operate in unlicensed bands worldwide, including 2.4 GHz

(global), 902 to 928 MHz. (America) and 868 MHz (Europe). Raw data throughput rates of
250Kbps can beachieved at 2.4 GHz (16 channels), 40 Kbps at 915 MHz (10 channels), and
20 Kbps at 868 MHz (1 channel). The transmission distance is expected to range from 10 to
75m, depending on power output and environmental characteristics. Like Wi-Fi, ZigBee uses
direct-sequence spread spectrum in the 2.4 GHz band, with offset-quadrature phase shift
keying modulation. Channel width is 2 MHz with 5 MHz channel spacing. The 868 and 900
MHz bands also use direct-sequence spread spectrum but with binary-phases shift keying
modulation. 868/915 MHz Band Modulation.The transmitter must be capable of transmitting
atleast –3dbm although this should be reduced when possible to reduce interference to other
users. The maximum allowable power will depend on local regulatory bodies. The receiver
must have a packet error rate of <1% for input signals at the antenna connector of >-
92dBm. 2450 MHz Band Modulation.The transmitter must be capable of transmitting at least
–3dBm although this should be reduced when possible to reduce interference to other users.
The maximum allowable power will depend on local regulations. What is Direct Sequence
Spread Spectrum (DSSS)? In direct Sequence Spread Spectrum a bit is assigned a particular
code spectrum that is transmitted and on the destination node that code is replaced by that
specific bit, this way assigning the code spectrum utilizes bandwidth efficiently.

5.5. MEDIA ACCESS LAYER (MAC)

There are two channel access mechanisms used by MAC Layer: Non-Beacon mode, Beacon
mode ZigBee networks can use beacon or non-beacon environments. Beacons are used to

9
synchronize the network devices, identify the PAN and describe the structure of the
superframe. The beacon intervals are set by the network coordinator and vary from 15ms to
over 4 minutes. Sixteen equal time slots are allocated between beacons are message delivery.
The channel access in each time slot is contention-based. However, the network coordinator
can dedicate up to seven guaranteed time slots for non contention based or low-latency
delivery. The non-beacon mode is a simple, traditional multiple-access system used in simple
peer and near-pear networks. It operates like a two-way radio network, where each client is
autonomous and can initiate a conversation at will, but could interfere with others
unintentionally. The recipient may not here the call or the channel might already be in use
Beacon Mode is a mechanism for controlling power consumption in extended networks such
as cluster tree or mesh. It enables all the clients to know when to communicate with each
other. Here, the two-way radio network has a central dispatcher that manages the channel and
arranges the calls. The primary value of beacon mode is that it reduces the system’s power
consumption Non-beacon mode is typically used for security systems where client units, such
as intrusion sensors, motion detectors, and glass-break detectors, sleep 99.999% of the time. 
Remote units wake up on a regular, yet random, basis to announce their continued presence
in the network. When an event occurs, the sensor wakes up instantly and transmits the alert
(“Somebody is on the front porch”). The network coordinator, powered from the main source,
has its receiver on all the time and can therefore wait to hear from each of these stations.
Since the network coordinator has an “infinite” source of power it can allow clients to sleep
for unlimited periods of time, enabling them to save power. Beacon mode is more suitable
when the network coordinator is battery-operated. Client units listen for the network
coordinator’s beacon (broadcast at intervals between 0.015 and 252 s). A client registers with
the coordinator and looks for any messages directed to it. If no messages are pending, 
the client returns to sleep, awaking on a schedule specified by the coordinator. Once the
client communications are completed, the coordinator itself returns to sleep. This timing
requirement may have an impact on the cost of the timing circuit in each end device. Longer
intervals of sleep mean that the timer must be more accurate or turn on earlier to make sure
that the beacon is heard, both of which will increase receiver power consumption. Longer
sleep intervals also mean the timer must improve the quality of the timing oscillator circuit
(which increases cost) or control the maximum period of time between because to not exceed
252s, keeping oscillator circuit cost low.

6.ZIGBEE SECURITY
When security of MAC layer frames is desired, ZigBee uses MAC layer security to secure
MAC command, beacon, and acknowledgment frame. ZigBee may secure messages
transmitted over single hop using secured MAC data frames, but for multi-hop messaging
ZigBee relies upon upper layers (such as the NWK layer) for security. The MAC layer uses
the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as its core cryptographic algorithm and describes a
variety of security suites that use the AES algorithm. These suites can protect the
confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of MAC frames. The MAC layer does the security
processing, but the upper layers, which set up the keys and determine the security levels to

10
use, control this processing. When the MAC layer transmits (receives) a frame with security
enabled, it looks at the destination (source) of the frame, retrieves the key associated with that
destination (source), and then uses this key to process the frame according to the security
suite designated for the key being used. Each key is associated with a single security suite
and the MAC frame header has a bit that specifies whether security for a frame is enabled or
disabled.

7.ZIGBEE APPLICATIONS
power and enjoying long battery lives. ZigBee technology is designed to best suit these
applications The ZigBee Alliance targets applications “Across consumer, commercial,
industrial and government markets worldwide”. Unwired applications are highly sought after
in many networks that are characterized by numerous nodes consuming minimum, for the
reason that it enables reduced costs of development, very fast market adoption and rapid
ROI.. For the last few years, we have 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 the number of devices is uncountable. This number will only
increase as more devices are controlled or monitored from a distance. To interact with all
these remotely controlled devices, we will need to put them under a single standardized
control interface that can interconnect into a network, specifically a HAN or home-area
network. ZigBee applications can be divided into the following groups. Home networking
Industrial control and management Human and computer interface Smart dust
Intrusion sensors, motion detectors and glass break detectors. “The Home” is receiving a lot
of attention lately as the place that could do with a lot of new technology. Some of it seems
like wishful thinking.

(a) Low cost

(b) Secure
(c) Reliable and self healing
(d) Flexible and extendable
(e) Low power consumption
(f) Easy and inexpensive to deploy
(g) Global with use of unlicensed radio bands .
uses
(1)Home lighting control system

(2) Automatic meter reading system

(3) Home safety surveillance

(4) E-health - ZigBee gateway collecting data from the body sensors and forwarding to
hospital etc.

8.CONCLUSION
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The ZigBee Standard enables the broad-based deployment of a reliable wireless networks
with low complexity, low cost solutions and a provides the ability for a product to run for
years on inexpensive primary batteries (for a typical monitoring application). It is also,of
course, capable of inexpensively supporting robust mesh networking technologies ZigBee
is all set to provide the consumers with ultimate flexibility, mobility, and ease of use by
building wireless intelligence and capabilities into every day devices.
The mission of the ZigBee Working Group is to bring about the existence of the broad
range of interoperable consumer devices by establishing open industry specifications for
unlicensed, untethered peripheral, control and entertainment devices requiring the lowest
cost and lowest power consumption communication between compliant devices any where
in and around the home.

9.REFERENCES

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[1] http://www.standards.ieee.org
[2] http://www.zigbee.org/en/documents/zigbeeoverview4.pdf
[3] http://www.zigbee.org/en/resources/03141...nology.doc
[4] Behrouz A. Frouzan, “Data Communication”, Third Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill

[5] Andrew S. Tenenbaum, “Computer Networks”, Fourth Edition Pearson Publication 

Limited, 2003 
[6] William Stalling, “Wireless Communication and Networks”, Fourth Edition, Pearson 
Publication Limited, 2004 

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