CMOS line for ZigBee
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) based in the USA, with more than 360,000 members in around 175 countries, has established the 802.15 WPAN Task Group 4 to address the ZigBee standard. Firms like Honeywell, Invensys, Mitsubishi, Motorola and Philips have been building 802.15 devices since last year. Series production is set to start in 2004.
ZigBee primarily uses the same frequency ranges as Bluetooth. ZigBee covers the low data rate needs of devices such as sensors in weather stations and medical equipment, security systems, light switches, wireless computer mice or monitoring systems in industry.
ZigBee’s maximum data rate of 250kbits/sec is 10-25% that of Bluetooth, depending on frequency. But the primary difference lies in energy consumption - wireless devices are generally battery-powered. With the ZigBee standard, batteries can last anywhere from a few months to several years, depending on data traffic and range. When the device has nothing to do, it goes into an energy-conserving hibernation mode.
