how does zigbee compare with other wireless standards

7/28/2019 How Does ZigBee Compare With Other Wireless Standards

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How does ZigBee compare with other

wireless standards?

ZigBee is not necessarily a replacement for the wireless standards you may already be familiar

with but is specifically designed for a unique set of applications, situations, and scenarios where

existing wireless standards fall short or wont work at all.

ZigBee differs from existing networking standards to address several key areas:

Supporting robust, fault tolerant mesh networks Low power requirements permitting a wide variety of truly wireless devices which are

battery powered with a long battery life

Simple network configuration and management allowing devices to be added to existingnetworks with little if any administrative work

The table below outlines some of the key characteristics of ZigBee and how it stacks up against

other common wireless standards.

ZigBee 802.11

(Wi-Fi)

Bluetooth UWB (UltraWide Band)

Wireless USB IR Wireless

Data Rate 20, 40, and250 Kbits/s

11 & 54

Mbits/sec1 Mbits/s 100-500

Mbits/s62.5 Kbits/s 20-40 Kbits/s

115 Kbits/s4 & 16Mbits/s

Range 10-100 meters 50-100 meters 10 meters


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(worldwide)

Complexity

(Device and

application

impact)

Low High High Medium Low Low

Power

Consumption

(Battery option

and life)

Very low (lowpower is a

design goal)

High Medium Low Low Low

Security 128 AES plusapplication

layer security

64 and 128 bitencyption

Other Information Devices canjoin anexisting

network in

under 30ms

Device

connectionrequires 3-5

seconds

Device

connectionrequires up to

10 seconds

Typical

ApplicationsIndustrialcontrol andmonitoring,

sensor

networks,building

automation,home control

and

automation,toys, games

Wireless LANconnectivity,broadband

Internet

access

Wirelessconnectivity

betweendevices such

as phones,PDA, laptops,

headsets

Streamingvideo, home

entertainmentapplications

PC peripheralconnections

Remotecontrols, PC,PDA, phone,laptop links

Is ZigBee the only game in town?

No, while ZigBee can be used for a wide variety of networking topologies, in some cases, users

may want to build a network based more directly on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard to utilizefeatures or capabilities which are not supported or accessible using the current ZigBee standards.

For example, this might include beaconing or Guaranteed Time Slice support (GTS)..


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With our broad range of experience, we can help you understand how ZigBee or other related

networking technologies fit into your plans and can help you make the right choice for your

devices and applications.


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wo wireless connection options that are very common in portable devices are WiFi andBluetooth. WiFi is a wireless networking solution that allows computers to connect to the

network via an access point. It was developed as an alternative to wired networking which is

restrictive. Bluetooth, on the other hand, is a standard that was developed largely for the mobilephone market. It was created to supersede Infrared which had a lot of limitations. Bluetooth is

used to send small files from one device to another and to connect other devices like headsetsand other peripherals.

Since Bluetooth was developed mainly for the mobile phone industry, it has become fairlycommon in mobile phones. Its ability to connect peripherals like keyboards and headsets is not

possible with WiFi and it is a lot easier and faster to send pictures and other small files via

Bluetooth than WiFi. Though WiFi has already begun to appear in a few mobile phones, you

are more likely to find it in laptops, PDAs, and smartphones where it is often used to connect tothe internet via a hotspot. Though it is possible to connect two devices via WiFi, it is a lot more

technical and tedious since you would need to define one as an access point so that the other can

connect.

Because WiFi is meant to provide mobility to its users while staying connected, its radios

transmit at high power levels to achieve a long range that can extend up to 300ft. Bluetooth does

not require this much distance between two devices, thats why it uses a much weaker radio toachieve 30ft of separation. Bandwidth is essential for WiFi since it provides a connection to the

internet or intranet and manufacturers are always trying to find ways to improve the bandwidth

even further. Most Bluetooth devices do not require a lot of bandwidth and greater bandwidthwould usually result to greater cost. Thats why Bluetooth still has a very small bandwidth

making it unsuitable for transferring larger files.

Summary:

1. WiFi is used to wirelessly connect computers to a network while Bluetooth is used towirelessly connect two devices to each other2. WiFi is used largely in computers and PDAs while Bluetooth is widely used in mobile phones

3. WiFi radios are more powerful than it Bluetooth counterparts

4. WiFi has a lot more bandwidth than Bluetooth


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Wifi and zigbee

The same points:

1. Both are short-range wireless communications technology;

2. Are using 2.4GHz frequency band;

3. Are based on DSSS technology;

Differences:

1. Transmission at different speeds. ZigBee transmission speed is not high (raw data

rate250Kbps), but low power consumption, battery-powered general can use more than 3

months; WiFi, is often said that the wireless LAN, a large rate (11Mbps), power consumption isalso large, the general external Power;

LinkSprite however as a low power WiFi technology that has a low power consumptioncomparable to Zigbee.

2. different applications.ZigBee for low rate, low-power situations, such as wireless sensor networks for industrial

control, environmental monitoring, smart home control and other fields. WiFi, is generally used

to cover a certain range (such as a building) wireless network technology (about 100 metersrange).

Zigbee generally needs an always-on coordinator node. WiFi generally needs a wireless router.

WiFi are widely used for wireless Internet access.

LinkSprite developes a mesh-network wifi street lighting control system that doesn't need a WiFi

router.

3. ZigBee market status as an emerging technology, from 2004 released the first version of the

standard has been in the midst of rapid development and promotion of them; now because of

cost, reliability reasons, no large-scale promotion; WiFi, Technology very mature, theapplication has a lot. In general, the larger the difference between the two, positioning is

different between the competition is not great. But technically the two have in common, mutual

interference between the two is quite large, especially for the ZigBee WiFi interference.


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how does zigbee compare with other wireless standards

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