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WhatsTheDifferenceBetweenZigBeeAndZWave?
ElectronicDesign
LouFrenzel

LouFrenzel
Thu,2012032910:35

TheZigBeeandZWaveshortrangewirelesstechnologiesareusedforremotemonitoringandcontrol.
However,theirspecificationsandapplicationsaredifferent.Bothtechnologiesareidealforhomearea
networks(HANs),whicharebecomingmorewidespreadintheU.S.Hereisacomparisonofthesetwo
widelyusedwirelesstechnologies(seethetable).

TableOfContents
1. ZigBee
2. ZWave
3. Summary
4. References

ZigBee
BasedontheIEEEs802.15.4personalareanetwork(PAN)radiostandard,ZigBeeisanopenwireless
standardfro,theZigBeeAlliance.TheIEEE802.15.4standardprovideslayer1(physicallayer,orPHY)and
layer2(mediaaccesscontroller,orMAC)ofthenetwork,whiletheZigBeestacksoftwareprovidesthe
networkandapplicationslayers.
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ZigBeewasestablishedinthelate1990sasanalternativetoWiFiandBluetoothforsomeapplications.The

IEEE802.15.4standardwascompletedin2003andupdatedin2006.TheZigBeeAlliancewasestablished
in2004tomaintainthestandard,continueitsdevelopment,andprovideinteroperabilitytesting.
Asawirelessmeshnetworkingtechnology,ZigBeecanbeusedindirectcommunications,butmost
applicationsarebasedonastarortreetopologymeshnetwork.Amastercoordinatornodecontrolsother
connectednodes.Ifanodecannotcommunicatewithanothernode,thetwomaycommunicatebywayof
linkstoothernodeswithinrangeactingasrepeaters.ZigBeecansupportupto65knodes.
ZigBeedevicesoperateintheunlicensedindustrial,scientific,andmedical(ISM)bands.Themostpopular
configurationisinthe2.4GHzband,wherethestandarddefinessixteen5MHzchannelsofoperation.
Maximumdatarateis250kbits/susingoffsetquadraturephaseshiftkeying(OQPSK).Optional
specificationsprovideforoperationat915MHz(intheU.S.)with40kbits/susingbinaryphaseshiftkeying
(BPSK)modulation.AEuropeanversionuses868MHzwith20kbits/s.
ZigBeestypicalpowerof1mWor0dBmlimitsthefreespacerangetoabout10meters,althoughlonger
rangesarepossibledependingonconditions.AbigissueiscoexistencewithWiFiandBluetooth,whichuse
thesameband.Mosttransceivershavesomecoexistencemechanismtominimizeinterference.The
available16channelstypicallyallowtheradiotofindafrequencywithminimuminterference.
TheZigBeeAllianceisaconsortiumofcompaniesandotherorganizationssupportingthedevelopmentof
thestandardandpromotingitsuse.Therearemorethan220members.TheAllianceperformstestingto
certifythatallproductscomplywiththestandard.
OneofthegreatbenefitsofZigBeeisitsflexibility.Itwasdesignedsospecificapplicationsoftwareknownas
profilescouldbedevelopedanddeployed.ProfilesconnecttotheZigBeestackandmakeitfasterandeasier
formanufacturerstocreatewirelessproductsforveryspecificapplications.Availableprofilesincludehome
automation,smartenergy,telecommunications,healthcare,remotecontrol(RF4CE,orradiofrequencyfor
consumerelectronics),buildingautomation,andretailservices.
EmbersEM351andEM357singlechipZigBeedevicesincludean802.15.4radiotransceiverandan
embedded32bitARMcortexM3processor.TheEM351has128kbytesofflashmemory,andtheEM357
has192kbytesofflash.Bothhave12kbytesofRAMandintegralAES128encryption.Interfacesinclude
UART,serialperipheralinterface(SPI),twowireinterface(TWI),andananalogtodigitalconverter(ADC).
Therearealso24generalpurposeI/Os(GPIOs).Embersuppliesacompletedevelopmentkitthatincludes
hardwaremodulesandallsoftware(Fig.1).

1.Embersdevelopmentkitofchips,ZigBeeprotocolsoftware,andrelatedtoolsisdesignedtosimplifythe
complexityofintegratingembeddedsoftware,networking,andRFfordevelopinglowpower,wireless
productsintheconnectedhome,smartenergy,andotherremotemonitoringandcontrolapplications.
Meanwhile,iControloffersaZigBeehomemonitorandcontrolpanel(Fig.2).EmberandiControlhave
teameduptohelpbroadbandserviceprovidersandhomesecuritycompaniestocontinuethetrendtoward
interactivesecurity,monitoring,andhomemanagementservices.TheiControlOpenHomeSoftware
Platformpairsitsopen,technologyagnosticsoftwareinfrastructurewithanallinonetouchscreen,
combininganalarmsystem,communicationsgateway,andhomeautomationplatformintoonedevice.
EmbersZigBeeplatformprovidesthetwowaywirelessnetworkinginfrastructurefortheentiresystem.

2.Completewithatouchscreen,iControlshomedashboardisdesignedasacentralmonitoringand
controlportforallhomeenergyandautomationfunctions.ZigBeewirelesslyconnectstothesmartmeter
andtodevicesinthehometobemonitoredorcontrolled.

ZWave

BeforeitwasacquiredbySigmaDesignsin2008,ZensysdevelopedZWaveasaproprietarywireless
standard.SigmaDesignsmakesICsandotherproductsforpowerlinecommunications(PLC)aswellas
wireless.Thestandardisnotopenlikemanywirelessstandards,butitisavailabletoZensys/SigmaDesign
customers.Recently,theInternationalTelecommunicationsUnion(ITU)includedtheZWavePHYand
MAClayersasanoptioninitsnewG.9959standard,whichdefinesasetofguidelinesforsub1GHz
narrowbandwirelessdevices.
TheZWavewirelessmeshnetworkingtechnologyenablesanynodetotalktootheradjacentnodesdirectly
orindirectlythroughavailablerelays.Amastercontrollernodecontrolsanyadditionalnodes.Thenodes
communicatedirectlywithoneanotheriftheyrewithinrange.Iftwonodesthatwanttocommunicatearent
withinrange,theycanlinkwithanothernodethatbothcanaccessandexchangeinformation.AZWave
networkcanhaveupto232nodes.Multiplecontrollerscanbesetuptopartitionanetworkasrequiredfor
differentfunctions.
ZWaveusesthePart15unlicensedISMband.Itoperatesat908.42MHzintheU.S.andCanadabutuses
otherfrequenciesinothercountriesdependingontheirregulations.ThemodulationisGaussianfrequency
shiftkeying(FSK).Availabledataratesinclude9600bits/sand40kbits/s.Outputpoweris1mWor0dBm.
Aswithanywirelesstechnology,therangeoftransmissiondependsontheenvironment.Infreespace
conditions,arangeofupto30metersispossible.Thethroughwallrangeisconsiderablyless,ofcourse.
TheSigmaDesignsZM3102moduleisdesignedtobebuiltintootherproductsformonitorandcontrol
functions.Inadditiontothewirelesstransceiver,ithasanonboardCPUwith32kbytesofflashand2kbytes
ofSRAM.Also,itfeaturesa12bitADCwithfouranaloginputs.InterfacesincludeGPIO,SPI,UART,and
pulsewidthmodulation(PWM).Atriaccontrollerisalsoprovided.Themoduleoperatesfrom2.1to3.6V
dcandhasverylowpowerconsumption.Typicaltransmitdutycycleisonly0.1%,meaningthedeviceis
usuallyinasleepmode.
ThemorepowerfulZM4101andZM4102operateoverawiderfrequencyrange(Fig.3).The8051CPUhas
64kbytesofonetimeprogrammable(OTP)memory,16kbytesofSRAM,and64kbytesofnonvolatileRAM
(NVRAM).TheinterfacesincludeUSBanda128keymatrixscanner.Themodulesalsofeatureafour
channelLEDcontroller.Datarateisboostedto100kbits/s,andAES128securityisincludedaswell.

3.TheSigmaDesignsZM4101isanintegratedZWavemodulefordropindesignsofhomemonitoringand
controlfunctions.Itcanachieveadatarateof100kbits/sandusesAES128security.
ZWaveisprimarilyfocusedonmonitoringandcontrolfunctionsinthehomeandsmallcommercial
facilities.Itiswidelyusedforlightingcontrol,security,andclimatecontrol.Otherusesincludesmoke

detectors,doorlocks,securitysensors,appliances,andremotecontrols.ZWaveisadditionallyusedin
somesmartelectricmeterstoprovideconsumptiondataforhomeHVACmonitorsandcontrols.
TheZWaveAlliance,consortiumofmorethan160companiesthatdesignandsellwirelesshomecontrol
productsbasedontheZWavestandard,playsamajorroleintheZWavesystem.Currently,morethan575
interoperableproductsareavailablein22countries.

Summary
ZigBeeandZWavetargetthesamegeneralapplications.Ofthetwo,ZigBeeisbyfarthemoreversatilesince
itcanbeconfiguredforvirtuallyanyshortrangewirelesstask.Profilesarereadilyavailabletominimize
developmenttimeforcommonapplications.Ontheotherhandtheprotocolisfarmorecomplex,resulting
inlongerdevelopmenttimes.ZWaveusesafarsimplerprotocol,sodevelopmentcanbefasterandsimpler.
ZWavechipsareavailablefromonlyonesource,SigmaDesigns.TheysellonlytoOEMs,ODM,andother
majorclients.Morethan500consumerhomecontrolproductsareavailableinstoreslikeHomeDepotand
Lowes,butmanydontstatethatZWaveisused.
ZigBeechipsareavailablefromEmber,Freescale,MicrochipTechnology,andTexasInstruments.
Complete,readytouseZigBeemodulesarealsoavailablefrommultiplesourceslikeAtmel,CEL,Digi,
Jennic,Lemos,andRFM.
Foragivenpowerlevelof0dBm,ZWavesrangeisgreaterthanZigBeesimplybecausetheloweroperating
frequencysupportsitwithpurephysics(Friisformula).Thatalsotranslatesintoamorereliableconnection
insomeapplications.
ZigBeeusesthewidelypopulated2.4GHzISMband,whichitmustsharewithWiFi,Bluetooth,andother
radiosthatcanproduceinterference.MostZigBeedeviceshavecoexistencefeaturesthathelpmitigate
interference,yetthepotentialisgreaterinthe2.4GHzbandthanthe908.42MHzchannelofZWave.

References
1. Ember
2. SigmaDesigns
3. ZWave
4. ZWaveAlliance
5. ZigBeeAlliance
6. ZigBeeVersusZWaveBattleContinues,MarkE.Hazen
SourceURL:http://electronicdesign.com/communications/whatsdifferencebetweenzigbeeandz
wave