What is ZigBee and why is it important?

February 24, 2020

New to ZigBee? So here is a little catch-up session! There have been an explosion of smart health home devices in recent years; But. What was once called "health home automation" and again "Internet of Things" has now become a more user-friendly category called a smart health home. We have heating, lighting, cameras, sensors for just about everything; and new devices are popping up every week to make your health home smarter.

In recent years, we have moved from a position of disconnected systems to a world full of sensors, with large devices like Amazon Echo and Google health home acting as health home automation brains to link all of your smart health connected services; as well as emerging platforms like Apple. HomeKit and Samsung SmartThings.

So what role should ZigBee play in this new world of smart health home? The health home Automation Blog is there to provide all the answers.

The smart health home

The idea behind the smart health home is that everything is in communication with everyone; so you can stay informed while your devices are too. This could be your lighting that communicates with your security camera. But also your smart coffee machine that turns on when you get out of bed. With the Internet of Things, everything is smart health connected. This means that information can be shared and that your life can be controlled without the need to control each item individually.

All these smart health connected devices are managed by automatic systems on a single network. The result ? You have a smart health home, thanks to smart apps and devices. But there is only one problem: many companies manufacture these different devices. In order to get them to work together on a single network, you need to use one common language. This is where ZigBee comes in.

What is ZigBee?

ZigBee is based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. All you need to know is that ZigBee is a specification that has been around for over a decade. It is widely regarded as an alternative to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for certain applications; especially low power devices that require little bandwidth. This is the case with your smart sensors.

A typical example: when you have a ZigBee bulb and a ZigBee switch and you want this switch to control the bulb. With ZigBee, the two devices, even if they come from different manufacturers, speak a common language. There is therefore no obstacle to communication.

ZigBee does not focus on point-to-point communication, such as Bluetooth, where a very powerful device sends data to another very powerful device over a short distance; which is why it works in a mesh network.

In reality, for a customer who builds a smart health home, a device that supports the ZigBee protocol can still be muted. But as more and more devices want to act as central controllers, the number of wireless protocols for your smart devices is reduced.

What is a mesh network?

A mesh network is a network where a network connection is distributed among wireless nodes that can communicate with each other and share a network connection over a large area. Think of nodes as small transmitters that work the same way as a wireless router. ZigBee's ability to support the mesh network means that it can increase the range of data transmission and provide greater stability; even when only one smart health connected node fails and does not work.

With ZigBee, you will likely have a primary coordinator node that controls other smart health connected nodes; for example Amazon Echo Plus. If a node fails for some reason and cannot communicate with a second node in the mesh network, the master node and the second node can communicate by connecting to a third node in range. Each node acts as a repeater, and all the nodes cooperate in the distribution of data, therefore of the mesh network.

ZigBee supports up to 65,000 nodes on a single network.

What devices use ZigBee?

So now that you know what ZigBee is, it's worth going through devices that work with ZigBee. Simply using this wireless network standard does not immediately mean that everything will run smoothly. After all, you may not have a control app that knows what all of these devices are.

Here are some of the heavy users of ZigBee in the smart health home:

  • Amazon

  • Comcast

  • Honeywell

  • Huawei

  • Philips

  • SmartThings

  • Texas instruments

  • Amazon

  • Belkin

  • Ikea

  • Lutron

  • Nokia

  • Osram

  • Bosch

  • Indesit

  • Samsung

  • Velux

  • Humax

  • Panasonic

  • honey

Just because a business uses the protocol doesn't mean everything will work instantly. Philips Hue uses ZigBee to connect its bulbs. But that doesn't always mean you can add additional bulbs from another manufacturer.

However, with the announcement of Amazon Echo Plus, the way we can approach ZigBee devices has changed a lot. Indeed, Alexa can control all these types of devices without the need for hubs; or even applications from each manufacturer. Echo Plus can be asked to search for devices. For example, he would find a Philips Hue bulb and be able to control it, without any intervention from Philips.

Where Amazon Echo devices are interesting (and Google health home or Apple HomeKit) is that are smart devices. For example, Echo Plus can directly control ZigBee devices, but will also allow you to activate skills to control devices operating under other standards; like a Ring ehealth doorbell, for example.