xviii Preface
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the fundamentals of the ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 standard are reviewed. Chapter 2 is
brief and provides a number of ZigBee wireless networking examples, including home
automation, consumer electronics, and healthcare.
Chapter 3 is a detailed description of IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee protocol layers,
including security features. This chapter acts as a summary of the IEEE 802.15.4 and
ZigBee standard documents. Chapter 3 provides information regarding the 2007 edition
of the ZigBee standard, whenever needed, along with the 2006 edition. Appendix D
summarizes some of the differences between ZigBee-Pro (2007) and ZigBee-2006. If the
level of detail in Chapter 3 exceeds your interest or background, you can skip that chapter
and continue with Chapter 4 as long as you have read Chapter 1.
Basic information regarding transceivers developed for the IEEE 802.15.4 standard is
provided in Chapter 4. An IEEE 802.15.4-compliant transceiver must meet specific
requirements outlined in the standard itself. This chapter helps in understanding these
requirements and in comparing and contrasting performance of various transceivers.
In a wireless sensor network (WSN), the sensor output is an analog signal and must
be converted to digital. The basics of analog-to-digital to converters (ADCs) and their
performance metrics are provided in Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 studies the effect of environment on a ZigBee wireless network. In reality,
the performance of a wireless network can be affected by the environment. Chapter 5
provides a number of techniques that can be used to mitigate performance degradation
due to environment. Range estimation and the methods that can be used to improve
the range are also covered in Chapter 5. The antenna can be designed specifically for
each application scenario and may greatly affect the performance of a wireless node.
Fundamental properties of antennas and some of the basic antenna shapes used in short-
range wireless networks are provided in Chapter 5. Regulatory requirements in North
America, Europe, and Japan are also reviewed in this chapter.
A battery-powered node developed for ZigBee wireless networking may operate for
several years before its battery must be replaced. The expected battery life depends on the
application scenario, and Chapter 6 provides a simple way of calculating the estimated
battery life. Battery life is not only a function of hardware-level performance of each
node but also depends on the operation efficiency of the network. Chapter 6 reviews both
hardware- and network-level battery life extension methods.
One of the applications of short-range wireless networking is estimating the location of
moving objects. Chapter 7 provides a number of methods that can be used for location