With the accelerated development of the Internet of Things market, the Internet of Things has become more accessible, and the promotion around the Internet of Things has become more intensive and more confusing. It is time for us to face the reality, to identify the status quo and to assess the direction of things. Some confusion has been eliminated, while others have intensified – let's start with a simplification.
Radio technology
Two years ago, the world set off a discussion boom on different radio technologies that could help the Internet of Things. Some companies argue that the existence of WiFi and Bluetooth is sufficient, while other companies are beginning to push IEEE 802.15.4 (the underlying radio technology of ZigBee and Thread). In fact, most of today's networking technology decision makers can accept and fully understand that the Internet of Things will use all three technologies for different applications.
In order to compensate for the disadvantages of WiFi (as opposed to ZigBee), the market began to implement activities to standardize low-power WiFi (IEEE 802.11ah). Although activities in this area are still in full swing and standards may be developed from this, the global acceptance of this is unpredictable. Due to the different specifications and models used in different parts of the world, this standard is not universal. To make matters worse, even though this new low-power standard is called WiFi, it is not compatible with "real" WiFi, but a completely different radio and MAC technology. In this case, why not use IEEE 802.15.4? This is already a common standard and covers all the features that new low-power WiFi developers are struggling with, and the new type of "WiFi" doesn't make much sense.
Bluetooth, as an IoT standard, has a fatal flaw – its design philosophy is to replace point-to-point wired transmission technology rather than networking technology. To address this shortcoming, some companies are beginning to research the network layer for Bluetooth ("Bluetooth Mesh"), but face serious challenges. In the past, many industry networking engineers have witnessed the efforts of similar mesh networking to fail. For example, IEEE 802.11s exists, but it has not been used, and is only used in single-hop mesh topology (repeater). The main problem is that it cannot control the delay when multi-hop is supported. Therefore, network technology engineers are also skeptical about the new Bluetooth mesh situation.
As a result, the global wireless market has recognized three core IoT radio technologies. The IEEE/802.11/WiFi we are familiar with today is suitable for content-distribution; IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee is suitable for transmissions like smart homes. The controller Sentroller (the sensor with control function) network, while Bluetooth, including low-power Bluetooth, is suitable for connecting personal area networks (around smart phones) and wearable devices. The first two are used to connect home devices to the Internet, and the last one uses a smartphone to make a network connection.
Many vendors have offered a variety of cross-radio products: WiFi/Bluetooth, ZigBee/Bluetooth and WiFi/ZigBee/Bluetooth. Pricing for all of these products may not be reasonable, but it conveys clear underlying information: the world's three open unified radiocommunication standards have laid the foundations of the Internet of Things and have brought the gospel.
Networking technology
Now talk about not very good news: new confusion. More than a decade ago, competing radio technology conflicts ended with the advent of WiFi, WiFi was the last winner (and HomeRF and several other technologies disappeared), and then a new technological revolution broke out around networking and application layers. . Today, everyone is familiar with TCP/IP, and even if it has not heard of the technology, it will be used when communicating over the network and the local network. However, in order to reach this stage, multiple network standards have been fought: the network operating system Novell Netware (who remembers?), Bayan Vines, Microsoft LanManager, IBM SNA, etc. At that time, almost all major electronics companies felt that they had to leave their own personal imprints in history by customizing the network layer technology.
Frankly speaking, this is what everything is going on today in the Internet of Things and smart home. Obviously, many of the industry's leading companies have once again made the same mistakes, forgetting that standard warfare will not help and slow down the adoption of new technologies. Apple's HomeKit, Google's Brillo, Qualcomm's Alljoyn, Intel's IoTIvity, and recently the Huawei's LiteOS from the Chinese home level. All these emerging application frameworks are now competing for the spirit of the industry, striving to become the "Internet of Things" and looking forward to the world to follow suit.
At the same time, there is another heavy confusion. Following the pace of the application framework layer, the networking level is also the trend of the arrow. ZigBee 3.0 is clearly a competitor, and its challenger is Thread. However, what is even more puzzling is that several of the main roles of the Thread Group (such as Freescale, ARM and Silicon Labs, especially semiconductor companies) also occupy a prominent leadership position in the ZigBee Alliance (yes This is a mixed world). Therefore, it seems that these technology companies themselves are more or less confused...
Thread was announced at the end of last year, but it is still in secrecy. People can only speculate on its connotation, but from the leaked information, it is difficult for Thread to develop into a strong and powerful competitor of ZigBee 3.0. This is also expected, as ZigBee 3.0 has integrated many years of experience in many application areas (lighting control, home automation, building automation, retail, etc.). ZigBee's certification program has been steadily launched and launched, and several testing centers have been authorized to certify more than 1,000 ZigBee products. ZigBee has clearly become the technology of choice for many of the world's IoT and smart home system manufacturers. At the same time, the ZigBee feature is very easy to use and supports powerful security protocols. Since sensors and edge devices often do not have a keyboard to enter the security code, their implementation is facing significant challenges, so a strong security protocol is important.
Most importantly, ZigBee 3.0 supports an application library that has undergone numerous iterations. Therefore, it is not surprising that Thread Group is seriously considering running the Thread with the ZigBee application library. But not limited to this: (1) ZigBee 3.0 and ZigBee RF4CE have a solid place in the consumer electronics world; (2) ZigBee 3.0 also includes ZigBee Green Power features. Let's take a closer look.
ZigBee RF4CE
ZigBee RF4CE was originally developed in the consumer electronics field to replace infrared (IR) remote control based on radio remote control, eliminating the need to use the aim-and-click mode. Subsequently, it has undergone a significant evolution, and the latest version (ZRC 2.0) is fully integrated with the ZigBee application library. This means that remote controls designed for TVs and set-top boxes can also control home fixtures, lights, curtains, sun shades, and more. Over time, the consumer electronics and smart home sectors are expected to continue to overlap and merge, and ZRC 2.0 is positioned to be just right.
ZigBee RF4CE is still fully backward compatible with traditional infrared technology. ZigBee Remote Control automatically detects and downloads the code set required for traditional devices that require infrared. With all of the above features and international recognition, it is not surprising that RF4CE makes ZigBee an important promoter of smart homes, and smart homes have brought significant new services to cable operators and TV operators. opportunity.
In addition to ultra-low power requirements (comparable to low-power Bluetooth and better coverage), the key value-added feature of ZigBee RF4CE is low latency. User interface devices can benefit from low latency because these interface devices enable product manufacturers to provide immediate feedback to users (typically within 30 milliseconds). In general, mesh networks (including Threads) tend to have delays of up to hundreds of milliseconds or more, resulting in a user unpleasant experience. Almost everyone has experienced a reaction after pressing the button, then pressing the button, the light finally lights up, but immediately turns off: this is very crashing! Today, the use of wired lighting switches does not create a similar situation, so no one accepts this situation simply because "now is wireless." The ability to add low-latency human interface devices to the network is critical to ZigBee.
ZigBee Green Power
ZigBee 3.0 also includes ZigBee Green Power. ZigBee Green Power was originally developed as an ultra-low power wireless standard to support energy harvesting equipment. An energy harvesting device is a device that extracts energy requirements (such as motion, light, piezoelectric, Peltier effect, etc.) from the environment without using a battery. The most common application is a light switch in which the pull of the switch generates energy and then delivers a wireless communication packet ("on", "off", etc.) to the light. Green Power is very effective for devices that only occasionally exist on the network (when the device is powered). Green Power makes these devices safely in and out of the network, so it can be turned off most of the time.
As an ultra-low-power wireless technology, Green Power is also very effective for battery-powered devices because it allows these devices to run on the same battery for many years. Green Power also allows low-cost end points to communicate with other devices on the network, especially if mesh is not needed. In short, Green Power is a major addition to ZigBee 3.0.
ZigBee 3.0 IP Compatibility
ZigBee 3.0 is also fully IP compatible. ZigBee devices are similar to WiFi devices and are typically connected to the Internet via routers, gateways, or set-top boxes, allowing anyone to use the Internet to connect to any other device, such as a personal computer, tablet or smartphone app, for instant control. Because ZigBee is fully compatible with WiFi and IP, there is no need to insert a ZigBee chip into the phone itself to discover and control smart home and IoT devices connected to ZigBee. This can be done with any networked center (such as routers, set-top boxes, gateways), which means that personal computers and smartphones that are connected via WiFi or cellular networks can be used as dashboards and can be easily found And communicate with other ZigBee devices.
ZigBee 3.0
ZigBee 3.0 is open, universal and complete, and fully interoperable with existing Internet applications. Now, the relevant equipment is available in volume, which is expected to range from one million units per week to one million units per day. There may already be 500 million ZigBee devices available. ZigBee 3.0 is the best solution for smart homes with a wide range of applications: lighting, security, thermostats, remote controls and more. ZigBee 3.0 is very secure, supporting devices that don't use batteries, mesh, low latency, and energy harvesting. It's unbeatable and even unchallenge, even if Thread tries to challenge it. For many application creators, it is the only networking solution that is superior to IEEE 802.15.4 radio technology.
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