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The ZigBee protocol has been designed to be very low in power consumption. For most of the applications being targeted, a battery life of 6 months to 2 years with 2 AA batteries can be expected. The power consumption varies by application. The protocol is specified such that devices need to communicate only when their application deems necessary.
The ZigBee standard, which transfers data at a few hundred bits per second, is being developed for use in consumer electronics, home and building automation, industrial controls, PC peripherals, medical sensor applications, and toys and games.
Some of the downside is the spectrum that it's squeezed into - competing with both 802.11 and Bluetooth applications could get a little spotty, but with the low bandwidth application niche, it should be easier to send and resend data. Zigbee reminds me of the benefits of CDPD.
A lower cost chip for Personal Area Network usage, that uses the lower bandwidth and lower power.. this might be of interest to some apps, particularly with the RFIC interest building - everyone seems to want a chip or two embedded in consumer items.
The main proponents of the ZigBee low power, short distance wireless connectivity technology have formed a not-for-profit alliance to drive the further development and deployment of the technology.
The four 'promoter' companies driving the ZigBee Alliance are Philips, Mitsubishi, Motorola and Invensys. Ten other companies are closely involved in the Alliance, which are supported by a further 15 companies that are developing the technology or products based on the networking standard.
A ZigBee network can support up to 254 client nodes plus one full functional device (master). The protocol is optimized for very long battery life measured in months to years and can control lighting, air conditioning, smoke and fire alarms, and other security devices. The standard supports 2.4GHz (worldwide), 868MHz (Europe) and 915MHz (Americas) unlicensed radio bands with a range of up to 75m, but more typically at between 10 to 20m.