AVR-Chat

Well I'm starting to think that Larry's "isn't quite ready for prime 
time" is about the only sensible explanation for all the evasion and 
mystery I'm encountering when trying to figure out which kit to use for 
Zigbee mesh-networking. We really need mesh networking if this is going 
to work at all for us. It seems none of the module-makers wants to 
confess that they don't have a full working implementation of Zigbee yet 
but do any of them have such a thing? If TI/Chipcon is the answer then 
who makes modules which fully exploit this technology?

I apologise that this has drifted way OT but I (very naively) thought 
there might be an AVR-based answer to my question - now I'm beginning to 
wonder if I've got to wait 6 months to a year for _any_ real mesh 
networking solution.

Mark


larry barello wrote:
> The project I worked on doesn't say "Zigbee" in the documentation.  We say
> "802.15.4" radio protocol.  I just use the mac addressing in a star
> configuration with the end nodes sleeping most of the time.
>
> Mesh networking sound sexy but apparently isn't quite ready for prime
> time...  Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was blinded by the hype when I
> specified the Xbee modules for the project :L  
>
> They are working out very well even though we can't use mesh-networking to
> extend our reach.  It turns out that the PRO, with higher transmit power,
> 6db increase Rx sensitivity and whip for the hub communicates fine with
> Regular modules over the required 85' (highly congested space with 802.11
> and other interference).  Regular modules (with chip antennas) on both ends
> only communicate reliably over 12' of separation.
>
> Cheers!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com [mailto:AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
> Of dlc@frii.com
> Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 8:09 AM
> To: AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [AVR-Chat] Re: Zigbee modules etc, etc
>
> Now I'm confused.  The manual specifically addresses sleep mode and
> indirect messaging in a non-beacon network.  Is that then a custom XBee
> protocol that isn't Zigbee?
>
> In my conversations with Maxstream they don't even have mesh networking,
> only star networking since their Zigbee does not yet have mesh.
>
> ???
> Now I'll have to go back to them and talk about it all over again.  Also,
> if you are going to use "Zigbee" in your product literature and you have a
> Zigbee compliant (and tested) module like the XBee units then you only
> need to have the $1500 membership and ONLY on the year that you release
> the product to the public.  You only need to be listed in the Zigbee
> alliance (apparently) not a full voting member.  That is how I understand
> it from when I took classes on Zigbee, but that was last year, this year
> may be different...
>
> DLC
>