The ZigBee Alliance is a group of companies developing wireless technologies for home, commercial and industrial use. We offer Ken Sinclair's interview with Bob Heil, courtesy of the AZ Internet portal AutomatedBuildings.
Corr.: First, let's figure out what the ZigBee Alliance is?
Hale: In my opinion, ZigBee is the only global wireless standard that allows for the development of low-cost, low-power monitoring and control products that are easy to deploy. And the ZigBee Alliance is more than 200 people from various companies working on the development of this standard. I divide the Alliance companies + members into chip manufacturers (the top six companies in the world), equipment manufacturers, software companies, testing and certification organizations, independent design houses, original equipment manufacturers, and finally, equipment manufacturers.
Correspondent: Would it be a bother to name the members?
Hale: The most well-known are Siemens, Phillips, TI, Trane, Epson, Cisco, Freescale, ZMD, Honeywell, Johnson Control, Huawei, LG, Mitsubishi, NEC, Samsung, Vantage Control, Crestron, Renesas, ST Micro, BM Group and Schneider Electric. As you can see, a serious campaign! But there are many less famous names, but their participation is very important in the overall technological process that will ensure the success of ZigBee in the industrial market in the near future.
Corr.: What can ZigBee bring to commercial buildings?
Hale: The technology is already finding wide application in various control and measurement systems. Within a couple of years, most of the largest commercial buildings will use it for lighting, ventilation, heating (HVAC) and security systems, which will lead to significant savings for them. By installing ZigBee, you increase the comfort, reliability and safety of the building for its occupants.
Since all key building systems will use a common network technology, lighting can be used in emergency situations to direct people to safe exits, and false alarms will be minimized, since multiple sensors from different systems allow monitoring of the situation.
ZigBee focuses on standard solutions. That is why building owners, when purchasing equipment from different sources, receive the best quality and also the confidence that these systems will be used everywhere in the coming years.
ZigBee can operate from both AC and battery power sources.
This means that the equipment can be installed in hard-to-reach places. Another advantage of ZigBee is its multi-purpose use. Now, after painstaking work and rigorous testing, we can finally guarantee the smooth operation of all products with the ZigBee logo. Remember: if the device does not pass the test, it is not sold.
In a few years, when ZigBee networking technology becomes dominant, commercial buildings will have a whole range of benefits and capabilities that will change the way we think about the construction, management and operation of buildings. And it will also provide much better and safer working conditions in these buildings.
Correspondent: Can you give examples of priority areas where ZigBee should be used?
Hale: Power, lighting, ventilation, and heating and ventilation (HVAC), protection, shipping and delivery, and landscape-based design are just a few that come to mind. For example, you can eliminate the common complaints about uneven heating in offices by using a combination of a ZigBee wireless thermostat and an automatic panel in the HVAC ducts. This thermostat can run for five years on alkaline batteries and up to 15 years on lithium batteries. Many companies replace fluorescent light bulbs on a five-year schedule, regardless of whether they have burned out. By installing a ZigBee-controlled module on your light fixtures, you can know exactly when a bulb is going to burn out, rather than guessing. This significantly reduces costs and, by the way, has its own advantages in waste disposal. Imagine that you need a new light switch because of a renovation. Attach a battery-powered ZigBee light switch to the wall, plug it in, and you’re good to go. No replacement of wiring or electrical equipment.
Your utility bills for building lighting can be reduced by 10%.
To further demonstrate the additional benefits of ZigBee, I would like to point out that once you have ZigBee lighting devices installed in your building, you can use the mesh wireless network for other purposes. For example, you can pinpoint the location of a cargo container by attaching a ZigBee module to it. No more guessing games, wasting time searching for it. I would call this module an advanced RFID tag.
Of course, it will never replace RFID, but ZigBee allows you to do more than RFID, which requires proximity reading devices.
You can also use ZigBee lighting devices to extend your mesh network, for outdoor surveillance, and eliminate the need for irrigation wiring, reduce water consumption, and even control outdoor lighting. That's what a ZigBee mesh network can do, simply because it can be used in 65,000 different devices.
Corr.: How does ZigBee differ from BACnet or other technologies that exist in the industrial segment today?
Hale: BACnet is a wired standard for monitoring and controlling buildings remotely, while ZigBee is a wireless standard used in homes, industrial, and commercial settings. We are currently in discussions with BACnet about how we can leverage ZigBee in buildings that already have BACnet, and vice versa. This will be a mutual agreement for the two standards to work together to benefit the industrial sector.
Reporter: What makes ZigBee reliable?
Hale: Without a doubt, the reliability of ZigBee is the Alliance itself. Having a great technology and a standard is certainly nice. But you can’t just sit back and wait for people to come to you for a product. You have to have the backing of companies investing in it. Our members are leading companies from 25 countries, with trillions of dollars in budgets, who believe in ZigBee. The Alliance is recognized by many industry analysts as the only standard that can work worldwide in commercial, industrial, and civilian markets.
Correspondent: Where is ZigBee used today?
Hale: ZigBee is still fairly new, but there are already people using it. Phillips installed ZigBee lighting devices in a commercial building in Chicago, SK telecom used an integrated solution in Korea, Telecom Italia is in the process of building out its new Zsim service that will allow mobile phone users to pay for goods and services at various points of sale, Amron is rolling out an Automatic Meter Reading system, and Control 4 is integrating media, lighting, security and HVAC controls into a single integrated solution. We have many new products ready for certification, and I am sure you will hear about some new ZigBee products in the coming year. |
