Introduction

The terms IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee are used in many places as synonyms, although there is a clear demarcation between them, which will be briefly explained at this point.

The 802.15.4 standard, which was elaborated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), specifies the Physical Layer (PHY) and the Medium Access Control (MAC), which correspond to the two lowest levels of the OSI layer model. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard was ratified at the beginning of May 2004 [1]. Therefore, apart from a few expected amendments and clarifications, work on it is deemed to be complete.

The ZigBee Alliance [2] was founded by several large firms from the semiconductor industry with the aim of developing a complete protocol suite on the basis of IEEE 802.15.4 for wireless communication extending up to the application interface. However, it is worth mentioning in this respect that the IEEE 802.15.4 standard is in no way linked to the ZigBee Alliance.

No ZigBee!

The KM6551-0000 data transmission module is based on IEEE 802.15.4, but it is not a ZigBee product and is also not ZigBee-compatible!

Technical data

KM6551

Data transmission band

2.4 GHz

Channels

16

Channel separation

5 MHz

Channel width

2 MHz

Available

Worldwide

Data transfer rate

250 kbit

Protocol

IEEE 802.15.4

16 channels, each with a gross data rate of 250 kB/s, are available in the worldwide available 2.4 GHz band.

Introduction 1:
Channels 11 to 26

[1] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Ed.): IEEE Standard for Information technology -- Telecommunication and information exchange between systems -- Local and metropolitan area networks -- Specific requirements. Part 15.4: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (LR-WPANs).IEEE Computer Society, New York, NY, USA, October 2003

[2] ZigBee Alliance, http://www.zigbee.org