ZigBee tackles tough questions at ISA SP-100 meeting
The ISA SP-100 Wireless Systems for Automation committee hosted ZigBee Alliance Vice Chairman Graham Martin, also a wireless manager at Texas Instruments, on Tuesday to discuss ways in which the alliance and the committee could work together. After explaining the alliance’s plans for new products that needed to get to market quickly, Martin faced committee concerns about deadlines that precluded sufficient input and about IEEE802.15.4 features that didn’t meet their needs.
The meeting was in relationship to the SP-100 wireless committee meeting taking place this week in ISA headquareters in Research Triangle Park, NC.
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable cost effective, reliable, low power wirelessly networked monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. Promoter companies include Siemens, Texas Instruments, BM Group, Honeywell, Freescale, Schneider Electric, Samsung, Mitsubishi, and Ember, among others. ZigBee is a software stack on top of 802.15.4. IEEE 802.15.4, which defines the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) communication layers.
Martin admitted the commercial and industrial segments were not the highest priority of the alliance, but “we’re now putting our efforts into ZigBee ProStack, targeted to industrial and commercial applications,” he said. “This is where SP-100 expertise will be valuable. We’re hoping to form a bridge.” But Martin said there was an urgency to get the new products to market. ZigBee released the initial stack in December 2004 and plans to release a new and improved stack this month. The industrial and commercial product, the more robust ProStack, is planned for first quarter 2007, Martin said. The key features are similar to those of SP100, long battery life, self-healing networks, support of large networks, low-node cost, and low data rate.
Martin proposed ISA-SP100 adopt IEEE 802.15.4 – 06 with the ZigBee (SP100) stack as a platform for monitoring and control applications. But committee members were concerned about the issues historically found in ZigBee with frequency, diversity, and low power consumption. They were also concerned with the deadlines and the lack of time to offer input so the IEEE 802.15.4 platform would meet their needs. “Help us choose the path that doesn’t compromise what we need, and we can still work together,” said one member. One possible committee suggestion was to position the new stack around commercial, not the industrial market, because “they’re very different.” Then perhaps the committee could offer input on future releases, so they “won’t feel jammed into a stack.” The meeting ended with both groups hoping to resolve later how to make the relationship work in the future.
The meeting was in relationship to the SP-100 wireless committee meeting taking place this week in ISA headquareters in Research Triangle Park, NC.
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable cost effective, reliable, low power wirelessly networked monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. Promoter companies include Siemens, Texas Instruments, BM Group, Honeywell, Freescale, Schneider Electric, Samsung, Mitsubishi, and Ember, among others. ZigBee is a software stack on top of 802.15.4. IEEE 802.15.4, which defines the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) communication layers.
Martin admitted the commercial and industrial segments were not the highest priority of the alliance, but “we’re now putting our efforts into ZigBee ProStack, targeted to industrial and commercial applications,” he said. “This is where SP-100 expertise will be valuable. We’re hoping to form a bridge.” But Martin said there was an urgency to get the new products to market. ZigBee released the initial stack in December 2004 and plans to release a new and improved stack this month. The industrial and commercial product, the more robust ProStack, is planned for first quarter 2007, Martin said. The key features are similar to those of SP100, long battery life, self-healing networks, support of large networks, low-node cost, and low data rate.
Martin proposed ISA-SP100 adopt IEEE 802.15.4 – 06 with the ZigBee (SP100) stack as a platform for monitoring and control applications. But committee members were concerned about the issues historically found in ZigBee with frequency, diversity, and low power consumption. They were also concerned with the deadlines and the lack of time to offer input so the IEEE 802.15.4 platform would meet their needs. “Help us choose the path that doesn’t compromise what we need, and we can still work together,” said one member. One possible committee suggestion was to position the new stack around commercial, not the industrial market, because “they’re very different.” Then perhaps the committee could offer input on future releases, so they “won’t feel jammed into a stack.” The meeting ended with both groups hoping to resolve later how to make the relationship work in the future.
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