ZigBee - History

History

ZigBee-style networks began to be conceived around 1998, when many installers realized that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were going to be unsuitable for many applications. In particular, many engineers saw a need for self-organizing ad-hoc digital radio networks.

The IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard was completed in May 2003 and has been superseded by the publication of IEEE 802.15.4-2006. In the summer of 2003, Philips Semiconductors, a major mesh network supporter, ceased the investment. Philips Lighting has, however, continued Philips' participation, and Philips remains a promoter member on the ZigBee Alliance Board of Directors.

The ZigBee Alliance announced in October 2004 that the membership had more than doubled in the preceding year and had grown to more than 100 member companies, in 22 countries. By April 2005 membership had grown to more than 150 companies, and by December 2005 membership had passed 200 companies. The ZigBee specifications were ratified on 14 December 2004. The ZigBee Alliance announced availability of Specification 1.0 on 13 June 2005, known as ZigBee 2004 Specification. In September 2006, ZigBee 2006 Specification is announced. In 2007, ZigBee PRO, the enhanced ZigBee specification was finalized.

The first stack release is now called ZigBee 2004. The second stack release is called ZigBee 2006, and mainly replaces the MSG/KVP structure used in 2004 with a "cluster library". The 2004 stack is now more or less obsolete.

ZigBee 2007, now the current stack release, contains two stack profiles, stack profile 1 (simply called ZigBee), for home and light commercial use, and stack profile 2 (called ZigBee PRO). ZigBee PRO offers more features, such as multi-casting, many-to-one routing and high security with Symmetric-Key Key Exchange (SKKE), while ZigBee (stack profile 1) offers a smaller footprint in RAM and flash. Both offer full mesh networking and work with all ZigBee application profiles.

ZigBee 2007 is fully backward compatible with ZigBee 2006 devices: A ZigBee 2007 device may join and operate on a ZigBee 2006 network and vice versa. Due to differences in routing options, ZigBee PRO devices must become non-routing ZigBee End-Devices (ZEDs) on a ZigBee 2006 network, the same as for ZigBee 2006 devices on a ZigBee 2007 network must become ZEDs on a ZigBee PRO network. The applications running on those devices work the same, regardless of the stack profile beneath them.

The ZigBee 1.0 specification was ratified on 14 December 2004 and is available to members of the ZigBee Alliance. Most recently, the ZigBee 2007 specification was posted on 30 October 2007. The first ZigBee Application Profile, Home Automation, was announced 2 November 2007.