RC220x

©2005 Radiocrafts AS

RC220x Data Sheet (rev. 1.0)

Page 7 of 17

IEEE 802.15.4

The IEEE 802.15.4 standard, approved in May 2003, provides a worldwide standard for

Personal Area Networks or short distance wireless networks for low data rate solutions with

long battery life and very low complexity. It defines a Physical layer (PHY) and a Medium

Access Control layer (MAC) and is the basis for the open ZigBee protocol or proprietary

protocols. The typical applications are home and building automation, industrial control and

monitoring systems, wireless sensor networks, remote controls and consumer electronics.

The module complies with the IEEE 802.15.4 standard operating in the 2.45 GHz band. It

uses direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) with 2 Mc/s chip rate giving a raw data rate of

250 kbit/s 16 channels are available in the 2.45 GHz band, channel 11 – 26 (channels 0-10

are reserved for use in the 868 and 915 MHz bands).

Reference:

IEEE std 802.15.4 -2003: Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical layer (PHY)

specifications for Low Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (LR-WPANs)

http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.15.4-2003.pdf

The ZigBee Protocol

The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-

effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open

global standard. The ZigBee Alliance is a rapidly growing, non-profit industry consortium of

leading semiconductor manufacturers, technology providers, OEMs and end-users worldwide.

Membership is open to all. The ZigBee Alliance, in collaboration with the IEEE, is defining the

network, security, and application layers above the IEEE 802.15.4 PHY and MAC layers. This

cooperation has resulted in an easy-to-use, standards-based wireless network platform

optimised for wireless monitoring and control applications. For more information about the

The module is intended for using the ZigBee protocol. However, other proprietary network

protocols can also be implemented using the module.

The ZigBee stack implementation from Chipcon/Figure 8 Wireless is recommended as it

provides seamless integration with the module. However, third party stack implementations

can also be used provided they support the Chipcon MAC firmware.