ITRI ZBnode: A ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 Platform for Wireless Sensor Networks

Research of the past years has led to numerous novel developments and approaches for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, most previous work has focused on either mathematical analysis or theoretical algorithms with extensive simulation results. In this paper, in order to realistically understand the complexity of WSNs, a ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 platform has been designed and implemented. Based on an IEEE 802.15.4 radio and ZigBee protocol stack, the developed ITRI ZBnode is an autonomous wireless communication and computing platform aimed at fast prototyping and research in WSNs. The platform attempts to provide a low data rate, low power, and low cost wireless networking on the device-level communication. Finally, examples of tree and mesh network formation are provided to demonstrate practicability of the developed ZBnode platform.