THE ZIGBEE ALLIANCE
As noted previously, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard does not
standardize the higher communication protocol layers, including the network and
application layers. To assure interoperability between devices operating the
IEEE 802.15.4 standard, the behavior of these layers must be specified. The
creation of such a specification has been taken up by the ZigBee
Alliance,[6] San Ramon,
California, an industry consortium of chip manufacturers, OEM manufacturers,
service providers, and users in the wireless sensor network market, many of
which worked to develop the IEEE 802.15.4 standard itself. In addition to the creation of higher layer specifications, the
ZigBee Alliance is also the marketing and compliance arm of IEEE 802.15.4, in a
manner analogous to the relationship between the Wi-Fi Alliance, Mountain View,
California and the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard (marketed as "Wi-Fi®").
Development of the ZigBee network specification, which will
include both star and peer-to-peer topologies, along with the first application
profiles, is due for completion in the first half of 2004. The development of
additional application profiles is expected to be a continuing process, due
largely to the widening use of wireless sensor network technology.
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