Specifications

Pros

Cons

Transmission range between 10 – 75

meters (33 -264 feet) and up to 1500

meters for ZigBee pro

On the cluttered 2.4 GHz ISM band

Maximum output power is generally

0dBm (1mW)

Low data rates up to 720 kbits/s

Easily implemented

Flexible network structure

Small size

Individual devices must have batter life

of at least two years

Many manufacturers are integrating

microcontrollers with ZigBee

transcievers

Table 6 Pros and Cons of ZigBee

ZigBee has many appealing features, extremely low power, great battery life, and

a good transmission range. These features make a ZigBee device a great choice

for our secondary microcontroller to communicate with the other devices. The

secondary microcontroller will send very low data rates, need to be battery

powered for a longer life, and need to communicate with the main

microcontroller. All of which can be handled by the ZigBee technology.

2.6.4 Bluetooth

Bluetooth was another option to consider for wireless technology that could work

in exchanging data in our system. Bluetooth is an open wireless protocol used

for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices. This

creates personal area networks (PANs). This technology was originally designed

as a wireless alternative for RS232 data cables. It could connect several devices

at the same time overcoming synchronization problems. Many small electronic

devices utilize Bluetooth as an alternative to wires.

Using radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum, Bluetooth

can chops up the data that is being sent and transmits chunks of it on up to 79

frequencies. It can achieve a gross data rate of 1Mbps for Bluetooth 1.0, 1-3

Mbps for Bluetooth 2.1 and 54 Mbps for Bluetooth 3.0. Bluetooth operates and

exchanges information through the secure, globally unlicensed Industrial,

scientific, and medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short range radio frequency (RF) band.

There are three classes of Bluetooth: Class 1 uses up to 100mW of power and

can transmit approximately 100m, Class 2 uses up to 2.5mW of power and can