Advantages of WLAN, Zigbee, and M2M Wireless Networks (1)

When monitoring or control devices need to communicate over wireless networks, there are currently two candidates: IEEE802.11a/B/gWLAN and Zigbee. Although they were initially designed for different purposes, they have their own advantages in wireless device-to-device (M2M) communication.

Technical Overview

WLAN802.11 was initially designed to replace wired Ethernet connections between computers and has been widely used in M2M applications, especially in industrial environments, it provides complete Ethernet layering, protocols, and network service support.

802.11b and g work at 2.4 GHz. The alternative 802.11a works at 5 GHz and is mainly deployed on 2.4G networks where interference or too many wireless devices and reliability exist. WLAN devices can work in peer-to-peer mode, but it is more commonly used to communicate through wireless access points.

Zigbee also works at 2.4 GHz, which is primarily designed for device interconnection. It is a simple wireless network solution for small devices such as sensors and even lamp switches, with low bandwidth and power consumption requirements. Because it is a mesh network, it does not need a central access point. The Zigbee-to-Ethernet protocol converter is usually used to connect the Zigbee network and the Ethernet-based network.

The main difference between WLAN and Zigbee technology is data transmission rate, power consumption, and network topology. 802.11 Network Connection can reach 11-54mbps, while Zigbee only has 250 Kbps. Zigbee has low power requirements, so it is suitable for low-power mobile devices or battery power applications.

802.11 can transmit a large amount of data and Support web-based applications. Zigbee is suitable for periodic or intermittent data or single data transmission. Therefore, WLAN can be regarded as a wireless Ethernet network, while Zigbee is a wireless serial network.