Comparison of several mainstream wireless communication technologies

In recent years, with the development of family-oriented control and automated short-distance wireless technology, opportunities brought about by smart home are becoming a reality. Compared with traditional Smart Home, light home has two obvious advantages: Easy installation and easy interaction. Among the various short-distance wireless communication technologies that have emerged, EnOcean, Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth are currently the main means to connect to smart home products.

EnOcean

EnOcean wireless communication standards have been adopted as the international standard "ISO/IEC 14543-3-10", which is also the world's only international wireless standard using energy collection technology. The EnOcean energy acquisition module can collect the energy produced by the surrounding environment and obtain weak power from light, heat, electric waves, vibration, and human movements. After processing, the energy is used to provide EnOcean ultra-low power wireless communication modules, realizing a real communication system without data lines, power cords, and battery. EnOcean wireless standard ISO/IEC14543-3-10 uses 868 MHz, 902 MHz, 928MHz and 315MHz frequencies, the transmission distance is 300 metres outdoors and 30 meters indoors.

Zigbee

Zigbee is a low-power personal network protocol based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. According to this Protocol, the technology is short-distance, low-power wireless communication technology. It features short distance, low complexity, self-organization, low power consumption, low data rate, and low cost. It is a low-cost and low-power short-range wireless networking communication technology. The Zigbee frequency is 2.4G, 915 MHz, and MHz. The valid transmission range of Zigbee is 10-75 m without using a power amplifier.

Z-Wave

Z-Wave is a wireless networking specification dominated by Zensys, a Danish company, z-Wave is a new short-range wireless communication technology based on RF, low cost, low power consumption, high reliability, and suitable for networks. The operating frequency is 908.42 MHz. The effective coverage range of the 868.42MHz signal is 30 m indoors, and the outdoor frequency can exceed 100 m. It is suitable for narrow bandwidth applications. Z-Wave technology is also a low-power and low-cost technology that effectively promotes low-speed wireless personal area networks.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth technology is mainly divided into the Wibree standard added in BT3.0 + HS and 4.0, that is, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE ). In the field of light home, we mainly discuss the part of BLE. Low-Power Bluetooth (BLE) is a low-cost, short-distance, and interoperable Robust Wireless Technology that works in the 2.4G band. BLE uses a variable connection interval of several milliseconds to several seconds. Using a fast connection mode, it can be in a "non-connection" state to save energy. At this time, the two ends of the link only know each other, the link is enabled only when necessary, and then closed as soon as possible, so it has extremely low operating and standby power consumption.

Differences between EnOcean and other three Protocols

Compared with other technologies in this field, EnOcean technology features no battery required. For example, the management system of a 50-60 storey high-rise building sometimes uses-sensor units. If the sensor units use battery-driven technology, the replacement and Management of battery will become a huge burden, making the building management companies at a loss. The weakness of other technologies is the battery drive. EnOcean Technology ensures that it can still work when the lighting is off for 5 days. EnOcean technology is designed as a very simple standard. The power needed for EnOcean wireless signals is 1/30-1/100 of ZigBee. In addition, due to the use of less than 1 GHz frequency band, EnOcean transmission distance is much longer than GHz Zigbee and BLE, and less interference.

Comparison of power consumption and transmission distance of each protocol:

Through the following two tables, we can more intuitively and comprehensively compare several mainstream wireless communication technologies: