Radio addressing

Use the mesh networking capabilities of the Zigbee radio, but use some proprietary protocol so I don’t have interoperability requirements with Zigbee devices and networks.  Second key advantage: no need to buy a block of addresses from the Zigbee people.  Finally, I can create my own addressing system, and can sell blocks or individual addresses to experimenters wanting to make their own devices for the network.

Ethernet addressing

I don’t see any way around this.   I think I am simply going to have to buy a block.  I have two interesting options if I do: first, as I don’t plan to interoperate with Zigbee, and if I end up putting ethernet on every device, I can use the MAC address for the radio system.  Second, I can sell MAC addresses to other people who want to make aiosphere-compatible devices to sell.

So now I need to decide:

Hardware addresses

Do I need to buy a MAC address block? Do I need to buy an IEEE address block? Is there any way I can do without either one? The experimenter community should buy a block of each and sell them off in small amounts. Also, they seem redundant. When I have a device with ethernet and zigbee both, I have two nearly identical 64bit addresses. Both expensive, too!

Core component makeup

I also need to decide between a highly-integrated solution (like ConnectOne for Internet and and TI for Zigbee) and something I roll myself using cheap Microsoft parts. My choices now are:

1. Microchip Ethernet controller for the Ethernet solution. Lowest cost I think.
2. Wiznet for the Ethernet solution. Probably most robust, lower code overhead.
3. ConnectOne would be even more robust and simpler (includes DHCP, keepalive, etc), but it would be more expensive.
4. TI would likely be the most robust, lowest code overhead Zigbee solution, but it would be the most expensive.
5. Microchip would probably be the cheapest Zigbee solution, but it would require a micro to hold the stack and do all the work. If I’m lucky, the Zigbee stack could fit in the same micro with the Ethernet stack.

Module first draft

Should I do a very quick first draft using modules? If so, are there any that offer a path to a custom component-level solution?  I doubt it.  I probably need to break down and admit the same thing that everyone else has: that the Digi-style smart ethernet connector, and the Xbee, are the best way to go for prototyping and even small volume production.  About $50 parts cost, or about $80 my sale price for one-off production.

If I go this route, I clearly will NOT make a single design for gateway and devices.

Daintree, which makes expensive but powerful network analysis tools, offers a few useful Zigbee and wireless primers on their site.

• Daintree’s Getting Started guide.
• Here’s a paper about the benefits of mesh networking.
• An overview of Daintree’s commissioning tools.
• Jennic offers a good basic Zigbee primer.
• TI has a complicated Flash animation which covers a lot of ideas in the home and factory automation areas.
• RT’s article on using Zigbee to develop commercial products.
  

• OpenZB is an open source Zigbee toolset project, focussed on larger networks and the TinyOS platform.
• Using Zigbee with a Linux SLUG (as a traffic logger, etc.)

Freaklabs says that “Arch Rock’s 6LoWPAN stack is now available on the Atmel RZRAVEN board which has the Atmel AT86RF230 802.15.4 MAC on it. The 6LoWPAN stack is available as a binary image for the board and has TCP and UDP services which are accessible via a PC.”

Does this mean that someone has indeed merged the two types of stacks? Well, the app notes say that this approach does indeed eliminate the need for two protocols. But, I don’t see any way to buy this, or design it into a product. Demo only, as far as I can see.