1: ZigBee Essential Facts and Features > Network Topologies

Network Topologies

The way that a message is routed from one network node to another depends on the network topology. This page provides a brief description of the possible topologies of a ZigBee network. The ZigBee topologies are described in more detail later in this course.

A ZigBee network can adopt one of the three topologies: Star, Tree, Mesh. These are illustrated on the right and briefly described below.

Star Topology

A Star network has a central node, which is linked to all other nodes in the network. All messages travel via the central node.

Tree Topology

A Tree network has a top node with a branch/leaf structure below. To reach its destination, a message travels up the tree (as far as necessary) and then down the tree.

Mesh Topology

A Mesh network has a tree-like structure in which some leaves are directly linked. Messages can travel across the tree, when a suitable route is available.

	There is always one node that takes a co-ordinating role in a network - the central node in a Star topology, the top node in a Tree/Mesh topology. There must also be nodes with the role of relaying messages from one neighbouring node to another. The different node types in a ZigBee network are described later in the course.

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