1: ZigBee Essential Facts and Features > Alliance Standards

Alliance Standards

ZigBee is an open standard devised by the ZigBee Alliance. The standard includes measures to ensure that devices in a ZigBee network can operate together or, at least, exist alongside each other. The standard also includes a system of "profiles" to provide a standardised framework in which network designers can develop their software. This page outlines these measures.

Co-existence and Interoperability

Any device designed for use in a ZigBee network must comply with the ZigBee standard. This ensures “co-existence” and, to a certain extent, “interoperability” between devices - these terms are defined below:

• Co-existence: The ability of a device to exist in the same network as other devices (possibly from other manufacturers) without preventing them from working.
• Interoperability: The ability of a device to operate in conjunction with other devices (possibly from other manufacturers) - that is, to communicate and function with them.

Profiles

For the purpose of interoperability, the ZigBee Alliance has introduced the concept of a device “profile”, which contains the essential properties of a device for a particular application or market. There are two classes of profile, the "stack profile" and the "application profile", described below.

Stack Profile: This determines the resources that the ZigBee software stack provides for the configuration of the network, such as the network type and shape, and the features that are available to applications (such as the types of security). Three market profiles plus a generic profile have so far been defined by the ZigBee Alliance: Home Controls, Building Automation, Plant Control, Network Specific.

Application Profile: This is associated with a particular stack profile and addresses the needs of a specific application or market - for example, the ZigBee Alliance has defined the Home Controls-Lighting (HCL) application profile for use in controlling lighting in the home. It defines a number of devices and functions which are needed or are useful for controlling domestic lighting, such as switches, dimmers, occupancy sensors and load controllers (which control the light sources). Application profiles can be public or private:

• Public profiles are those introduced by the ZigBee Alliance for use by manufacturers implementing devices that need to work with devices from other manufacturers - for example, to allow a switch from one vendor to work with the light fitting from another vendor. Products implemented to a public profile are tested and certified for conformance to that profile.
• Private profiles are also known as "non-public" profiles - they are proprietry profiles introduced by manufacturers to allow them to market products for which public profiles do not exist. This also allows manufacturers to differentiate their products from others in the same market segment.

ZigBee Compliance Levels

The ZigBee Alliance co-ordinates the compliance issues for products based on the ZigBee protocol.

The first level of compliance is the ZigBee Compliant Platform (ZCP) which applies to modules or platforms intended as building blocks for use in end-products. For the end-products, there are then two further levels of compliance:

• ZigBee Network Capable: Applies to end-products that are built on ZigBee Compliant Platforms and that use private application profiles. Testing ensures that products using these profiles can co-exist with other products and networks carrying the ZigBee Certified product logo, without adverse impacts.
• ZigBee Compliant Product: Applies to end-products that are built on ZigBee Compliant Platforms and that use public application profiles. After successful completion of the ZigBee Alliance Certification program, the ZigBee Certified product logo can be applied to the certified product.

The three forms of the ZigBee product logo are shown on the right.

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