4: ZigBee Applications > Application Profiles

Application Profiles

This page recaps the concept of an Application Profile and expands on the information already presented.

As mentioned previously, the ZigBee stack in a particular network will use the relevant 'Stack Profile' from the ZigBee Alliance. The stack profile determines the type, shape and features of the network, and depends on the field of application, e.g. the Home Controls profile.

An Application Profile 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).

Device Descriptions

More specifically, in each Application Profile a number of Device Descriptions are defined, describing the types of devices the profile supports. For the HCL profile, devices such as a Switch Remote Control (a switch), Light Sensor Monochromatic, Dimmer Remote Control, Occupancy Sensor, Switching Load Controller and Dimming Load Controller are available. Each device in an Application Profile has a Device Identifier associated with it.

Input and Output Data

As well as defining the device types supported, the Application Profile also specifies the information that a device can generate as output and can use as input, together with the format this information takes.

The individual pieces of information are called attributes, and their possible values and format or type (e.g. 8- or 16-bit integer, time value, etc) are defined as part of the Device Descriptions in the profile. Attributes are grouped together into clusters for the device, which can be either inputs or outputs. Clusters and attributes are described in detail later in this module.

Public and Private Profiles

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.

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