Meshnetics ZigBee Goes Open Source

Oct. 16, 2007

Meshnetics was showing off its ZigBit modules such as the ZigBit Module with Dual Chip Antenna.

Meshnetics was showing off its ZigBit modules such as the ZigBit Module with Dual Chip Antenna (Fig. 1). These modules handle 2.4GHz IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee support. It incorporates an Atmel ATmega 1281v microcontroller with 128Kbytes of flash and 8Kbytes of RAM. The module uses an AT86RF230 transceiver with a 101dBm of Rx sensitivity and up to +3dBm of transmit power. The big news at the show was the opening of its 802.15.4 and ZigBee stacks. The use of the latter still requires joining the ZigBee Alliance if the ZigBee logo is going to be used on a product but there would be not licensing fees for the stack itself. The announcement will have little affect for most of Meshnetics customers since they will be purchasing modules with the stack already included but it is a good starting point for Atmel AVR-based development. Related Links Meshnetics

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William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

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