The Connectivity Standards Alliance has released Zigbee 4.0, an updated version of its wireless mesh networking standard with better security, improved battery life, and batch setup of new devices like smart lights, switches, and plugs. It’s also announcing a new feature called Suzi, which is short for Sub-GHz and Zigbee.
While Zigbee smart home devices typically operate on the 2.4GHz band, which can experience signal loss caused by obstacles like thick walls, Suzi-branded devices will be able to work on the European 800 MHz and North American 900 MHz frequency bands. That way, the group says they’ll offer coverage for smart devices installed outside and farther away from a home, without the need for additional hardware to extend the networks.
Suzi is similar to other branded features that have been added to the 802.15.4-based spec over the years, like Zigbee Smart Energy usage monitoring gear, and the low-power / low-maintenance Zigbee Green Power devices that harvest energy from sources like light or heat instead of using batteries.
As companies like Ikea have been making the transition to Matter over Thread, which also operates on the 2.4GHz band, the advantages of Suzi will help keep the Zigbee protocol competitive, and not just in the home. “Suzi is a strong fit for commercial and industrial use-cases, which introduce challenging environments such as thick walls, multiple levels, and large deployments,” Genie Peshkova, chair of the Zigbee Product Marketing Group, explained to The Verge in an email.
The list of improvements coming with Zigbee 4.0 includes a simplified certification process, increased information exchange between devices, better security, and improved battery life for devices with communications that can be limited to set schedules.
A new feature called Batch Commissioning will streamline large-scale installations by allowing multiple smart devices to be set up simultaneously. An electrician could install Zigbee-compatible light bulbs throughout a new house long before there’s even power, and when a hub is later installed and running, they can be activated at once instead of having to add them to the network individually.
Zigbee Direct, a previously optional feature added two years ago, is now standard in 4.0. It allows smartphones to directly connect, control, and even add nearby Zigbee devices to a network using Bluetooth Low Energy without a hub.
Zigbee 4.0 is fully backwards compatible with Zigbee 3.0 and Smart Energy devices, and devices with “sufficient operational resources” can potentially be upgraded over-the-air once certified, according to Peshkova. But exactly which devices will be eligible to take full advantage of the improvements isn’t yet known. The Suzi certification program is scheduled to start sometime in the first half of 2026.
from The Verge https://ift.tt/ukGptVg
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