Doubts about how to form a pre-defined Zigbee network

[Pablo1610]

Hi,

Currently, I'm working with the P-NucleoWB55 evaluation kit, and I'm developing a Zigbee network to exchange some messages between devices. My problem comes when I have to form and join the network. I'm not sure about the meaning of the configuration parameters: panId, networkManagerAddress, extendedPanId, shortAddr. I would like to know what are those parameters useful for (form the network, join, and identify the device).

[Remy ISSALYS]

Hello,

Each Zigbee network is identified by an Extended PANID (8 bytes). PANID is a 2 bytes identifier derived from Extended PANID. PANID is present in every message exchanged over the Zigbee network. It is used to filter data exchanged between devices, in case several Zigbee networks are mapped on the same channel. Zigbee network is formed by the Zigbee Coordinator (ZC).

ZC usually acts as Trust Center and Network Manager. Every device in the Zigbee network is identified by a 16 bits short address allocated by ZC when Association is performed.

ZC short address is always 0x0000 as per Zigbee Standard. By default, Zigbee network is formed using Z09 Link Key. Device EUI64 address is used as Extended PANID and every other parameter is dynamically and randomly allocated by ZC. You may choose to assign dedicated values to some parameters depending on your use case. However, default network configuration is usually enough to start playing with Zigbee protocol.

For general information regarding Zigbee, please refer to Zigbee Getting Started AN5506.

Additional information regarding Startup parameters can also be found in AN5500 section 4.5.2.

Best Regards