Zigbee

Our software platform for Zigbee development is the nRF Connect SDK. It integrates the Zephyr RTOS together with a wide range of samples, protocol stacks, libraries, and hardware drivers.

Zigbee R23 support, based on DSR's ZBOSS stack, is available as an nRF Connect SDK Add-on. The add-on includes samples covering coordinator, router, and end device roles, with support for OTA DFU, including resumable downloads and DFU over Bluetooth LE, multiprotocol operation with Bluetooth LE, and experimental Touchlink support for pairing devices directly without a coordinator or hub.

Documentation for the Zigbee R23 Add-on is available here.

For existing R22-based designs, a Zigbee R22 add-on is also available in maintenance mode.

The Matter and Zigbee Add-on lets you build a single device that supports both Matter and Zigbee, switching between the two protocols rather than running them at the same time. This suits vendors offering existing Zigbee customers an upgrade path to Matter, or shipping one product variant that works with either ecosystem.

Two switching modes are supported: a one-time upgrade path, where the device starts on Zigbee, advertises Matter capability over Bluetooth LE in the background, and switches to Matter once commissioned, falling back to Zigbee if the Matter network becomes unavailable; and bi-directional switching on a button press, which persists network data across repeated switches.

The add-on integrates the Zigbee R23 add-on and the Matter stack through the nRF Connect SDK, and supports the nRF54L15, nRF54LM20A, and nRF54LM20B SoCs. It includes light switch and light bulb samples, with DFU over Bluetooth LE SMP enabled by default and Zigbee FOTA available to enable.

Documentation for the Matter and Zigbee Add-on is available here.

Zigbee and Bluetooth LE

Our solution offers the option to run multiple protocols on one SoC, either one at a time (switched multiprotocol) or concurrently (dynamic multiprotocol).

Switched multiprotocol is useful in smart home applications where the mesh protocol is unknown — it could be Bluetooth mesh, Thread, or Zigbee. With switched multiprotocol you can develop a generic application and then adapt to the mesh protocol where the device is used. Another possibility is to leverage Bluetooth LE interoperability and ubiquity. The device is configured and commissioned with Bluetooth LE, with for example a smartphone, and then switches to the appropriate mesh protocol. Device firmware updates (DFU) can be carried out over Bluetooth LE while the device typically operates with another protocol.

With dynamic multiprotocol, multiple protocols are active at the same time. The radio time is time-sliced and shared between the protocols. The scheduling is autonomous and connections are maintained. Leverage Bluetooth LE interoperability and ubiquity and bridge into a Bluetooth mesh, Thread, or Zigbee mesh with a Bluetooth LE device, such as a smartphone. Use it for commissioning or to simply interact with the mesh network.