Zigbee software

Our software offering for Zigbee development is the nRF Connect SDK. Our nRF Connect SDK is a scalable and unified software development kit for building products based on all our nRF52, nRF53 and nRF91 Series wireless devices. It offers developers an extensible framework for building size-optimized software for memory-constrained devices as well as powerful and complex software for more advanced devices and applications. It integrates the Zephyr RTOS and a wide range of samples, application protocols, protocol stacks, libraries and hardware drivers. It includes DSR's industry-proven Zigbee 3.0 stack, ZBOSS, optimized for minimal resource usage and high performance. The nRF52840 as well as the nRF52833 SoC combined with the nRF Connect SDK is a Zigbee compliant platform, ensuring interoperability and that implementation is according to specification.

nRF5 SDK for Thread and Zigbee is also a Zigbee compliant Platform, but not recommended for new designs. It contains everything needed to get started and complete your Zigbee product development, including a broad selection of application examples, drivers, libraries and protocol stacks, fully supporting the nRF52833 and nRF52840 SoCs.

Highlighted Zigbee-only examples:

• Light Control example - Demonstrates a basic Zigbee network with a Coordinator, Router and End Device.
• CLI Agent example - Demonstrates interaction with a Zigbee application through a command line interface (CLI)
• OTA Upgrade Client example - Demonstrates how to configure and carry out a secure over-the-air (OTA) device firmware update (DFU)
• OTA Upgrade Server Example with image transfer over Bluetooth LE - Demonstrates how to transfer a Zigbee OTA image over a Bluetooth LE connection and distribute it in the Zigbee network

Zigbee and Bluetooth LE multiprotocol operation
The multiprotocol capabilities are handled by the IEEE 802.15.4 radio driver. The radio driver is a generic, stack independent and system independent. It contains built-in support for multiprotocol, allowing for concurrent operation of IEEE 802.15.4-based protocols (e.g. Thread, ZigBee) and Bluetooth LE. The nRF5 SDK for Thread and Zigbee includes several examples where Zigbee and Bluetooth LE, for details have a look at the SDK documentation.

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

Switched multiprotocol is useful in for example 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 Low Energy 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, it being Bluetooth mesh, Thread or Zigbee. Device firmware updates (DFU) can be carried out over Bluetooth LE, while the device typically operates with another protocol.

With dynamic protocol 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 interoperabilty 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.