Wireless Sensor Network, 2010, 2, 467-471

doi:10.4236/wsn.2010.26058 Published Online June 2010 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/wsn)

Research on Application of ZigBee Technology in

Flammable and Explosive Environment
Yang Li1,2, Ke Zhang2
1
Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China
2
Beijing institute of Petro-chemical Techmology, Beijing, China
E-mail: liyang@bipt.edu.cn
Received April 4, 2010; revised May 6, 2010; accepted May 15, 2010
Abstract

Wireless Sensor Network based on ZigBee technology is a wireless network which is composed of many
nodes of ZigBee RF chips, sensors and MCUs, especially suitable for application of the remote monitoring
system in flammable and explosive environments. This paper presents the characteristics and advantages of
ZigBee technology, also discusses the system for hardware and software design. This system effectively ful-
fills the remote monitoring in flammable and explosive environments and posses high practical values.

Keywords: ZigBee, Wireless Sensor Network, Remote Monitoring, Flammable and Explosive

1. Introduction the production environment. The monitoring system has

the advantages of low cost, low power consumption, wire-
In the oil, chemicals and other inflammable and explo- less transmission, and reliable communications.
sive production environment, it is essential to the pro-
duction site, some information (such as pressure, tem- 1.1. ZigBee Technology
perature, gas concentration, etc.) for data collection and
transmission network in order to achieve remote moni- ZigBee is a relatively recent emergence of wireless net-
toring and control. At present, widely used by cable way work communication technology, more than 100 well-
through all kinds of information sent to the monitoring known by the global coalition of hardware and software
center, however, most point of the scene to monitor geo- companies committed to the development of a short-
graphical dispersion, environment, complex terrain, which range, low rate, low-power wireless network standards,
is encountered in many practical applications: 1) To set the main development direction for the wireless sensor
up a qualified cable transmission network, there is the networks, home automation, remote control, industrial
complexity of the construction and implementation of the automation, agricultural automation, and medical care
difficulty; 2) In order to achieve all-round production of and other applications.
effective environmental monitoring, dispersed layout must
be many types, the large number of nodes to monitor the 1.1.1. ZigBee Technology Features
data acquisition, cable monitoring is often difficult to Construction of ZigBee-based wireless network tech-
achieve; 3) The cable monitoring system has its own nology has the following features:
limitations, such as the laying of a high fixed cost of 1) Data transfer rate low: Only 20 k bytes/s to 250 k
communication lines. In recent years, the emergence of bytes/sec, to focus on low-delivery applications;
ZigBee technology has provided some very good ideas to 2) Low power consumption: Due to the use of DSSS
solve these problems mentioned above. technology ZigBee replace FHSS technology, and use of
In this paper, the ZigBee technology wireless sensor hibernation wake-up mechanism for the work of ma-
network system for remote monitoring the production chines, two on the 5th ordinary dry-cell batteries can be
environment of the explosive have been put forward and used for 6 months to 2 years, which eliminates the fre-
designed. The system layout of the scene in the produc- quent replacement of the battery charge or trouble;
tion of the sensor node to all kinds of information can be 3) Low cost: because of low data rate ZigBee, the
wirelessly sent to the central node, the center node of agreement is simple and royalty-free, so greatly reduced
data through GPRS or RS232 interface module to the cost;
monitoring host (PC machine) for remote monitoring of 4) Network capacity: ZigBee Network Node Manager

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468 Y. LI ET AL.

may be a number of sub-node, a node can manage up to

254 sub-node. At the same time, the node can be from
one network node management, can be composed of
65,536 large-scale network nodes;
5) The short time delay: delay-sensitive applications
for optimized, communication delay and activated from
hibernation is very short delay, typically 15 ms latency to
30 milliseconds;
6) Safety: ZigBee provides the data integrity checks
Figure 1. IEEE 802.15.4 stack.
and authentication functions, the use of a common en-
cryption algorithm AES2128, while the flexibility to
determine their security attributes; transmit data routing functions, supports a wide range of
7) Reliable: the mechanism used to avoid collisions, as routing algorithm and a variety of network topology.
well as the need for a fixed bandwidth communications 4) Application Interface Layer: is responsible for the
business set aside a dedicated time slot, when sending different applications mapped to the ZigBee network,
data to avoid competition and conflict; node module au- including security attributes to set up and a number of
tomatically between the functions of dynamic network business data flow and other functions together.
information in the entire ZigBee networks the way through 5) Application Layer: The principal objective is the
the automatic route for transmission, thus ensuring the realization of the network communication between dif-
reliability of information transmission; ferent devices, applications and settings for access to
8) Flexible working band: the use of the Channel information services, calls for the application layer pro-
2.4 GHz, 868 MHz (Europe) and 915 MHz (USA), are tocol to provide continuous and discrete control applica-
license-free band. tions and other support.

1.1.2. ZigBee Architecture 1.1.3. ZigBee Wireless Network Type

ZigBee protocol stack structure as shown in Figure 1, ZigBee network topology has three: star, cluster tree and
IEEE802.15.4 responsible for the physical layer and mesh type as shown in Figure 2. Among them, the star-
MAC layer protocol, ZigBee Alliance to develop the shaped network is a network-based control center, by a
network layer, application layer security services in- coordinator node and a number of terminal nodes, terminal
terface and protocol, can be user-defined application nodes realized through co-ordination among the commu-
layer. nication; cluster tree network has increased the concept of
1) Physical Layer: the bottom is the agreement to as- routing, terminal node coordinator can not only access
sume a direct role in working with the task of the outside node can access any node has a routing function, it has
world, is responsible for the modulation data, send and routing node can not be direct communication between
receive work. IEEE 802.15.4 in the physical layer (PHY)
each other only through the co-ordination of the routing
defined two criteria, namely 2.4 GHz and 868/915 MHz
nodes between the completion of the communication; mesh
PHY physical layer. The band can be used in the respec-
network to provide a more flexible mechanism, through
tive channel 16, 10 or 1, each provision of 250 kb/s,
the self-organizing routing and wireless data communica-
40 kb/s and 20 kb/s transfer rate, the physical layer are
tions to provide multiple paths, when the optimal commu-
used in various band direct sequence spread spectrum
technology. nication path failure, a redundant mesh network in the
2) MAC Layer: The IEEE 802.15.4 protocol definition, other path to choose the most appropriate the path for data
the use of the CSMA-CA mechanism to avoid the colli- communication, therefore, effectively reduce the net-work
sion, and its features include wireless links between de- structure of information transmission delay and improve
vices to establish, maintain and disconnect, to confirm the reliability of the network communications.
the frame mode to send and receive, channel access and Know from the above, ZigBee network node from the
control, and rapid automatic Frame Check request re- logic function can be divided into co-ordination, routers
issued, reserved slot management and information man- and terminal equipment, and physical properties from the
agement, such as broadcasting. The definition of a radio ZigBee network nodes can be divided into full-featured
frame layer, data frames, frames and MAC command and simple equipment FFD function device RFD. Among
confirmation frame, such as four kinds of frame types. them, the full-function device can act as a coordinator,
3) Network/Security Layer: The main mechanism re- router or terminal equipment, and can only serve as a
sponsible for the establishment of networks and man- simple function of terminal equipment devices.
agement, self-configuration and self-repair function, the Each ZigBee network must include a co-ordinator, Zig-
realization of the node to join or leave the network, re- Bee is the network coordinator of the center responsible
ceive or discard the other nodes, as well as to locate and for the organization and maintenance of the network by

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 Y. LI ET AL. 469

Figure 2. ZigBee topology.

adding a new node and the allocation of l6-bit short ad-

dress; Zigbee routers responsible for routing node, and
used to expand the scope of the network; and the termi- Figure 3. Structure of the framework of remote monitoring
nal equipment is to achieve a specific functional unit. system.

2. Explosive Production Environment ZigBee network information, such as: the production of
Remote Monitoring System Architecture the ambient temperature, pressure, overrun alarm, such
as the peak period.
System structure shown in Figure 3, the entire system by ZigBee end-node using the occasional wake-up call
monitoring the host, GPRS module (or, a ZigBee co- from time to time work, time to wake up from hiberna-
ordinator node, a number of ZigBee routers, ZigBee tion to start data acquisition, ZigBee routing node to send
nodes and a number of nodes of terminal equipment. This a message, send completed and then enter hibernation.
is a cluster tree network structure is conducive to the ZigBee routing nodes will collect the data sent to the
number of network nodes and the physical expansion of ZigBee coordinator node, gateway GPRS module through
the scope, complex, multi-node wireless network commu- the data uploaded to the remote monitoring center.
nication system is also an important reference value.
The co-ordination of the network nodes, network 3. System Hardware Design
management functions, the receiving terminal device
node for the data upload, and transfer through the GPRS Explosive production environment is a remote moni-
network to the monitoring center. Router nodes for rout- toring system by a number of ZigBee network node.
ing of information transmitted, allowing other nodes join Each node is basically the same hardware structure, but
the network. Node device to the network coordinator not the same network layer. ZigBee hardware in each
from time to time collect information to send and receive node has two basic components: micro-controller and
commands from the monitoring host. ZigBee module wireless receiver send some. Hardware-specific features
used for GPRS networks and Internet networks, the In-
into the single chip to achieve by the burning process to
ternet (also available in other ways), the realization of
decide.
ZigBee network datas to monitor the upload and down-
To facilitate the design and cost savings, the system
load the host commands. Host real-time monitoring of
the collection, storage, monitoring and processing uses a wireless transceiver and controller integrated with
equipment from a remote terminal nodes of information, the CC2430 single-chip solution module, the module
and can overrun the police at any time, such as setting from a Norwegian company Chipcon is in line with
parameters for the production environment to achieve standard IEEE 802.15.4-chip ZigBee products. It incor-
effective monitoring and management, its functions are porates a single chip ZigBee radio frequency (RF) front-
divided into two major parts, 1) Data Monitoring: to re- end, memory and microcontroller. It uses an 8-bit MCU
ceive from the ZigBee network information collected, (8051), and 128 kb with a programmable flash memory
the corresponding data into the database; to receive in- and 8 kb of RAM, also includes analog-to-digital con-
structions from the managers, and command frame for- verter (ADC), 4 timers (Timer), watchdog timer, 32 kHz
mat in accordance with the configuration commands, crystal oscillator of the sleep mode timer, power-on reset
GPRS module through the command issued to the Zig- circuit, power-fail detection circuit, as well as 21 pro-
Bee network and do the action. 2) Data Management: grammable I/O pin. Its block diagram is shown in
The database can be found, query data from the current Figure 4.

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470 Y. LI ET AL.

on, the user can call these functions to prepare their own
applications.
System Software primarily to achieve two basic func-
tions: 1) to achieve a co-ordinator node and other net-
work nodes and communications; 2) cycle to achieve the
various nodes and send sensor data acquisition.

Figure 4. CC2430 structure. 4.1. Node Design Coordinator

CC2430 network, send and receive data is built on the Network as the network coordinator of the center is re-
ZigBee protocol stack based on. If we are to use the sponsible for the establishment of a network, information
CC2430 ZigBee chip, first of all be familiar with the reception, aggregation, processing and sending control
ZigBee protocol stack (see Figure 1), based on the actual instructions and implementation. Coordinator power to
needs of the application layer programming. At present, start the procedure after the initialization, by calling the
TI has fully disclosed the ZigBee protocol stack CC2430 function aplFormNetwork ()create a network, select a
proceedings; it is relatively easy program development Coordinator PANID as a network logo, create a routing
process to achieve. FLASH memory in the CC2430 in table, and then released to inform the other routers
the internal processor to run the application, when the broadcast frame or a terminal node The addition of node
system is activated, the chip will be stored in FLASH in equipment. Start by sending a GPRS module AT com-
the program in the implementation of the RAM. mand set serial communication rate, the establishment of
CC2430 chip with only a small number of external data communication socket connections ready to begin to
components to send and receive signals will be able to send and receive data and instructions to implement var-
achieve functional, very simple and practical. ZigBee ious operations. Process flow chart is shown in Figure 6.
nodes of the system hardware structure diagram as
shown. 4.2. Terminal Node Programming
According to actual needs of each node can choose a
number of different sensors (such as temperature, pres- Terminal node network is mainly responsible for a variety
sure, etc.) to meet the requirements of the monitoring of information (such as temperature, pressure, etc.) to col-
points. Coordinator node GPRS module also need to host lect data to send and receive commands to control the
and monitor connected to RS232 interface can also be implementation. End-node power-start initialization process
used to connect the host and monitor (if communication
from the close), chip-level conversion MX3232. Node
power circuit terminals using two alkaline batteries on
the 5th, as the coordinator node transceiver has been in a
state, so the use of external power supply.

4. System Software Design

ZigBee protocol stack to provide a number of Applica-
tion Programming Interface, such as aplFormNetwork (),
aplJoinNetwork (), aplSendMSG() function and so

Figure 5. ZigBee node hardware structure. Figure 6. Flow chart of the program coordinator node.

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 Y. LI ET AL. 471

by calling the function aplJoinNetwork () to join the the degree of coverage cluster tree network structure,
network, active and effective network of channel scan- node chip CC2430, has flexible, economic practicability,
ning, the nearest coordinator to find a suitable node or design easy. If the target needs to be identified in accor-
router node apply to join the network, access is approved, dance with the actual sensor types and routers and the
the beginning of information gathering send and receive number of terminal nodes, the system can be applied to
instruction implementation. Terminal node to take a cy- the production and living more occasions to address the
clical mode, do not work in a dormant, down, low-power practical application of the cost of wired network cabling
to achieve energy-saving effect. is too high, not the arrival of the regional environment
Part of the node device code is as follows: kinds of information to monitor the problem.
void main (void){
hallnit（）； // hardware initialization 6. References
apllnit（）； // protocol stack initialization
...... [1] J. A. Gutierrez, “Wireless Medium Access Control (MAC)
do{ and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications for Low Rate
aplJoinNetwork（）； // join the network Wireless Personal Area Networks (LR-WPANs), (IEEE
Standarted for Information Technology802.15.4.),” Insti-
while（apsBusy（））{ apsFSM（）；} tute of Electrical & Electronics, 2003.
}
[2] P. S. Neelakanta and H. Dighe, “Robust Factory Wireless
while （aplGetStatus（）＝WXLPAN_STATUS_ Communicat Ions: A Performance Appraisal of the Blue-
SUCCESS）； tooth and the ZigBee Collocated on an Indust Rial Floor,”
while（1） {apsFSM（）；} IEEE Computer Society, Vol. 3, 2003, pp. 2381-2386.
...... [3] Chipcon, “CC2430 Preliminary Data Sheet (Rev. 1.03)
} SWRS036A,” Chipcon, 2005.
[4] R. Reese, “A ZigBee TM-Subset/IEEE 802.15.4 TM
5. Conclusions Multiplatform Protocol Stack,” Electrical/Computer Engr
MSU, 2006.
In this paper, the design of ZigBee technology produc- [5] “ZigBee Protocol Specification,” http://www.ZigBee.org
tion environment explosive remote monitoring system,

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