hello i have an idea in my mind for my final year project and need some help from you. we are doing a project in the embedded system field. we are doing a flood monitoring system using zigbee.this projects will help reduce the water level in flood prone areas using pumps and the communication between the pumps and the control room will be done using zigbee .so please tell me how to get started
The first stage of any such project is the Literature Survey. That means that you spend some significant time studying The Literature; ie, papers, reports, theses, etc on this subject.
That will give you some idea of the current State Of The Art in this field; ie, what others are doing and have discovered.
That will give you a starting point for your own development...
I agree with the posts of Per and Andrew. I take note of the term ZigBee module in Per's post. I recommend that you limit your project to using purchased ZigBee modules at this time. A project even with a large team approach designing and layout of complex RF circuits will be difficult for a school year project.
Having raised the caution, let me point you to several sources.
For sub-GHz ZigBee look at the SiLabs products. They have application notes, low cost evaluation modules and software examples.
For the 2,4GHz range look at the Texas Instruments (ChipCon) products. Again they have many low cost evaluation modules, application notes and software. In this case I suggest that you attempt to stay away from their freeware sofware stacks. Written for th CC25xx series, it is the most vile application of embedded software that has ever been created.
Just to toggle a LED they go through several levels of pointers/function pointers, enums, structures and macro calls. It's atrocious programming for an 8051 base MCU. It might be fine for C++ programming on their (TI) Code Composer and some DSP but it's junk for the 8051.
Both companies have application notes for PCB layout including antennas and testing.
I also suggest that you look at the HART protocol. I know that you have decided or your instructor has decided that you implement ZigBee. HART is in the same RF range (2,4GHz) but a much simpler approach. HART is advertised at 200 meters RF range or more while ZigBee is normally rated less than 75 meters RF range.
I have used sub-GHz and ZigBee in the same context but I not sure that the sub-GHz radios have been added to the ZigBee compliance protocols.
There many other vendors of IEEE 802.15.4 radios and software stacks such as Freescale and Ember.
For documentation start with http://www.zigbee.org. Here is where you will find most of the protocol specification and many more links. Don't get too hung up on meeting the protocols directly unless you plan to interface radios and software from multiple companies. Then strict compliance can be a matter of success or failure.
Two books I have found most helpful are "ZigBee Wireless Networking" by Drew Gislason - ISBN: 978-0-7506-8597-9 and "ZigBee Wireless Sensor and Control Network" - ISBN: 978-0-713485-4.
Good luck on your project and remember what Andrew posted. Use the inet to find all types of documentation on Zigbee. Al Bradford
but don't forget your college Library - that is still an important source of information! They may alson have access to databases, academic publications, etc, that are not on the "open" internet...
Note that there are several proprietary protocols that use the same basic RF layer as Zigbee.
In fact, I think that every Zigbee module supplier also has their own proprietary scheme.
eg, Texas Instruments has their "SimpliciTI" www.ti.com/.../index.htm
Digi have "DigiMesh" www.digi.com/.../xbee-digimesh-2-4.jsp
etc, etc,...
Function pointers need to be treated with extreme care in C51
see: http://www.keil.com/appnotes/docs/apnt_129.asp and: http://www.keil.com/support/man/docs/bl51/bl51_ol_fp.htm
See also: www.keil.com/.../search.asp