What is Zigbee?

Zigbee is a wireless communication protocol specifically designed for low-power and low-bandwidth applications. It is commonly used in smart home technology to connect devices and enable them to communicate with each other.

Zigbee is designed to consume significantly less energy and bandwidth than traditional WiFi. This makes Zigbee ideal for smart home devices that need to run on batteries, as Zigbee is designed to consume little power compared to traditional WiFi.

One of the key benefits of Zigbee is that it allows devices to communicate with each other in a mesh network. This means that each device can act as a node in the network, transmitting data to other devices and extending the range of the network. This makes it much more reliable than traditional point-to-point wireless networks.

Another advantage of Zigbee is that it is an open standard, meaning that any manufacturer can create devices that are compatible with the Zigbee protocol. As a result, Zigbee devices can easily interoperate with other Zigbee devices, regardless of the manufacturer.

Smart home ecosystems such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit all support integrating with Zigbee devices.

Home Assistant, a popular open-source home automation platform, also supports integration with Zigbee devices. A device running Home Assistant can be enhanced to support Zigbee by adding a Zigbee USB dongle, such as a SONOFF Universal Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus Gateway.

Overall, Zigbee is a powerful and versatile technology that is well-suited for integrating a range of devices into a smart home ecosystem.