ZigBee coverage!

[point]

Hello all,

does someone know which is the maximum distance that a 13192 ZigBee transcever can cover? I read the docs but didn't found any specification regarding this aspect , only that the gain is programable from -27 to 4db.

Thank you.

[Juanma]

I built a board using the MC13192 and HCS08GB60, the results were as follow:

12 meters indoor across 4 walls, each one with 20 cm.

280 meters outdoor.

[CecchiSandrone]

Did you use external antenna?

[admin]

Hello Point, hello for everybody.
The Zigbee application notes AN2731, AN2902, AN2935, AN2975 and AN2976 could be useful for You.
I hope it would be useful.
Regards.

[peg]

Hi point,

How long is a piece of string?

The answer lies somewhere between 1m and 1km.

If you specify maybe 50 more parameters you might be able to narrow the answer down a bit.

Antenna Gain? Background noise? Acceptable retries...............

And for this reason you will probably never get an "official" answer.

Regards David

[point]

i used ZigBee demo kit (ethernet data concentrator + 3 peripherials). I dont know if the antennas inside them are the best , but i was not sattisfied at all about the distance performance. The signal did not pass of the 8 meters limit in open area inside a building. I read that the transceivers are programmed by default to 0Db gain. how would the increase of the power to 3.6db will be refected in the distance gain?

thank you.

I need some exact values because we must use wireless comunication in a project and i don't know to choose between zigbee or another radio link.

[rocco]

Hi, Point:

It sounds like your Zigbee kit is different from mine, so I can't answer the question about the antenna. But here are a few small tidbits that I think I know:

A 3.6db gain will be just over twice the power from 0db. But since the propagated signal will decrease with the square of the distance, you will only get somewhere near 1.5 times more range, all else being equal.

I don't know what country you are in, but in the US, I believe you can transmit in the 2.4GHz band at up to 1 milliwatt continuously, and 10 milliwatts at a low duty cycle. I never determined what qualifies for a low duty cycle, but I know of a few Zigbee products that are operating at 10 milliwatts, and are claiming a range of 100 feet.

I have no idea how much power your 0db translates to, but you can always use an additional power amp, as long as you don't exceed the power output called out by the regulations (which is measured at the antenna).

Also keep in mind that the range has as much to do with the sensitivity of the receiver as it does with the strength of the transmitted signal.

[peg]

Hi,

Well I just performed a few range experiments of my own using two 13192SARD boards running the SMAC4.1a range demo.

These boards only have an antenna which is just a trace on the PCB.

First range is: 3m across a room through a doorway 4m across another room then through a glass door to outside.

At max power +3 to 5dBm 16metres

At nominal power 0dBm 16 metres

At min power -16dBm 7metres

On another range: outside along the footpath: 50 metres at max power!

Two thing stand out here:

1. I could not tell the difference between max and nom power???

2. The enormous range achieved outside with a poor antenna!!!

This only reinforces what I said in my first post.

Regards David

[point]

i read now that for europe the maximum output power is 100mW. The 13912 transceiver has only 1mW. Does anyone of you used a amplifier for extending coverage are?

Thank you,