Hands-On ZigBee: Implementing 802.15.4 with Microcontrollers (Embedded Technology) [Paperback]

Fred Eady (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0123708877 | ISBN-13: 978-0123708878

Since its recent introduction, the ZigBee protocol has created an enormous amount of buzz in venues from magazine covers to trade show floors to water coolers. Its promise of providing a simpler, cheaper, more power-efficient WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) alternative to WiFi and Bluetooth has opened up new data collection possibilities in application areas from industrial controls to medical devices to intruder alarms. Yet, despite this widespread interest, there is still little information available that goes beyond detailing the spec itself. Missing from the current ZigBee lexicon is practical, application-oriented guidance from an expert, specifically geared to aid engineers in implementing this new technology. Enter respected designer and popular columnist Fred Eady! With his new book, he provides the only comprehensive how-to ZigBee guide available.

·The ONLY one-stop Zigbee resource available- from basics to sniffers to specs
·7 easy-to-assemble ZigBee projects allow the reader to follow along...hands-on!
·Working hardware and software examples included in every chapter

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I recommend this book to anyone doing 802.15.4 or ZigBee development. It is likely that Eady touches on the platform you are or will be using and it contrasts it well with everything else out there." - William Wong, Electronic Design, August 2007

Book Description

Master ZigBee now! From basic concepts to successful projects, popular columnist Fred Eady teaches you how to create a wireless network with just one book! --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Newnes (March 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0123708877
• ISBN-13: 978-0123708878
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Almost worthless., April 13, 2007

By 

Robert Zusman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hands-On ZigBee: Implementing 802.15.4 with Microcontrollers (Embedded Technology) (Paperback)

Little more than an overview of the various 802.15.4 / Zigbee chips available from various manufacturers. Very little actual Zigbee information. Lacking any serious example source-code. Also the author has possibly the most annoying writing style I've ever read, with lots of music trivia filling the places where real information should be.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars very disappointing, September 24, 2007

By 

Nathan Moore (Chauncey, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hands-On ZigBee: Implementing 802.15.4 with Microcontrollers (Embedded Technology) (Paperback)

While at first I thought that I'd like this book due to the author's odd writing style I quickly grew annoyed by it since he really did skip over a lot of information. Ealy seems completely incapable of conveying technical information in his writing. He jumps from silly completely unrelated topics to hardly explained C struct definitions to other parts that rely on what he should have been telling when he was telling some story. Then he just goes on to tell about several radio chipsets and their included software packages. It really isn't much more than you'd get in an evaluation package from the manufacturers, which may be of some use as for hobbyist these may be difficult to evaluate, but he still doesn't give you enough to make any determination about what package you'd like to use.

The included CD is pretty useless. It has packages from some of the chip development packages (that you can't use without those packages) and an ARP project that he had left over from his ethernet book as he never mentioned using ARP in relation to Zigbee and 802.15.4, and hardly said anything about Zigbee though he used the word a lot.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, but a little bit campy, March 18, 2008

By 

OKCTechReader (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hands-On ZigBee: Implementing 802.15.4 with Microcontrollers (Embedded Technology) (Paperback)

This book has some helpful information about ZigBee technology, and it's clear the author is quite knowledgeable about his topic. It is also very clear that the author has a terrific sense of humor, mixing in his homespun, tongue-in-cheek wit with the technical verbiage. This, however, was a distraction, in my opinion.

It is fully understandable to see the need to take what some might call a dry topic and try to make it more interesting. If this were a book about home remedies or training your dog, humor would certainly have been more appropriate. For an engineer like myself, however, who is wanting to understand the technology better, this is not necessarily a dry topic, and attempts to lighten it, at least for me, made it a little more difficult to read.

As far as the technical portion of the book, I learned quite a lot about ZigBee (more than I'll ever need to know), and I congratulate the author for his vast knowledge. The humor will certainly work well for some readers, but I think not for all.