ZigBee Wireless Soil Moisture Sensor Design for Vineyard ...

The mesh topology is also called a peer-to-peer system. This system is an ad
hoc multi hop system. In a mesh network based on the ZigBee protocol, each
node can be used to send and receive data. Therefore data will reach its
ultimate destination reliably, via intermediate nodes (refer to Figure 7) [10].
The network consists of multiple redundant communication paths.
Figure 7: ZigBee Topologies [5]
The mesh network has the important properties, it is self-configuring, selfhealing
and scalable. ZigBee mesh network forms itself, it does not require
manual configuration. The network identifies new nodes and automatically
includes them in the network [10]. Moreover if a node stops functioning, the
network re-routs messages through alternative paths to avoid this node.
According to the ZigBee standard, a mesh network may contain up to 65,536
network nodes (clients) [10]. The
Table 1 below compares the above key points for each network topology.
Topology Reliability Adaptability Scalability
Point-to-Point High Low None (2 endpoints)
Star Network Low Low Moderate (7-30 endpoints)
Mesh Network High High Yes (1000s of endpoints)
Table 1: Network Topology Suitability in Industrial Applications [10]
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