After long period of time, I ended up with my web blog because this web blog was created as part of "Regulations and standards for wireless communication" course at TU/e and we are at the end of writing period. While I have been writing on my web blog, I always tried to go from general to subjective because I believe it simplifies the understanding. I started writing with technical details which could be thought quite boring but I believe that I did not give any extra and vague information. Then I gave overview on ZigBee Alliance and ZigBee Health Care and then continued with deeper information on them. I used different terminology such as AES 128 etc but I gave small information on them to better understanding of post. Also, I tried to explain development of standard, strong sides of ZigBee Health Care compare to others which is the most crucial and enjoyable part for me. Finally, I evaluated market opportunities of ZigBee Health Care and my future expectations.
I believe I gave enough information on my web blog. I am not specialist and it was my first experience on that topic. I tried to combine knowledge thought in the class and my research through articles and internet. I hope I did not mess up :) I learned lot from this experience and I hope that someone also can enjoy and learn while reading. At this point, unfortunately I don't have any followers except prof dr. Jan Smith but I will force my friends to follow my blog :)
If you have any questions and comments about anything, please feel free to contact...
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
How ZigBee Health Care placed in Market now and future?
The future of Wireless Sensor Network is bright because it consists group nodes or devices.Each device has ability to communicate with other devices and they convey their observations through other devices to a destination. Most importantly with developing technology, wireless sensor networks smaller and more cost effective because of miniaturization process.
By means of developments and miniaturization, wireless sensor network technology has grown rapidly in those 10 years. Sales numbers are proof of this development. In USA, between 5 and 7 billion dollar has been obtained from this sector. In the future, I believe that people will need ZigBee Health Care much more compare to today. In the meanwhile, my belief is supported by Forrester Research. According to their research, they expect US chronic disease device market will grow from 3.8 billion dollar to 26 billion dollar in 5 years.
Apart from USA, in European Union and Japan, market has been growing because of elderly population and it is expected that total potential market will be 87.8 million people.
It is good to take a look US based Chronic Disease Self-Management Program for understanding the importance of ZigBee Health Care. It is a program which uses for different chronic illnesses for example arthritis, diabetes, heart diseases etc. At the end of the program, there is an evaluation and this evaluations show that the patients who took part in this program, improved their health status and behaviours. Although it helps to people to recover, there is a debate about cost because it is around 200 dollar per patient which is quite high for many people. After this program is automated through wireless sensors, patients pay quite less comparatively which results in spread this program all over the world.
By means of developments and miniaturization, wireless sensor network technology has grown rapidly in those 10 years. Sales numbers are proof of this development. In USA, between 5 and 7 billion dollar has been obtained from this sector. In the future, I believe that people will need ZigBee Health Care much more compare to today. In the meanwhile, my belief is supported by Forrester Research. According to their research, they expect US chronic disease device market will grow from 3.8 billion dollar to 26 billion dollar in 5 years.
Apart from USA, in European Union and Japan, market has been growing because of elderly population and it is expected that total potential market will be 87.8 million people.
It is good to take a look US based Chronic Disease Self-Management Program for understanding the importance of ZigBee Health Care. It is a program which uses for different chronic illnesses for example arthritis, diabetes, heart diseases etc. At the end of the program, there is an evaluation and this evaluations show that the patients who took part in this program, improved their health status and behaviours. Although it helps to people to recover, there is a debate about cost because it is around 200 dollar per patient which is quite high for many people. After this program is automated through wireless sensors, patients pay quite less comparatively which results in spread this program all over the world.
AES 128
In the previous post, it is mentioned that ZigBee uses AES 128 encryption. I thought it is good to give brief information about it because security is one of most important issues for everyone.
AES refers to Advanced Encryption Standard which is a symmetric key encryption standard. This standard has three block ciphers which are AES 128, AES 192 and AES 259. All of them have 128-bit block size with key sizes of 128, 192 and 256 bits. ZigBee uses AES 128. When we look at the history of AES, it was announced by National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2001. After announcement, 5 years standardization process took place. At the end of this process, Rijndael was selected as most suitable one. in 2002, it has started to be effective because it was approved by the Secretary of Commerce.
I don't want to go into deep explanation of AES because it requires many other knowledge. I believe that explanations are enough to prove security of AES.
AES refers to Advanced Encryption Standard which is a symmetric key encryption standard. This standard has three block ciphers which are AES 128, AES 192 and AES 259. All of them have 128-bit block size with key sizes of 128, 192 and 256 bits. ZigBee uses AES 128. When we look at the history of AES, it was announced by National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2001. After announcement, 5 years standardization process took place. At the end of this process, Rijndael was selected as most suitable one. in 2002, it has started to be effective because it was approved by the Secretary of Commerce.
I don't want to go into deep explanation of AES because it requires many other knowledge. I believe that explanations are enough to prove security of AES.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Why is it preferable and successful?
ZigBee Health Care is reliable because it does not have any side bad effect on human body. The reason is that as mentioned in one of previous posts, ZigBee operates at lower level of average cell-phone in significant amount although it has almost same power level with Bluetooth devices. On the other hand, it has at least 1000 times less duty cycles than Bluetooth devices. Other important aspect is that other devices operateing ISM bands for medical devices using ZigBee but it does not create any problems because ZigBee has very strong tolerance against any interferences which shows its robustness. ZigBee is tested at The Las Vegas Convention Center because it is one of the worst places for wireless devices but ZigBee performed very well. It is the proof that ZigBee can work without error in any environment.
The important advantage of ZigBee is that it uses Mesh-Networking which helps communication with other radios in the network. Mesh-Networking allows to communication with multiple possible paths to its destination which proves its flexibility. In addition, by means of mesh-networks, networks are enabled to grow in size and physical distances are covered. Point to point and point to multipoint topologies refers that data packet is vulnerable to blockage or interference because of single path. Also, it is easy to add devices to ZigBee network. Most importantly, fast and easy association between devices are allowed by ZigBee's pairing process. High degree flexibility ans stability are obtained by using different algorithms which include hierarchical tree, neighbor and table-based routing.
Other important aspect of security for confidential medical data. It was mentioned one of the previous posts that ZigBee uses AES 128 encryption which is known as strongest level of security. Also, many governments and militaries use this security system. In addition, ZigBee Health Care public application profile has specific security features for medical environment privacy. In addition, ZigBee has a strict certification procedure, it is because if someone buys certified ZigBee Health Care device from different vendors, communication and interoperability are guaranteed.
The important advantage of ZigBee is that it uses Mesh-Networking which helps communication with other radios in the network. Mesh-Networking allows to communication with multiple possible paths to its destination which proves its flexibility. In addition, by means of mesh-networks, networks are enabled to grow in size and physical distances are covered. Point to point and point to multipoint topologies refers that data packet is vulnerable to blockage or interference because of single path. Also, it is easy to add devices to ZigBee network. Most importantly, fast and easy association between devices are allowed by ZigBee's pairing process. High degree flexibility ans stability are obtained by using different algorithms which include hierarchical tree, neighbor and table-based routing.
Other important aspect of security for confidential medical data. It was mentioned one of the previous posts that ZigBee uses AES 128 encryption which is known as strongest level of security. Also, many governments and militaries use this security system. In addition, ZigBee Health Care public application profile has specific security features for medical environment privacy. In addition, ZigBee has a strict certification procedure, it is because if someone buys certified ZigBee Health Care device from different vendors, communication and interoperability are guaranteed.
ZigBee Health Care Benefits
It should be understood from all my posts that I prefer giving general information and then focusing on ZigBee Health Care. The reason is that I believe it could be followed easily.
In the following, I will give explanation about ZigBee Health Care benefits which is the fundamental of understanding next posts.
It can be divided into 4 parts:
1) Easy
In the following, I will give explanation about ZigBee Health Care benefits which is the fundamental of understanding next posts.
It can be divided into 4 parts:
1) Easy
- Internet connection for greater access and control
- Automatic features
- Reduction of the cost
- Interoperability
- Personal data is secured by AES 128
- Regional regulatory compliance
- Open standards helps to reduce cost in the market
- Healthcare cost reduction
- Home tv to display data from medical and non-medical devices
- Interoperability between medical and non-medical devices
- Control and monitoring device integration
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Why is it called Alliance?
In previous post, it is mentioned that ZigBee is an alliance. In this post, I will try to explain why it is called Alliance.
It is known that ZigBee uses IEEE standards as a base. Also, it has been established by many companies and support of some organizations. ZigBee alliance membership does not have any specific rules which means anyone can join. The other important aspect of ZigBee is interoperability which improves cooperation between companies. In addition, confidentiality is an important factor. Only members can access to the ZigBee standard. When standard becomes well known, membership of IEEE gives reliance. In addition, small companies actively involved because Zigbee aims cheap final products and they don't want to involve in long time consuming process.
It is known that ZigBee uses IEEE standards as a base. Also, it has been established by many companies and support of some organizations. ZigBee alliance membership does not have any specific rules which means anyone can join. The other important aspect of ZigBee is interoperability which improves cooperation between companies. In addition, confidentiality is an important factor. Only members can access to the ZigBee standard. When standard becomes well known, membership of IEEE gives reliance. In addition, small companies actively involved because Zigbee aims cheap final products and they don't want to involve in long time consuming process.
ZigBee Alliance Membership
Three different kinds of ZigBee Alliance membership are possible. These are: participants, adopters and promoters. I will give brief information about them in the following.
Firstly, I will start with participants. These members can be called as regular members. They can actively participate to the development process and have rights to access to specification and voting. Secondly, adopters have rights to access to specifications like participants but they don't have right to vote. Thirdly, promoters are crucial members of ZigBee because they play key role in giving final decisions and approvals. Now, there are 12 promoters in Alliance.
In the following, organizational chart which is taken from www.zigbee.org is shown.
Firstly, I will start with participants. These members can be called as regular members. They can actively participate to the development process and have rights to access to specification and voting. Secondly, adopters have rights to access to specifications like participants but they don't have right to vote. Thirdly, promoters are crucial members of ZigBee because they play key role in giving final decisions and approvals. Now, there are 12 promoters in Alliance.
In the following, organizational chart which is taken from www.zigbee.org is shown.
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