What is ZBOSS? How does ithinx use it?
At ithinx, like many other developers working with Zigbee, we have developed our own complete Zigbee solution in the past. This solution has been used in many large products and is still reliable and energy efficient (ideal for low power devices). It is currently used to work with the Silabs Stack. But what if a customer prefers a different chip supplier? This is where ZBoss comes into play. In this blog article you will learn everything you need to know about the software stack.
What is ZBOSS?
ZBOSS is a topic that comes up regularly in conversations with customers who use Zigbee, and one that we here at ithinx have started to work with over the last 12 months. But what does it mean?
ZBOSS is a software stack for the ZigBee PRO protocol that helps companies to efficiently develop and optimise their ZigBee applications. It facilitates integration and customisation to different systems, improves interoperability and simplifies testing. Thanks to cross-platform support, multitasking capabilities and fixed memory management, ZBOSS also works without an operating system. It also offers an easy-to-understand API for uncomplicated use.
What advantages does ZBOSS offer?
Despite its positive features, ZBoss has to be purchased separately. So why is it worth it? ZBoss offers you one thing above all: independence from the chip provider. We have summarised the advantages of the software solution for you below.
Hardware-independent
As IoT developers, we serve a large number of customers with different needs and, above all, different chip preferences. It is also not uncommon for customers to want to change chip suppliers from generation to generation in the product range. At the very least, customers appreciate the certainty of not being ‘locked in’. With ZBOSS we can offer this choice as it is supported by most major chip suppliers.
Predictable resources & manageable maintenance
Regardless of the platform, ZBOSS always requires a similar amount of memory to be implemented. Due to its standardised form, regardless of which chip our customer prefers, we can perform similar maintenance on all projects we are responsible for. This in turn reduces the cost of preparation and maintenance per project, which has a positive impact on our customers’ business processes.
Where does ZBOSS sit?
Our Zigbee solution is kept very generic, due to this, we can integrate ZBOSS directly within our Zigbee solution. Stack specific functions are abstracted by the ZigBee abstraction layer. In this way ZBOSS integrates like the Silabs stack in our solution and does not require any changes within higher layers, especially your business or application logic.
So overall, whatever Radio chips you want to use, thanks to ZBOSS and the integration into our zigbee solution we already have a turnkey solution up and running!
Integration of ZBoss into our Zigbee solution
When can ithinx customers benefit from ZBOSS?
We have already undertaken the work to integrate ZBOSS. It will shortly be included in various hardware solutions we offer including the iXpro range. If you want great zigbee devices regardless of chip provider, and with the peace of mind that you remain independent, we can serve you on the basis of ZBOSS straight away. Speak to us about your project now.
You need a Zigbee device?
Thanks to our many years of experience in the development of embedded software and hardware, we can develop your customised application. Find out more about device development and get advice from our experts
DSR Smarc iXpro ithinx joins the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies Community (SGET)
DSR ithinx Joins ZBOSS Open Initiative and Integrates ZBOSS Unified Zigbee Stack into iXpro SOM