IEEE 802.15.4 - what the digits mean

Eee 802.15.4 is a transmission protocol. It is mainly used in wireless personal area networks that have very low power requirements. These include remote controls, games, ID cards, and wireless sensor networks. Its use can extend battery life.

What's behind IEEE 802.15.4

Behind the designation IEEE 802.15.4 is a transmission protocol used for the wireless exchange of information between two devices. In contrast to the more familiar IEEE 802.11, which corresponds to Wireless Local Area Networks, the designation IEEE 802.15.4 stands for Wireless Personal Area Networks, or WPAN for short.

1. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is mainly used in simple and low-cost networks, as it only requires low transmission rates.
2. Since other transmission standards, such as Bluetooth or WLAN, are designed for high transmission rates, they are not applicable or unnecessary in certain areas of application.
3. These cases include, for example, wireless sensor networks. With these, only a few bytes need to be sent at certain time intervals.
4. IEEE 802.15.4 also requires much less energy than other transmission types and the hardware requirements are also much lower. Thus, the standard can be used in places where exactly these resources are lacking. This is realized by avoiding or completely omitting certain control information that is not needed.
5. This can be, in addition to sensor technology, remote controls, interactive badges or various smart home devices.