Zigbee Direct, The tunneling protocol between Zigbee and Bluetooth.

Zigbee Direct is an innovative feature introduced by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) that merges the established Zigbee and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technologies to simplify the user experience with smart home and commercial IoT devices.

Essentially, it allows you to directly onboard and control your Zigbee products using a standard Bluetooth-enabled device like your smartphone, tablet, or smart speaker, often without the need for a dedicated Zigbee hub or gateway.

With Zigbee Direct, devices can connect more easily, reducing the complexity of device pairing and management. This feature enables users to control multiple smart devices from various manufacturers with minimal setup steps, fostering interoperability and improving the overall efficiency of smart home systems.

By leveraging both Zigbee's robust mesh networking capabilities and BLE's low power consumption, Zigbee Direct addresses common challenges faced by consumers, such as battery life and connectivity range, ultimately leading to a more intuitive and reliable smart home experience.

Before delving into Zigbee Direct, it is essential to compare it with traditional Zigbee protocols to understand the advancements and differences between the two.

Zigbee Direct vs. Traditional Zigbee Protocol

Firstly, we need to know that Zigbee Direct is not a replacement for the traditional Zigbee protocol but an enhancement that leverages BLE to simplify onboarding and control, particularly in scenarios where a hub is impractical. It’s ideal for smaller, hub-less setups or as a bridge to BLE ecosystems.

Zigbee Traditional Protocol excels in large-scale, robust mesh networks, making it the go-to choice for complex smart home and industrial IoT deployments requiring extensive device support and long-range communication.

How Zigbee Direct Works

Traditionally, Zigbee devices require a Zigbee coordinator (often built into a hub or gateway) to communicate with your smartphone or other control devices. This hub acts as a bridge, translating commands between your Wi-Fi/Ethernet network and the Zigbee network.

Zigbee Direct simplifies this by introducing a "dual-mode" device that can speak both Zigbee and Bluetooth Low Energy. Here's a breakdown of the key components and how they interact:

• Zigbee Direct Device (ZDD): This is a Zigbee product (e.g., a smart light bulb, a sensor, or even a smart speaker with ZDD capabilities) that can simultaneously run both Zigbee and Bluetooth Low Energy stacks. It acts as a bridge, routing messages between the Bluetooth-enabled control device and the rest of the Zigbee network.
• Zigbee Virtual Device (ZVD): This is typically a software component running on your smartphone, tablet, or smart speaker that supports Bluetooth Low Energy. The ZVD establishes a secure BLE connection with a ZDD.
• Traditional Zigbee Devices: These are existing Zigbee devices that only communicate via the Zigbee protocol. They can still be integrated into a Zigbee Direct network through a ZDD.

The workflow generally looks like this:

1. Direct Connection: Your smartphone (ZVD) uses Bluetooth Low Energy to connect directly to a Zigbee Direct Device (ZDD).
2. Onboarding and Control: Through this BLE connection, your ZVD can now discover, onboard, and control the ZDD.
3. Network Extension: If the ZDD is part of a larger Zigbee network (or can initiate one), it can then relay commands from your ZVD to other traditional Zigbee devices within that network, acting as a coordinator or router. This is especially useful for managing large networks in commercial settings.

ubisys

One of the early developers of the Zigbee Direct protocol is Ubisys, which supplies two types of gateway units (GUs). The first is the Zigbee Virtual Device (ZVD), a software component that can run on nearly any hardware that supports Bluetooth, such as innovative smartphones, tablets, speakers, and computers. The second type is the Zigbee Direct Device (ZDD), which operates on dual-mode concurrent IEEE 802.15.4 (native Zigbee) and Bluetooth devices. The ZDD serves as a seamless access point for ZVDs into the Zigbee mesh network.

Please check the full range of Ubisys solutions via this link Ubisys solutions range

Ubisys Smart Home App allows you to control your property via your smartphone or tablet – on the go or from any room in your home. The app is available for iOS and Android.

Future Outlook

Zigbee Direct is part of the CSA’s ongoing efforts to evolve Zigbee as a leading IoT protocol. With over a billion Zigbee chipsets sold and support from major companies like Amazon, Philips, and Samsung, Zigbee Direct is positioned to expand the accessibility and flexibility of Zigbee networks. Future enhancements may include additional security features and broader integration with emerging standards like Matter.

Conclusion

Zigbee Direct enables hub-free setup and control of Zigbee networks using BLE-enabled phones/tablets, It utilizes dual-radio devices (ZDD) to securely relay Zigbee commands over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The benefits of this approach include greater simplicity for end-users, lower hardware costs, and faster deployment for developers.

Its low-power, secure, and scalable design makes it ideal for both residential and commercial applications, while its reliance on existing BLE-enabled devices reduces costs and complexity. By leveraging the strengths of two proven technologies, Zigbee Direct enhances the Zigbee ecosystem’s accessibility and positions it as a competitive solution in the evolving smart home and IoT landscape.