Battery lifetime is a function of many parameters such as battery type, capacity, duty cycling and end-use application. Different radios and micro-controllers feature different levels of power consumption, which ultimately affect battery lifetime. Today’s off-the shelf ZigBee components OPERATING under low duty CYCLES ALLOW for typical lifetimes comprised between 5 and 10 years. Applications like automatic METER reading that require even sparser transmissions may exceed 10 years.

Further IMPROVEMENTS in power consumption are foreseen with the increasing availability of single-chip ZigBee solutions (integrating the radio and the micro-controller on the same chip).

Battery lifetime is a function of many parameters such as battery type, capacity, duty cycling and end-use application. Different radios and micro-controllers feature different levels of power consumption, which ultimately affect battery lifetime. Today’s off-the shelf ZigBee components operating under low duty cycles allow for typical lifetimes comprised between 5 and 10 years. Applications like automatic meter reading that require even sparser transmissions may exceed 10 years.

Further improvements in power consumption are foreseen with the increasing availability of single-chip ZigBee solutions (integrating the radio and the micro-controller on the same chip).