[Tinyos-devel] two zigbee implementations

[Omprakash Gnawali]

On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 12:56 AM, Vlado Handziski
<handzisk at tkn.tu-berlin.de> wrote:
> To be precise, we (TUB) have only developed a standard compliant 802.15.4
> MAC called TKN154. So we have two 802.15.4 MAC implementations and only one
> Zigbee.
>
> Back in the days when the net2 group has been formed we had a long
> discussion about the point in the protocol stack where the responsibilities
> of core should end and where net2 should take over. We came to a reasonable
> conclusion that MAC implementations should remain in core due to the tight
> interdependence with the radio chip and timer HW abstractions. I think
> practice has proven that this was a good decision because it helped shield
> net2 from the changes we did in core.
>
> Now that we have a proper place in the code tree for different mac
> implementations (tos/lib/mac) I think that the right way to proceed is for
> Porto to factor out the MAC part of their implementation and move it into
> this folder, at the same time transferring the responsibility for this code
> from net2 to core. To this end, a representative of Porto might join core,
> etc.  This is completely independent from the decision if the higher parts
> of Porto's zigbee implementation remain in net2 or a new WG is formed as
> Matt proposed. But I think that the standard compliant IEEE 802.15.4 MAC
> implementations should remain under core for the above stated reasons.

If this is an active and long term effort by two groups, there might
still be a case for 15.4 WG. So this really depends on the level of
activity we anticipate. Does TUB expect to be involved in Zigbee in
the future?

It will be good to also hear from Mario Porto's thoughts on these
proposals on how to organize the group going forward.

- om_p