Multiple applications and endpoints

A node may have several applications running on it - for example, a node in a smart home network may incorporate an occupancy sensor and a light switch, each of which is an application. In fact, each application implements a ZigBee device type (see Section 2.10). Access to application instances is provided through endpoints, which act as communication ports for the applications.

In order to direct a message to the appropriate application instance on a node, the relevant endpoint must be specified. Endpoints are numbered from 1 to 240.

Therefore, to communicate with a remote application instance in a ZigBee network, you need to supply the address of the remote node together with the required endpoint number on the node.

Endpoint 255 is the broadcast endpoint number - the same data can be sent to all application instances on a node by sending the message to this endpoint number.

Parent topic:Application level concepts