Starting a Network (Coordinator)

The Coordinator is responsible for starting a network. It must be the first node to be started and, once powered on, goes through the following network initialization steps:

Set EPID and Coordinator address

The Coordinator first sets the Extended PAN ID (EPID) for the network and the device’s own network address:

• Sets the EPID to the 64-bit value specified in the Coordinator’s application (if this value is zero, the EPID will be set to the 64-bit IEEE/MAC address of the Coordinator device)

• Sets the 16-bit network address of the Coordinator to 0x0000

Parent topic:Starting a Network (Coordinator)

Select radio channel

The Coordinator then selects the radio channel in which the network will operate, within the chosen RF band. The Coordinator performs an Energy Detection Scan in which it scans the RF band to find a quiet channel (the scan can be programmed to ‘listen’ to specific channels). The channel with the least detected activity is chosen.

Parent topic:Starting a Network (Coordinator)

Set the PAN ID of the network

Once the radio channel has been selected, the Coordinator chooses a 16-bit PAN ID for the network. To do this, it listens in the channel for traffic from other networks and identifies the PAN IDs of these networks (if any). To avoid conflicts, the Coordinator assigns its own network a random PAN ID that is not in use by another network.

Parent topic:Starting a Network (Coordinator)

Receive join requests from other devices

The Coordinator is now ready to receive requests from other devices (Routers and End Devices) to wirelessly connect to the network through it. For more information on joining a network, refer to Section 3.3.2.

Parent topic:Starting a Network (Coordinator)

Parent topic:Network creation