R309 AT Commands
©2015 Telegesis (UK) Ltd - 11 - AT Command Manual (Rev 3.09)
2.3 Device Overview
2.3.1 ZigBee types
Table 4 gives an overview of the ZigBee device types mentioned in this document.
Table 4: Device Overview
The terms Full Function device (FFD) and Reduced Function Device (RFD) are obsolete, but the
abbreviations are retained in the R309X firmware to avoid problems with users’ legacy application
software.
Each ETRX357 coordinator or router can support up to 30 End Devices, in any combination of
Sleepy End Devices and Mobile End Devices.
Only end devices should be put into a low-power state because routers and the coordinator must
always be powered up to maintain the network connectivity. ZigBee End Devices do not poll for
data, instead their incoming messages are relayed immediately by their parent without being
buffered. This means that ZEDs must not be put into a sleep mode.
2.3.2 Non-ZigBee types
Sink. The sink is a Telegesis feature. When a node is defined as a sink by setting S10 bit 4, it
can broadcast its address to the rest of the network. Other nodes can then send messages to the
sink node using AT+SCAST or various built-in functions. This simplifies the application software
since it is not necessary to know the EUI64 of the sink in advance.
Routers discover the sink when (1) they receive a regular advertisement broadcast from the sink
(2) they are commanded to send a message without knowing the sink address and bit 8 of S10 is
set (the first sink-cast message is therefore lost) (3) the AT+SSINK command is used.
To reduce traffic to end devices they do not receive the advertisement broadcasts and are not
informed of the sink address when they join the PAN. Instead they automatically search for the
sink the first time they send a message to it, even if bit 8 of S10 is not set. The first message
returns an error, though, as the sink address is unknown at that stage.
2.4 Addressing modes
Many of the AT commands take a device address as a parameter, which can usually be expressed
in several different formats.
EUI64. 16 hexadecimal characters. This is flashed on to the chip at manufacture and cannot be
changed by the user. This can be compared to the permanent MAC address of an IP-based
device.
Network address. 4 hexadecimal characters. This is allocated to the device when it joins the
PAN and cannot be changed or preset, except that 0x0000 is always the coordinator. It is
analogous to a temporary IP address. Otherwise known as the Node ID.
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