Zigbee Wifi Coexistence (802.15.4 Protocol and 802.11 protocol)
Well-accepted wireless communication technologies generally operate in frequency bands that are shared among several users, often using different RF schemes. This is true in particular for WiFi, Bluetooth, and more recently ZigBee (802.15.4). They all three operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band, also known as ISM band, which has been key to the development of a competitive and innovative market for wireless embedded devices.
But, as with any resource held in common, it is crucial that those technologies coexist peacefully to allow each user of the band to fulfill its communication goals. Despite efforts made by standardization bodies to ensure smooth coexistence it may occur that communication technologies transmitting for instance at very different power levels interfere with each other.
In particular, it has been pointed out that ZigBee could potentially experience interference from WiFi traffic given that while both protocols can transmit on the same channel, WiFi transmissions usually occur at much higher power level.
In the link below, Metageek analyzes how the two operate in the same environment:
https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/zigbee-wifi-coexistence.html
Last updated:
Aug 23, 2017