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Zigbee remote control vs IR remote control | Difference between Zigbee remote control and IR remote control

This page compares Zigbee remote control vs IR remote control and mentions difference between Zigbee remote control and IR remote control types.

Specifications IR Remote control Zigbee Remote Control
Frequency Range Operates on infrared wavelength/frequency. Infrared uses 700 nm to 1 mm wavelength range and 430 THz to 300 GHz frequency range. Operates on 2.4GHz or 868/915MHz frequency
Principle Operates as per IR codes defined by different manufacturers. Both remote control and controlling device will have common IR codes so that IR Transmitter and IR Receiver can communicate with each other. Hence interoperability is not possible between devices from different manufacturers. Zigbee Profile defines commands and responses for various tasks to be used by device manufacturers. This makes zigbee devices from different manufacturers interoperate with one another.
Coverage Range upto 10 meters upto 50 meters
Data rate 500 bps to 1 kbps 250 Kbps (2.4 GHz), 20kbps (868 MHz), 40 kbps (915MHz)
Regional Regulation No limitation It has regulation limits as defined in ETSI/FCC. There is need of compliance tests to be conducted specific to zigbee frequency.
Bidirectional mode of operation Not possible due to power consumption Possible
Operational range Devices wanting to communicate should be in LOS (Line of Sight) Devices need not have to be LOS, they can be non LOS also.
Number of bits per frame maximum 40 bits Zigbee frame carry maximum of 127 bytes as payload.
Modulation/coding IR uses modulation techniques such as pulse distance coding and manchester coding to represent 1s and 0s on 38 KHz carrier. Zigbee uses O-QPSK modulation in 2.4GHz band and BPSK modulation in 868MHz/915MHz bands.
Applications TV, VCR and other remote controls Many applications other than just remote control. It includes home automation, lighting system, parking system, wireless sensor networks etc.

IR and Zigbee Related Links

Following are the links on IR and Zigbee related technologies:
What is Infrared   IR TV Remote   IR Spectrum Table   IrDA tutorial   About zigbee   Zigbee network basics   protocol Stack   PHY Layer   PHY frame   MAC Frame   Frequency Bands   Conformance test  AODV protocol  Products  Zigbee 3.0 tutorial 

What is Difference between

INSTEON vs Zigbee   INSTEON vs X10  INSTEON vs HomePlug  INSTEON vs Z-wave  zigbee vs Z-wave  Bluetooth vs zigbee  Bluetooth vs BLE 

IoT Wireless Technologies

WLAN    ➤THREAD    ➤EnOcean    ➤LoRa    ➤SIGFOX    ➤WHDI   

RF and Wireless Terminologies

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