Wireless Sensor Network, 2010, 2, 467-471 doi:10.4236/wsn.2010.26058 Published Online June 2010 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/wsn) Copyright © 2010 SciRes. WSN Research on Application of ZigBee Technology in Flammable and Explosive Environment Yang Li 1,2 , Ke Zhang 2 1 Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China 2 Beijing institute of Petro-chemical Techmology, Beijing, China E-mail: liyang@bipt.edu.cn Received April 4, 2010; revised May 6, 2010; accepted May 15, 2010 Abstract Wireless Sensor Network based on ZigBee technology is a wireless network which is composed of many nodes of ZigBee RF chips, sensors and MCUs, especially suitable for application of the remote monitoring system in flammable and explosive environments. This paper presents the characteristics and advantages of ZigBee technology, also discusses the system for hardware and software design. This system effectively ful- fills the remote monitoring in flammable and explosive environments and posses high practical values. Keywords: ZigBee, Wireless Sensor Network, Remote Monitoring, Flammable and Explosive 1. Introduction In the oil, chemicals and other inflammable and explo- sive production environment, it is essential to the pro- duction site, some information (such as pressure, tem- perature, gas concentration, etc.) for data collection and transmission network in order to achieve remote moni- toring and control. At present, widely used by cable way through all kinds of information sent to the monitoring center, however, most point of the scene to monitor geo- graphical dispersion, environment, complex terrain, which is encountered in many practical applications: 1) To set up a qualified cable transmission network, there is the complexity of the construction and implementation of the difficulty; 2) In order to achieve all-round production of effective environmental monitoring, dispersed layout must be many types, the large number of nodes to monitor the data acquisition, cable monitoring is often difficult to achieve; 3) The cable monitoring system has its own limitations, such as the laying of a high fixed cost of communication lines. In recent years, the emergence of ZigBee technology has provided some very good ideas to solve these problems mentioned above. In this paper, the ZigBee technology wireless sensor network system for remote monitoring the production environment of the explosive have been put forward and designed. The system layout of the scene in the produc- tion of the sensor node to all kinds of information can be wirelessly sent to the central node, the center node of data through GPRS or RS232 interface module to the monitoring host (PC machine) for remote monitoring of the production environment. The monitoring system has the advantages of low cost, low power consumption, wire- less transmission, and reliable communications. 1.1. ZigBee Technology ZigBee is a relatively recent emergence of wireless net- work communication technology, more than 100 well- known by the global coalition of hardware and software companies committed to the development of a short- range, low rate, low-power wireless network standards, the main development direction for the wireless sensor networks, home automation, remote control, industrial automation, agricultural automation, and medical care and other applications. 1.1.1. ZigBee Technology Features Construction of ZigBee-based wireless network tech- nology has the following features: 1) Data transfer rate low: Only 20 k bytes/s to 250 k bytes/sec, to focus on low-delivery applications; 2) Low power consumption: Due to the use of DSSS technology ZigBee replace FHSS technology, and use of hibernation wake-up mechanism for the work of ma- chines, two on the 5th ordinary dry-cell batteries can be used for 6 months to 2 years, which eliminates the fre- quent replacement of the battery charge or trouble; 3) Low cost: because of low data rate ZigBee, the agreement is simple and royalty-free, so greatly reduced cost; 4) Network capacity: ZigBee Network Node Manager