Can Zigbee/XBee Routers Automatically Associate with Coordinators

Question

Can Zigbee/XBee Routers automatically associate with a Zigbee Coordinator, without having to manually configure PAN, DH and DL of the coordinator?

In my setup, I have a XBee Coordinator API and several XBee Router AT, and it appears that I need to setup the Router AT units manually.

In a commercial Zigbee product, how do you avoid this manual programming of the Zigbee units? For example, how does the single Philip Hue bulbs that you purchase knows which Bridge to associate with?

Answer 1

As far as the Philips Hue bulb, perhaps you can find information on commissioning at the Philips Hue support site.

XBee networks are simpler. You can configure the PAN ID of the routers to 0, and they will attempt to join any network they see. If you set DH/DL to 0 as well, they'll use the coordinator as their default destination. If you configure the XBee with security (look at EE (encryption enable), EO (encryption options) and KY (shared link key)), the coordinators and routers will only join each other. The routers won't join another XBee network, and the coordinators won't let any devices without the correct key join.