How big is a Node?
top As silicon processes and radio technology progress, transceiver systems shrink in physical size. Forty years ago, a simple radio transceiver was the size of a shoebox and weighed 10 kg. Today, a similar transceiver might easily fit inside a thimble. In the case of ZigBee systems, the radio transceiver has become a single piece of silicon, with a few passive components and a relatively non-critical board design. Microcontrollers that have native ability to interface with sensors (e.g., built-in digital I/O and A/D converters) have eclipsed even the radios rapid reduction in size. Today, the 8-bit MCU that hosts the application may already include dozens of kilobytes of flash memory, RAM, and various hardware-based timer functions, along with the ability to interface directly to the radio transceiver IC. The MCU requires only a few external passive components to be fully functional. With the minimal overhead added by a ZigBee transceiver, the MCU can often continue to host the applic
