88 AVR2070 8240B-AVR-06/09
Glossary 6LoWPAN - A scheme to compress and fragment IPv6 packets for transmission over
an 802.15.4 wireless network. See RFC-4944 online for details.
Association - The method by which a new node joins the network. After association,
a node is part of the network and can communicate freely with any other node on the
network.
AVRISP - An Atmel programming tool for writing object code into most Atmel
processors. Another similar tool is the JTAGICE MK-II.
Beacon - A special frame used to identify a network. A new node sends a beacon
request packet, and receives back a beacon frame from a network that can be joined.
Band - The frequency spectrum in which the radio operates. The AT86RF212 chip
operates in the 902MHz - 928 MHz band (and can be programmed to operate slightly
outside that range), and the AT86RF230/AT86RF231 chips operate in the 2.405GHz -
2.480GHz band.
Channel - The AT86RF2xx chips can be operated on one of several channels. A
RUM network operates on only one channel, which is chosen by the coordinator at
startup. Channels 0-10 are in the 900MHz band, and channels 11-26 are in the
2.4GHz band.
Child node - Every node that is associated to the network - except the coordinator -
has a parent node, and is a child of that parent.
Coordinator - The main node in the network, and one of the three node types. The
other types are router and end node.
End node - A reduced-function node in the network. This node has similar
functionality to a router node, but cannot route packets and also cannot associate
child nodes.
Fragmentation - Breaking a packet into pieces for transmission, and re-assembling
the pieces at the receiving end. This implementation of RUM and 6LoWPAN does
not perform fragmentation.
Frame - A data packet to be sent over the air. All of the AT86RF2xx chips send data
by a packet, which has a maximum length of 127 bytes.
HAL - Hardware Access Layer. The name for the software layer that directly
accesses hardware. This layer is kept separate from the higher layers so that it can
be interchanged from one architecture to another without modifying the upper
protocol and application layers.
IEEE 802.15.4 - The IEEE specification that specifies radio parameters and
modulation, data frame formats, and more about low-rate wireless sensor networks.
IPv6 - Internet Protocol version 6 - See Appendix C
JTAGICE MK-II - A programming and debugging tool used both for programming
most AVR processors and debugging (stepping through code on a target system).
LQI - Link Quality Indication. A measure of the quality of a wireless link. The
AT86RF2xx chips produce an LQI measurement of the link with every frame received.
MAC - Media Access Controller.