The ZigBee® protocol stack is based on the OSI format. The physical layer is managed with the silicon implementation, the radio (transceiver), and its partner MCU. The MAC layer traditionally resides in the software. However, NXP now includes the MAC features in silicon to free up more application space for the engineer’s software. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is designed to supply the radio protocol. This allows the user to focus on the application side of their design. The standard, along with the solid foundation of NXP’s transciever software in the BeeKit™ and BeeStack™, allows the designer to target their customer’s end product needs more effectively.