ZigBee Radio Transmitter: How Many Do You Have?

smart meterCatherine J. Frompovich – I’ll bet you dollars-to-donuts that most readers are asking, “What’s a ZigBee radio transmitter?”

Every person reading this probably has numerous ZigBees already, but doesn’t know it!  How can you have something you don’t know you have?  Give up?  Clue: Smart technology!

Every “smart” appliance in your home has what’s called a “ZigBee radio transmitter” installed by the manufacturer, which spies on your usage and reports back to Big Brother, i.e., the utility company for now, but will tie into the Internet of Things in the very near future.  The ZigBee chip allows each appliance’s electronic signature to be recorded so utilities and others, who track your data, can determine which appliance is being used, length of time, etc. thereby providing a profile of when you are home or someone’s in the house using appliances, plus the awful realization that your information relay can be HACKED by any two-bit hacker for any nefarious reason: burglary, surveillance, or whatever.

ZigBee radio transmitters are the ‘smart genies’ in AMI Smart Meters that electric, natural gas and water utility companies retrofit to replace safe analog meters.

AMI Smart Meter ZigBees also are working hard at emitting electromagnetic frequencies – EMF radiation – in all directions by utilizing the microwave frequency of 2.4 GHz that radiates out for approximately 250 feet; some claim up to 100 meters or 300 feet!  I bet you didn’t know that about that new digital meter the utility company forced you to take, or maybe didn’t even tell you that they installed.  Some homes can have all three (electric, gas, water) AMI Smart Meters!  How does that amplify your EMF exposure?  Have you felt differently and not your normal self since the new meter was installed?

So why is the ZigBee chip installed in smart appliances?

Continue reading