Zigbee LAN bridge to extend range to remote locations

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1

I’m exploring the idea of extending Zigbee communication over a LAN connection by using two purpose built gateways, possibly built on ESP32 in the prototype phase (or maybe forever). These devices would relay Zigbee messages over LAN, making the Zigbee network itself unaware that some messages are traveling through a wired or wireless link—effectively making devices on both sides appear as part of the same Zigbee mesh.

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Would anyone be interested in such a solution?

Potential use cases could include:

  • Connecting Zigbee devices in separate buildings to a single network
  • Connecting that shed at the far end of your property where you have LAN but no range.
  • Avoid the hassle of setting up multiple instances of Zigbee2Mqtt and running multiple networks.

Would love to hear your thoughts before I diver further into the project.

2

You found out a method how to encapsulate Zigbee messages into an Ethernet frame already, and how to take them out at the other side ?

3

I have not yet tried, but theres no doubt it’s possible to do it.

4

Better try, because there are a lot of companies that sell Zigbee devices, and none have come up with a solution like that. And I’m sure they have enough qualified engineers.

5

I’m sure they definitely have the engineering power, but I am not sure if they’ve identified that there is a demand for such a device.

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6

Interesting idea. Not sure how mesh would react to a split in network like that. Either those gw’s should act as one node, or the 2 would be fixed neighbours and reject all ‘route change requests’.

7

On the off chance you haven’t explored tuneszb, you might find some inspiration here…

https://github.com/tube0013/tube_gateways

8

inspiration or ready to buy? :slight_smile:

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9

The mest should not know or care, as the mest would be kept intact.
The two GW devices would act as any other zigbee router devices normally do in the mesh. The only difference is that they have a secret tunnel between them, completely hidden from the mesh. All routing decision should be taken by the mesh, even the GW’s, as they normally do. Would have to fake the link quality measure for the hop between the GW’s, but that should be all.

The ESP32-C6 should ideally have all that is needed to get your hands dirty with the coding.

10

Thanks for mentioning.

I’ve come across Tube’s legenday work, so it’s definitely on my focus list.