The standard dictates that all addresses are based on unique 64-bit values (IEEE address or MAC address). However, to conserve bandwidth and reduce the energy of transmitting such large addresses, 802.15.4 allows a device joining a network to "trade-in" their unique 64-bit address for a short 16-bit local address, allowing for more efficient transmission and lower energy.
This "trade-in" process is the responsibility of the PAN coordinator. We call this 16-bit local address the PAN ID. The whole PAN network itself has a PAN identifier, as multiple PANs can exist. The following figure is a diagram of the 802.15.4 packet structure.
IEEE 802.15.4 PHY and MAC packet encoding.
Frames are the basic ...
