RF packet routing

Unicast transmissions may require some type of routing. Zigbee includes several different methods to route data, each with its own advantages and disadvantages as summarized in the following table.

Routing approach	Description	When to use
Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) Mesh Routing	Routing paths are created between source and destination, possibly traversing multiple nodes (“hops”). Each device knows where to send data next to eventually reach the destination.	Use in networks that will not scale beyond about 40 destination devices.
Many-to-One Routing	A single broadcast transmission configures reverse routes on all devices into the device that sends the broadcast.	Useful when many remote devices must send data to a single gateway or collector device.
Source Routing	Data packets include the entire route the packet should traverse to get from source to destination.	Improves routing efficiency in large networks (over 40 remote devices).

Note End devices do not make use of these routing protocols. Rather, an end device sends a unicast transmission to its parent and allows the parent to route the data packet in its behalf.

Note To revert from Many-to-One routing to AODV routing, a network must first do a network reset (NR).