How to communicate with my IEEE 802.15.4 Microcontroller ?

Hi everyone,

In my university project, I am trying to implement a gps tracker. Aim is to use this kind of device for patients. My Microcontroller is Jennic JN5148 which has 802.15.4 radio. Using this feature, I want to add another feature : to add "at home" notification whenever my microcontroller receives 802.15.4 signal. For this purpose, I need to place a fixed 802.15.4 source at home that will be received by radio of my ucontroller.

I searched for IEEE802.15.4 modems, but I don`t have any idea about the ranges of such devices. Could anyone tell me what is the average range of such modems ? Also, do I need to leave my computer turned on for the modem to continue transmitting ? Sorry if these are really stupid questions :)

Here's a link that mentions a 33-foot range for 802.15.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/tec.../0311tech.html

The above article shows that the network can consist of:
* all devices communicating with a central computer, or
* two devices can network to each other without the computer.

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According to this link, 802.15.4 is associated with Zigbee.

http://www.digi.com/technology/rf-ar...ireless-zigbee

Zigbee is often mentioned at this message board. So you may get more replies if you create a new thread title containing 'Zigbee' and 'wireless'.

Thank you for your response, I am looking at other threads.