Ad-hoc association of pre-determined ZigBee devices

In pervasive sensor networks with high densities, similar networks might overlap, resulting in different coordinators for end devices to associate with. This can result in several problems, especially for home monitoring and hospital scenarios, where easy, fast, and accurate association of pre-determined devices is needed. Due to the rapidly changing environments in these scenarios, however, association schemes are required that allow ad-hoc associations of pre-determined devices in this context. In this paper, we describe the problems for this particular scenario with respect to the current standard methods of association and present multiple solutions to alleviate the problems encountered. We additionally present a generalized process flow for combining the different solutions into a single solution that can be implemented for future sensing and coordinating nodes.