IEEE Std 802.15.4™-2003 is designed to address applications with relaxed throughput and latency requirements, while favoring a low-cost and low-power design. These features enable applications in the fields of industrial, agricultural, vehicular, residential and medical sensors and actuators, which cannot make use of current wireless technologies or have to use proprietary solutions. The IEEE 802.15.4™ Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Network Standard: Enabling Wireless Sensor Networks has been designed to complement IEEE Std 802.15.4 by presenting an overview of the features that characterize it, the applications that motivate it, and the rationale that dictates several of the design options made in its creation. This book is a companion to the standard for those interested in the field of "simple" wireless connectivity with further focus on wireless sensors and actuators for the industry in general. The material in this book has been divided into three parts: Part I presents an overview of the low-rate wireless personal area technology and IEEE Std 802.15.4. The material focuses on the motivation for the creation of this standard, including the application scenarios that drove the making of it. Part I was designed not only as a technical introduction of the standard, but also to offer marketing and business professionals enough background information on the technology and the vision behind its conception to plan marketing and business strategies based on it. Part II concentrates on the technical features and components of IEEE Std 802.15.4. In addition, it includes material not covered in the standard related to the network layer functionality for the envisioned applications and the rationale behind the design of several of the components of the standard. Part III focuses on implementation and system design considerations. It includes an analysis of system-level real-world issues that will be important for prospective implementers to consider. The IEEE 802.15.4™ Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Network Standard: Enabling Wireless Sensor Networks is a MUST HAVE for anyone who fully wants to understand the inner-workings of the IEEE 802.15.4 Standard!