Mesh networking protocol optimised for battery powered networks

25 November, 2008

“DigiMesh combines outstanding networking performance with ease of deployment and scalability,” comments Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Digi International. “It was designed to overcome the specific limitations of other mesh networking protocols in applications requiring a battery powered network, such as wireless sensor networking, building automation and tank monitoring.”

DigiMesh is a peer-to-peer mesh protocol that can be deployed on a variety of Digi products. In some other mesh architectures, devices are often divided into a parent-child relationship of parent routers, which provide ‘traffic cop’ functions, and end devices such as sensors. These routers often cannot be put into a sleeping state and therefore must be plugged into a power source.

With DigiMesh there is no parent-child architecture. All devices can be put into a sleeping state to conserve power and all can simultaneously be a router and end device. This is especially critical for situations where sensors or devices being managed are far from a sustainable power source and require the use of battery and/or power-harvesting technology. This one device type architecture also simplifies application development and deployment while improving scalability, according to Digi International.

DigiMesh joins other XBee protocols, including IEEE 802.15.4, the ZigBee-PRO Feature Set and multiple proprietary long-range protocols. DigiMesh is available on extended-range 900MHz and globally deployable 2.4GHz XBee modules. It is also due to be available across Digi’s Drop-in Networking solutions, including XBee adapters, network extenders and gateways. This product extensibility allows customers to choose a hardware solution for their application and empower it with DigiMesh networking functionality.

DigiMesh 2.4GHz XBee and DigiMesh 900MHz XBee development kits are now available. For more information about DigiMesh and Drop-in Networking, visit www.digi.com/technology/digimesh and www.digi.com/products/wirelessdropinnetworking