Smart connected devices from IoT, networking, and electronics providers are now achieving certification for the new Field Area Network (FAN) 1.1 programme from the Wi-SUN Alliance.
Exegin Technologies, Kyoto University, Nagano Japan Radio, Nissin Systems, Landis+Gyr, Renesas Electronics, Silicon Labs, and VertexCom have become the first companies to achieve FAN 1.1 certification.
The recently launched certification programme will ensure that products, including smart meters, smart sensors, and other utility IoT devices, can successfully interoperate in a multi-vendor data network in compliance with the FAN 1.1 wireless mesh specification. Network builders across key sectors can now benefit from the new capabilities of FAN 1.1, including:
- Low-power operation to support water metering, gas metering, and other low power field sensing use cases requiring battery life of 10 years or more
- High performance link speeds of up to 2.4Mbps to support AMI 2.0 requirements
- Expanded global support for 800 and 900MHz regions
- Compatibility with existing Wi-SUN FAN networks
“We are very pleased to unveil the first certified products and vendors as part of our FAN 1.1 Certification Program,” said Phil Beecher, CEO, Wi-SUN Alliance. “Utilities and municipalities can now adopt these devices into their existing networks knowing that they can interconnect with other products in one common, interoperable ecosystem that boasts enterprise-class security and more efficient network-wide usage of available bandwidth.
“Wi-SUN FAN 1.1 offers significant benefits when compared with other sub-GHz, Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) technologies, providing greater reliability and resilience through self-healing mesh routing, and best-in-class enterprise level security.”
The progress of certification of FAN 1.1 devices can be followed on the Wi-SUN website, as more and more devices are achieving the new certification. FAN 1.1 integrates smoothly with existing FAN 1.0 networks, which can support million scale device deployments across wide geographical areas. With FAN 1.1, manufacturers can also take advantage of much higher data-rate performance of up to 2.4Mbps with the new OFDM specification to implement new applications that will benefit from the order-of-magnitude higher speed. Furthermore, FAN 1.1 devices can be used globally, including the Americas, APAC, and EMEA.
The FAN 1.1 wireless mesh technology is designed to support self-healing communications between a variety of devices used for applications from environmental monitoring to smart metering. FAN 1.1’s network reformation capabilities enable a swift recovery if the network was to go down and gracefully handles power outages or local RF obstructions to ensure communications remain uninterrupted.
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