The Wi-SUN Alliance has launched its FAN 1.1 Low Energy (LE) Certification. The new certification enables ultra-low-power, battery-operated, and energy-harvesting devices to operate alongside high-performance applications within the same standards-based network, simplifying deployment, management, and long-term scalability across connected infrastructure.
“With the introduction of Low Energy, Wi-SUN FAN 1.1 enables infrastructure operators to support a wider range of device types within a single network architecture,” said Phil Beecher, President and CEO of the Wi-SUN Alliance. “Utilities, municipalities, and solution providers can now operate long-life, low-power endpoints and higher-performance applications together, reducing complexity while maintaining the reliability, security, and interoperability required for large-scale deployments.”
Bringing low-energy devices into the core network
FAN 1.1 Low Energy extends Wi-SUN FAN to support devices designed for long operational life and minimal power consumption, including battery-powered endpoints with lifetimes of 10 to 20 years using primary cells, as well as solar-powered devices with integrated rechargeable batteries. These low-energy nodes can now natively participate in a Wi-SUN FAN mesh network, operating securely and reliably alongside higher-throughput devices without the need for parallel networks or protocol handoffs.
This flexibility enables organisations to integrate a wide range of devices, including meters, sensors, and city-scale infrastructure endpoints, within a single network architecture optimised for scale, reliability, and longevity.
High-performance and low energy – together
The introduction of LE builds on the existing high-performance (HP) capabilities of FAN 1.1, which support applications requiring higher data rates and low latency, such as electric and gas metering. With HP and LE operating together, Wi-SUN FAN 1.1 can support device classes and data profiles that previously required separate technologies. This removes the need to split Sub-GHz deployments across multiple network technologies to accommodate different power and data requirements.
Reducing complexity across connected infrastructure
As connected infrastructure continues to scale, organisations increasingly face operational complexity from managing multiple wireless technologies, each with its own operational model, tooling, and lifecycle considerations. FAN 1.1 LE addresses this challenge by enabling a single, standards-based network to support diverse performance requirements across a range of applications.
With FAN 1.1 LE and HP, Wi-SUN FAN can support integrated deployments for:
- Smart cities, including street lighting, traffic systems, smart parking, signage, and waste management
- Utility, municipal, and regional infrastructure monitoring
- Industrial and commercial sensing applications
- Campus- and city-scale IoT networks requiring long device life and predictable performance
Certified interoperability at scale
As with all Wi-SUN Alliance certification programmes, FAN 1.1 Low Energy certification ensures multi-vendor interoperability, allowing device manufacturers, solution providers, and network operators to deploy with confidence that certified products will work together in real-world environments.
The FAN 1.1 LE Certification builds on Wi-SUN FAN’s proven foundation of secure communications, large-scale mesh networking, and predictable performance, extending these capabilities to low-energy devices designed for decades-long operation.
The FAN 1.1 Low Energy Certification Programme is now available. Certified products and participating vendors will be announced as devices complete the certification process.
