An alternative for smart industry: wireless mesh protocols

In recent years, LPWAN and Bluetooth LE networking technologies have shown growing popularity in the sectors like IoT, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and many others. Companies still use a wide range of connectivity options provided by protocols like NB-IoT, SigFox, LTE-M, or LoRa. Anyways, despite the hype around above-mentioned connectivity technologies, the 802.15.4g ecosystem is taking center stage. 

Wireless mesh networks supporting protocols like Wi-SUN, Zigbee, and Thread are becoming ubiquitous. All of them are based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard published in 2012. Many recent studies prove the fact of their possible leadership: Research and Markets state that the world yearly shipment of 802.15.4 chipsets will reach around $9 billion until 2024, showing the 10% growth since 2017. Whereas, the leading position will be made up of Zigbee, followed by faster-growing Wi-SUN and Thread equipped with IPv6. Rethink Technology consultant agency forecasts that Wi-SUN ecosystem enterprises will reach the overall annual growth rate at 20%, due to reaching new verticals by the technology and innovative business models development. Besides, telecom companies in Ireland and Switzerland, ESB Telecoms and UPC respectively made it possible for Wi-SUN to function side-by-side with the key licensed cellular providers.

The popularization of Wi-SUN is possible with the help of Wi-SUN alliance, among the members of which you may find the global leaders like Cisco, Itronic, NXP, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and more. All of them are highly interested in pushing the smart cities, homes & buildings and smart metering forward. No wonder, though, mesh protocols as Wi-SUN provide flexibility, security, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.