Dust Networks’ new SmartMesh-XT wireless sensor networking system is designed to enable OEMs to meet stringent industrial requirements. The SmartMesh-XT family consists of motes and managers in both the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands. The 900 MHz products include the M1030 mote and PM1230 embedded manager, and the 2.4 GHz standards-based products, which use IEEE 802.15.4 radios, include the M2135 mote and PM2130 embedded manager.

“Our customers are experiencing growing demand for monitoring and control solutions enabled by wireless mesh networking technology.” said Joy Weiss, CEO of Dust Networks. “With our new standards-based SmartMesh-XT family of products, we are delivering the reliability and low-power consumption necessary for the industrial and building automation markets. We have also simplified the design-in process to meet the rapid customer adoption of our technology.”

SmartMesh-XT is optimized for enterprise-class applications in industrial and building settings, and meets specifications for environments such as those in oil refineries, food processing plants, wastewater facilities, pharmaceutical plants and power plants. Features include a rugged design for Class I Division 1 environments, vibration resistance, and an industrial temperature range of -40°C to +85°C.

According to Co-founder Rob Conant, Dust Networks is actively working with industrial associations, such as the wireless HART working group of the HART Communications Foundation. HART is an organization that develops standards for industrial sensors. Among the many potential applications for wireless mesh networking is pharmaceutical process control, which is strictly regulated by the FDA and for which there is a specific HART standard. Dust Networks is also working with ISA's SP-100.

The SmartMesh-XT family of products includes motes that use IEEE 802.15.4 standard radios for the global market in the 2.4 GHz band. To deliver high reliability and low-power consumption, SmartMesh-XT utilizes its internally developed Time Synchronized Mesh Protocol (TSMP). TSMP, a media access and networking protocol, is designed to ride on top of standard, off-the-shelf radio chips. Every mote in a TSMP-based network acts as a router, enabling simplified network installation and high reliability. As a result, SmartMesh-XT products achieve greater than 99.9% reliability in the face of harsh RF environments, and battery-operated motes typically live for more than 5 to 10 years. The key components of TSMP include:

• Frequency Hopping
• Time Synchronization
• Full-mesh Routing
• Self-healing
• Self-organizing
• Security

“Manufacturers in the process industries require high reliability from wireless measurement systems,” said Harry Forbes, Senior Analyst from ARC Advisory Group. “Plant experience with wireless field devices has shown that full mesh network layers like TSMP, though still being standardized, have out-performed other network technologies in terms of reliability and applicability to real-world commercial and industrial applications. The available market for wireless is roughly 60% to 80% of today's process field devices, and reliable networks like TSMP will make this possible.”

According to Conant, wireless mesh networking applications are not restricted to factory installations. For example, Dust Networks platforms have been installed on oil rigs and ships, and at least one has been installed in a mine, serving as a “virtual RF umbilical cord”. Given the emergence of remotely operated mining platforms and other types of robotic equipment, wireless mesh networking has the potential to improve the safety, as well as the efficiency, of industrial environments.

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