What is Wirepas Technology: Features & Benefits

Wirepas is a decentralized wireless mesh networking technology designed for large scale IoT deployments. Unlike traditional centralized networks, Wirepas enables devices to communicate directly and self organize, providing scalable, reliable and energy efficient connectivity for smart buildings, industrial automation, asset tracking and smart city applications.

Wirepas Connectivity is a decentralized mesh network protocol stack that operates independently of specific hardware or radio frequency chips. It originated from research conducted at TUT (Tampere University of Technology) in Finland over a 10 year period. Wirepas Ltd., now headquartered in Tampere, has expanded with offices in the UK and USA. Software license is required before shipping products using Wirepas.

Figure 1 illustrates a typical Wirepas network using a mesh topology.

Features of Wirepas Technology

• Frequency Bands: Wirepas supports both the 2.4 GHz ISM band and sub-GHz bands. The 2.4 GHz band is globally supported and suitable for high-density installations like indoor lighting control (where low latency is critical) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) where long battery life is important. Regional sub-GHz bands are designed for longer-range, less dense deployments such as outdoor lighting control and metering.
• Simultaneous Communication: Devices communicate using different channels simultaneously.
• Power Options: Wirepas accommodates both mains-powered and battery-powered devices.
• High Density: Wirepas mesh networks can support over 1000 radios per cubic meter without collisions.
• Autonomous Optimization: Devices can automatically select the best neighbors, optimal transmit powers, and most reliable channels. This eliminates the need for central network management and simplifies scaling.
• Homogeneous Routing: All devices can route packets, creating a homogenous network from a connectivity perspective. The devices self-organize into a network without requiring pre-planning.
• Multi-Gateway Support: Wirepas supports multiple gateways to avoid a single point of failure.

Figure 2 shows the Wirepas protocol stack.

Applications of Wirepas Technology

Wirepas technology is utilized across various industries, utilities, and logistics for the following applications:

• IoT Applications: Suited for IoT applications that demand high scalability and reliability.
• Lighting: Applications requiring lower latencies.
• Beacons and Sensors: Applications where longer battery life is crucial.
• Metering: Electricity and water meters requiring extended device-to-device coverage.
• Asset Management and Tracking
• Machine Monitoring and Control: Centralized monitoring and control of machines.

Benefits of Wirepas

• Agnostic Design: It is application, hardware, and frequency band agnostic.
• Efficient Protocol Stack: Employs an embedded protocol stack with a small memory footprint.
• Collision-Free Spectrum Usage: Supports efficient, collision-free usage of the frequency spectrum.
• Low Power Consumption: Wirepas devices are designed for low power consumption.
• Low Latency: The network provides low latency.
• High Reliability & Availability: Provides reliability and availability in diverse environments.
• Unlimited Scalability: Offers unlimited scale in terms of coverage and density.
• Application Flexibility: Can be used in a variety of applications.
• Frequency Band Support: Supports different frequency bands.
• Data Rate & Range Flexibility: Supports different radio data rates and ranges.
• Lowest Total Cost of Ownership