ARC 2011_06_Dust_Networks_ARC_View
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1. JUNE 23 2011 ARC Advisory Group Dust Networks Goes Beyond Industrial Wireless By Harry Forbes Summary The network technology at the core of the Internet of Things is a low power wireless network designated as IEEE 802 15 4 ZigBee IEC62591 WirelessHART ISA100 and other sensor network standards all share this technology The original vision of 15 4 was to serve as a wireless network for low power low data rate sensors that could operate using only a small battery Another aspect of the vision was that these devices would be too lightweight to support the TCP IP protocols that define the Internet Since those early days both these aspects of the original vision have changed Many applications using 15 4 now have access to abundant electric power e g smart metering Furthermore it is now possible to use the Internet Protocol suite IPV6 directly on 15 4 networks However in applications where power is limited battery life remains a ma jor issue To help address this the 15 4 wireless standard now incorporates a technology called TSMP Time Synchronized Mesh Protocol TSMP enables devices to conserve battery power by synchronizing the wake sleep cycles so that the devices are only awake and consuming power when there is active communication Dust Networks in Low Power Industrial Networking TSMP was developed by Dust Networks in the early days of wireless sen sor network WSN research bef2. ch Beyond Industrial Applications The combination of IPV6 and sensor networks resulted in watershed devel opment opening huge new possibilities Sensor networks had always been envisioned as operating without the TCP IP protocol suite a point that be came a significant liability For example much of the resources expended in the ZigBee initiative ended up re inventing services for 15 4 networks that had mature and standardized equivalents in the TCP IP realm When IPV6 became feasible for sensor networks the combination is known as 6LOWPAN the ubiquitous TCP IP suite became part of the available technology for sensor networks This aha moment sent the entire sensor network community back to the drawing board Dust Networks recognized the importance of this development immediate ly In 2011 a new third generation product line emerged from the company s drawing boards designed to leverage IP s new capability while at the same time maintaining the advantages enjoyed by Dust s older products Dust sees this new product line called SmartMesh IP as a plat form that will extend into commercial markets the same advantages that Dust perfected to dominate industrial wireless sensors The company made significant changes in this new product line while de liberately maintaining several aspects The line includes a new Eterna 802 15 4e system on chip product The most notable difference here is that the new product includes a
3. ore standards existed Dust s objective was to create a sensor network that combined low power consumption with re liable delivery Unlike conventional IT networks in a sensor network the reliability of any single point to point connection is quite low To make end to end delivery of sensor information highly reliable the sensor net work as a whole must compensate for the inevitable periodic loss of point to point connectivity VISION EXPERIENCE ANSWERS FOR INDUSTRY a ARC View Page 2 Dust Networks believed that a highly intelligent network manager was the best way to add intelligence to the sensor network as a whole The compa ny s architecture concentrated the com E plexity of an active network manager in a d D the sensor network gateway the home ng node of the sensor network The gate a a way contained a powerful computer and a hard wired power supply so it could fa la handle the computational heavy lift ing thus enabling the sensor nodes to A Typical Wireless Sensor Network be simpler and less power hungry Dust Networks used this combination of long battery life and reliable deli very to differentiate its first products These properties resulted from TSMP and superior network management Major industrial OEMs ben chmarked Dust products against other sensor network technologies Over time Dust emerged as a clear winner in the industrial space securing sup plier relationships wi
4. powerful low power ARM Existing Feature Cortex M3 processor Earlier Dust products had far less Network Manager on board processing power which was appropriate for their limited functional scope IP based sensor net works in contrast will require support for multiple TSMP now 15 4e protocols and even applications at the sensor node itself This includes location awareness capability which Dust built in via an optional onboard location engine Another big difference is that while the product is designed for any type of network the first supported network stack is 6LowPAN rather than an in dustrial protocol What features have been held over Ultra low power consumption re mains for one Dust has again used its in house design expertise to develop a product that can further surpass commoditized chipsets with re spect to power use Dust s Intelligent Network Management is another common thread with its earlier successes Finally the new products still 2011 ARC e 3 Allied Drive e Dedham MA 02026 USA e 781 471 1000 e ARCweb com ARC View Page 4 include TSMP However the new TSMP implementation complies with that defined in the latest IEEE 802 standard 15 4e A Future Scenario for WSN ARC believes that the industrial wireless sensing market will grow rapidly at a mid double digit rate Mature products incorporating international standards like IEC62591 and supported by leading suppliers will drive pe net
5. ration of WSN in industrial applications ARC believes that IEC62591 devices now dominate this market and Dust is likely to remain the supplier of the best technology in this arena Beyond industrial applications the WSN market will move toward IP or 6LowPAN driven by the huge advantage that stems from the adoption of TCP IP However the need for ultra low power operation will remain a major consideration in long lived higher value applications requiring unat tended operation to support total cost of ownership TCO requirements With the addition of its new SmartMesh IP products Dust Networks has positioned itself as the premier supplier of WSN technology for all seg ments of the market Dust Networks has adopted the fundamental strategy of serving applications that require higher performance than can be achieved with a commoditized WSN product ARC expects commercial OEMs to get this value proposition in the same manner that industrial OEMs have embraced Dust s earlier technology For further information or to provide feedback on this article please contact your account manager or the author at HForbes arcweb com ARC Views are pub lished and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group The information is proprietary to ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC 2011 ARC e 3 Allied Drive e Dedham MA 02026 USA e 781 471 1000 e ARCweb com
6. th major OEMs including Emerson and GE Unlike its many rivals in the sensor networking space Dust s products achieved acceptance by industrial OEMs Eventually TSMP technology became part of sensor network standards Dust continued to enhance its network management capability and also worked actively to reduce the power consumed by its products at the chip level Dust never saw itself as purely a software company A hidden Dust differentiator was the company s ability to develop and manage chip level design Indeed the company most resembles a fab less semiconductor firm As such Dust worked to release a second generation of products that incorporated power optimization at the chip level This second generation of products released in 2007 had power levels roughly 50 percent lower than the products they replaced further extending battery life for the in dustrial applications that demanded it and cementing Dust s lead in the industrial space 2010 2011 a N IEC62591 Ratified Dust ships first TSMP products HART amp ISA100 adopt TSMP based protocols More than 10 000 Dust enabled networks deployed in K S over 100 countries r A Timeline of Dust Networks Milestones 2011 ARC e 3 Allied Drive e Dedham MA 02026 USA e 781 471 1000 e ARCweb com New Feature ARM processor 6LOwPAN Stack Location engine Properties of SmartMesh IP Ultra low power ARC View Page 3 Sensor Networks Rea
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