Wi-SUN network to build and validate multitude of Smart City solutions
IIITH Smart City Living Lab in partnership with Austin-headquartered Silicon Labs, has launched a campus-wide Wi-SUN backbone Mesh network at IIITH Living Lab supporting Field Area Network (FAN) 1.1 Specification as a continuation to Phase 1 launch supporting FAN 1.0 back in Sept 2022
“This is to establish a reliable, reachable communication network to enable research and solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities easier,” IIITH said on 5 May 2023.
Wi-SUN is an open-standard protocol enabling interoperable solutions through open-source software with multi-layer security. Wi-SUN will enable utilities, municipalities, and other enterprises to deploy long-range, low-power wireless mesh networks connecting thousands of IoT nodes.
The Wi-SUN network uses the unlicensed band with no additional network infra adds to the existing modes of sensor communications including Wi-Fi and LORA which allows sensors to connect easily to the cloud.
In Phase 2, 30 more Wi-SUN router nodes have been deployed in the campus with nodes containing Silicon Labs’ radio – EFR32FG25 modules. All these nodes are interconnected through a self-healing mesh network and connected to a Border Router (BR) for backhauling the data to cloud. These nodes support Wi-SUN FAN1.1 specification (both OFDM & FSK modulation) that includes support of battery powered Limited Function Nodes (LFN) and backward compatibility to previously deployed FAN 1.0 nodes. OFDM support enhances robust connectivity as well as higher bit rates.
With the present deployment, more than 100 streetlights on campus are being controlled and a dense and steady Wi-SUN network is built covering more than 80% of the campus.
The FAN 1.1 extension to the Wi-SUN network at IIITH provides the ideal infrastructure to build and validate a multitude of Smart City solutions including water management, air quality monitoring, smart lighting, traffic management, energy management, waste management and many others. The launch of Phase 2 of the network is a significant step in enabling innovators to address the key issues in sustainable urbanization.
IIITH Smart City Living Lab is an initiative of MeitY (Ministry of Electronics & IT), National Cities Mission, and Government of Telangana, with knowledge support from EBTC (European Business Technology Council).
Silicon Labs, Intel and Paris-headquartered Saint Gobain are the other three founding corporate partners who joined hands with IIITH in building up smart city solutions. Silicon Labs has its largest wireless development centre in Hyderabad. fiinews.com
