- The partners unveiled this network at IIITH Living Lab supporting Field Area Network 1.1 specification for smart city applications
- Many campus streetlights are being controlled by the present deployment and the Wi-SUN network covers over 80% of the campus
- The partners believe that the launch of phase 2 of the network is a significant step in enabling innovators to address the key issues in sustainable urbanization
In a recent update from academic corridors, IIITH Smart City Living Lab collaborated with leading wireless tech company, Silicon Labs to launch a campus-wide Wi-SUN backbone Mesh network at IIITH Living Lab supporting Field Area Network (FAN) 1.1 specification. Wi-SUN is an open-standard protocol enabling interoperable solutions through open-source software with multi-layer security. It is noteworthy that in Phase 1, the partners launched the Wi-SUN backbone Mesh network last September to enable research and solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities. In the current phase, 30 more Wi-SUN router nodes have been deployed on the campus with nodes containing Silicon Labs’ radio – EFR32FG25 modules. The partners believe that the launch of phase 2 of the network is a significant step in enabling innovators to address the key issues in sustainable urbanization.
The official release stated that in this phase, all these nodes are interconnected through a self-healing mesh network and connected to a Border Router (BR) for backhauling the data to the cloud. These nodes support Wi-SUN FAN 1.1 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.
With the aim to 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. It adds to the existing modes of sensor communications including Wi-Fi and LORA which allows sensors to connect easily to the cloud, noted the press release.
Interestingly, the Director of Hyderabad Metro Water Supply Board (HMWSSB), Mr V.L.Praveen Kumar also showed the board’s interest in trying out the feasibility of the Wi-SUN network deployment for water utilities in the city.
CTO and Senior VP of Technology and Product Development at Silicon Labs, Daniel Cooley commented, “The phase two launch of India’s first campus-wide Wi-SUN network at the IIITH Smart City Living Lab is a crucial milestone towards enabling the development of an array of smart city solutions. This innovative street-lighting application, with thirty built-in FAN 1.1 network nodes connecting the campus street lamps for remote monitoring and control along with the thirty FAN 1.0 nodes deployed earlier in the last year, establishes a Wi-SUN backbone mesh network for future smart city applications. This demonstrates Silicon Labs’ commitment to contributing to the technology ecosystem in India and industry-academia partnerships. These smart city solutions hold the potential to contribute to the Indian government’s Smart City Mission.”
Austin-headquartered Silicon Labs is a leading global wireless technology provider, with integrated hardware and software platform, intuitive development tools, and a thriving ecosystem, to build advanced industrial, commercial, home, and life applications.
Founded in 1998, IIIT-H is an autonomous research university that focuses on the core areas of IT, such as CS, Electronics and Comm, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact. IIITH Smart City Living Lab is set up as an initiative of MeitY (Ministry of Electronics & IT), National Cities Mission, and Gov of Telangana, with knowledge support from EBTC (European Business Technology Council).
