By: Phil Beecher

Increasing internet connectivity capabilities continue to evolve the modern business environment. Through the Internet of Things (IoT) and other connected devices, it is now easier than ever to connect and monitor key assets, increase productivity within operations, and negate unplanned downtime. Now, businesses can place sensors within their assets, and – so long as there is sufficient connectivity to link them to remote applications – benefit from a wealth of third-party data and service integrations held in the cloud.

By 2030, there will be an estimated 32.1 billion IoT devices in use across the globe. A large proportion of these will be found in the utility and smart city markets, driven by advancements in smart grid and metering, as well as new initiatives for connected street lighting and environmental monitoring.

As the adoption of IoT technology increases, choosing the right network protocol is critical. This will dictate how much bandwidth is required, how long a battery-powered device can last when in use, and the total cost of ownership for any given application deployed. For example, having to send out engineers to visit a device once deployed in a network can be capital intensive, especially for large-scale networks. Users need networks that are self-reliant and require minimal oversight. These requirements have made wireless mesh networks an increasingly critical necessity.

A Key Network Technology

Wireless mesh network protocols can enable all devices within a network to communicate with each other seamlessly, with data transmitted from node to node to reach long distances, making them perfect for the larger networks required for managing energy grids or smart cities.

Mesh networks differ from star network topologies like Wi-Fi or LTE, which are often susceptible to the signal blockages caused by everyday topologies within utility operations and cities such as narrow streets, high rise buildings or moving vehicles. The decentralized nature of mesh networks is not reliant on centralised infrastructure like star networks; instead, it dynamically routes data through multiple pathways, ensuring that communication remains uninterrupted even if nodes fail, become overloaded, or are obstructed.

These networks can also be self-forming and self-healing, meaning it is simple to add new nodes when required, and if a pathway fails the network will automatically re-route to available gateways. This self-healing capability allows operators to scale in both capacity and size, improving network reliability with each node added and, therefore, making it the best option for overcoming future network demands.

Mesh networks are already being used to support a number of key applications — everything from Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), electric vehicle charging and direct load control, to traffic management and lighting can all be underpinned through them. Additionally, as more and more devices adopt the standard and become certified, operators will gain greater flexibility in their operations, fostering IoT innovation.

The Importance of Certification

As many of these networks are based on open standards, they encourage greater interoperability and an accelerated time to market for IoT products. These efforts towards openness are supported by certification programs to ensure authorities can use devices that will adhere tothese open standards. Certification programs are vital as they ensure devices and services meet specific standards for quality, security, and performance, fostering end-user trust and promoting industry-wide consistency. to a communications profile, derived from open standards and their ability to allow interoperability with other essential products. This advantage of interoperability