The Z-Wave Alliance, has announced the Z-Wave Long Range (Z-Wave LR) specification is available for product development. The new Z-Wave connectivity specification enables new IoT applications beyond the home, without any need for repeaters, ensuring easy install and low cost. With a network size of up to 4000 nodes, Z-Wave LR provides the scalability needed in MDU & hospitality deployments. Z-Wave LR also reduces ongoing maintenance costs with up to 10 years of life on a coin cell battery.
The Z-Wave LR specification supports distances of up to several miles with a maximum output power of 30dBm, while supporting up to 4,000 nodes on a single network. This represents a 20 times increase over Z-Wave mesh node support while co-existing on the same network as Z-Wave mesh. Z-Wave LR is backwards compatible and maintains interoperability with all Z-Wave certified devices.
The first implementation of the format by Alliance member Silicon Labs, has already achieved a direct line of sight transmission range of 1 mile (1.6 km) utilizing +14dBm output power. With a foreseeable transmission range of several miles, the Z-Wave LR specification significantly expands the possibilities of system scalability beyond the confines of a single residential property. The new Z-Wave protocol provides increased Z-Wave capabilities to larger, more complex installations and markets including hospitality, MDU, smart cities, commercial installations, large residential compounds, and more.
“The Z-Wave Alliance Technical Workgroup has been working to fine-tune the Z-Wave LR specification for deployment,” states Niels Johansen, technical committee chairman, Z-Wave Alliance.
“These significant enhancements position the Alliance to solidify Z-Wave as the de facto standard for IoT solutions where sub-GHz is mission-critical to device performance.”
More news from the Z-Wave Alliance: Z-Wave Alliance Announces Z-Wave Long Range Spec
