ZigBee deployed in monitoring system in Europe

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Sep 23, 2005

Cratlon has announced the successful deployment of its wireless sensor network at Betatherm's manufacturing plant in Galway, Ireland.

Cratlon, a wireless sensor semiconductor company and Betatherm, a leading provider of high precision NTC thermistors and temperature probe assemblies, have announced the successful deployment of Cratlon's wireless sensor network at Betatherm's manufacturing plant in Galway, Ireland.

This is believed to be the first successful European deployment of the emergent IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee wireless protocol in a monitoring system.

The results of the deployment will be outlined in a paper at the Radio Solutions Conference in Sophia Antipolis, France, on 12th October 2005.

The wireless sensor network measures temperature, light and humidity at several locations around the manufacturing plant and performs wireless data transmission at regular intervals to a PC server in Betatherm's administrative office block over 100m hundred metres away.

The measurement modules are powered by long-life batteries, with a projected operational life of up to 10 years.

The modules use Betatherm's interchangeable Series II range of NTC thermistors, which are suited to high precision temperature sensing in plant monitoring applications because of their accuracy, sensitivity and robust construction.

The wireless network operates in an environment that is particularly harsh for RF signals with the presence of electrical manufacturing equipment, a neighbouring three-storey metal-clad building and a nearby telecommunications tower transmitting at microwave frequencies.

Even under these conditions the modules are capable of transmitting over several hundred metres at the ZigBee ISM frequency of 2.4GHz.

The modules can additionally use Cratlon's patent-pending 'lo-hop' frequency hopping algorithm to avoid RF blocking in the event of interference from Wi-Fi access points or microwave ovens.

Evaluation kits of the modules are now available, and the module design, software stack, sensor interface circuits, and RF deployment guidelines are available for license to OEMs in the energy conservation, building management and related sectors.