Dust Networks makes WirelessHART easy and with fast time-to-market, too

Dust Networks, the creator of what has become WirelessHART, has announced the first set of OEM products for WirelessHART. These products are a complete suite for instrument vendors to WirelessHART-enable their product lines, without doing the R&D necessary to do it themselves. Products will be available in Q1 2008. This puts even more pressure on the SP100 committee to come to terms with the existence of WirelessHART directly in the space ISA100.11a Rev 1 is supposed to occupy. I had counted 11 vendors in the final stages of preparation to offer WirelessHART devices (including Phoenix Contact--see the release below), and the playing field is now going to be greatly enlarged. Dust's press release follows: Dust Networksâ„¢, the leading provider of embedded wireless sensor networking (WSN) solutions, today announced the SmartMesh IA-500â„¢ family of standards-based WSN systems. SmartMesh IA-510â„¢, the first in this family, is compatible with the WirelessHARTâ„¢ standard and enables industrial automation vendors to meet the rapidly growing demand for standards-based WSN solutions.   "Dust has played a pioneering role in wireless sensor networking. The company's Time Synchronized Mesh Protocolâ„¢ (TSMP), now a foundational building block of the WirelessHART standard, has served as a catalyst for the industrial market," said Harry Forbes, senior analyst at ARC Advisory Group. "Dust's embedded WSN solutions are a critical step in accelerating the broad adoption of standards-based wireless field devices."   The launch of Dust Networks' IA-510 system follows recent industry ratification of the WirelessHART standard. WirelessHART builds on established and field-proven international standards, including the HARTä protocol (IEC 61158) and international radio standards (IEEE 802.15.4). Additionally, the WirelessHART standard makes use of advanced mesh networking technologies.   With an estimated 25 million HART field devices currently installed, and approximately 3 million new HART devices shipping each year, industrial automation vendors and end users are expected to embrace the unifying standard. Dust Networks is currently working with leading industrial automation vendors, including Emerson Process Management and Phoenix Contact.   "We have deployed our Smart Wireless field devices, enabled by Dust Networks' technology, in real-world environments and our customers have been thrilled with the results," said Bob Karschnia, vice president of technology for Emerson Process Management. "We are working with Dust to leverage this success and quickly bring WirelessHART standards-based solutions to market."   "We are pleased to be working with Dust Networks, the leader in wireless sensor networking, to bring WirelessHART solutions to market, "said Davis Mathews, business unit manager at Phoenix Contact." The ratification of the WirelessHART standard represents a significant opportunity for Phoenix Contact and the process industry."   SmartMesh IA-510 System The SmartMesh IA-510 system combines Dust Networks' robust, Intelligent Networking Platform and industry-leading low-power radio technology to deliver complete embedded WirelessHART solutions that are easy for industrial automation vendors to integrate and simple for end users to deploy. Key features include:   ·  WirelessHART Compliance: Ensures interoperability with other WirelessHART field devices and gateways. ·  Bandwidth Flexibility: Variable bandwidth and efficient allocation of timeslots enable a single network to meet the latency and throughput needs of multiple industrial automation applications.  ·  Superior Reliability: Advanced network optimization and intelligent routing algorithms coupled with dynamic interference assessment, frequency hopping, time synchronization and full mesh networking ensure high reliability even in the most challenging industrial environments. ·  Ultra Low-power: Industry-leading power-efficient radio technology, combined with intelligent network management, provides unmatched low-power operation that can offer more than a decade of battery life on a pair of AA batteries. ·  Easy Integration: Comprehensive APIs offer rapid product development integration while ensuring compliance to the complex WirelessHART command structure. Industry-leading Mote-on-Chipâ„¢ (MoC) minimizes complex RF hardware design: All that's required is a simple antenna connector for robust RF connectivity. ·  Robust Security: Incorporates AES 128-bit cipher on dynamically updated multi-level encryption key scheme, as well as access control lists to provide end users with the highest level of WirelessHART network security.   The 2.4GHz SmartMesh IA-510 system consists of the PM2510 embedded network manager, which is easily integrated into WirelessHART gateway solutions, and two mote form factors: the DN2510 MoC integrated in a 12mm x 12mm system-in-package (SiP) and the M2510 RF-certified mote module. Products will be available in Q1 2008.   "The SmartMesh IA-510 system leverages our experience in developing intelligent embedded wireless sensor networking solutions to provide our customers with the best implementation of the WirelessHART standard," said Steve Toteda, vice president of marketing at Dust Networks.   Dust Networks will be showcasing its SmartMesh IA-510 system and its customers' wireless sensing solutions at ISA Expo, October 2-4 at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas. Visit Dust in the HART Bus Station partner pavilion, booth 1349.