Jennic Senses IP Wireless Sensor Net Opportunity with 6LoWPAN

Wireless communications chip and software developer Jennic has started sampling a networking stack for the 6LoWPAN low-power wireless Internet Protocol specification. The software has been embedded into Jennic's JN5139 wireless microcontroller, which integrates a 2.4GHz IEEE802.15.4 transceiver and a 32-bit processor core, with sufficient memory remaining to run application software. An evaluation kit for the emerging 6LoWPAN specification will be available in the third quarter, says Jennic.

The 6LoWPAN stack supports simple star networks, or can be run on top of Jennic's JenNet stack that provides self-healing cluster tree networking capability, with automatic route formation and repair. The power consumption of 6LoWPAN is a fraction of Wi-Fi, so that products such as heating controls, security sensors, patient monitoring equipment, process controllers and sensors, can be IP-enabled with multi-year battery life expectancy.

6LoWPAN was devised by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and was ratified late last year. It is one of the first standards that bring native Internet Protocol to individual embedded devices such as wireless sensor nodes, allowing such devices to communicate directly with any other IP device on the network.

The numerical reference in 6LoWPAN alludes to the fact that the standard will allow transport of both IPv4 and IPv6 packets over low-power 802.15.4 radio networks, allowing richer Transmission Control Protocol/IP and User Datagram Protocol/IP options than such networks as ZigBee or SP100.

According to Jennic's CEO, Jim Lindop, :"6LoWPAN will have widespread appeal to companies in building control, industrial automation, medical and consumer markets where they have pre-existing IP systems. Developers will be able to use their knowledge of IP to build low power wireless products that seamlessly integrate into existing IP networks.

"The extension into low power wireless is a logical progression, and will undoubtedly give rise to a wealth of applications that were previously unrealizable".