THE #1 AV NEWS PUBLICATION. PERIOD.

Z-Wave Long Range Spec and Starter Kit Announced; Line of Sight Transmission is 1 Mile!

zwave

The Z-Wave Alliance announced the Z-Wave Long Range (Z-Wave LR) specification is available for product development. Z-Wave LR connectivity 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 4,000 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 30 decibel milliwatts, while supporting up to 4,000 nodes on a single network. This represents a 20x 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 Z-Wave LR, by Alliance member Silicon Labs, has already achieved a direct line of sight transmission range of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) utilizing +14 dBm 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. Z-Wave LR extends Z-Wave capabilities to larger, more complex installations and markets including hospitality, MDU, smart cities, commercial installations, large residential compounds and more.

Here’s a video explaining how it works:

Z-Wave LR is now available from Silicon Labs on their Z-Wave 700 platform and the specification is now available to Z-Wave Alliance members for development. The Z-Wave Alliance certification program will include Z-Wave LR by March 2021, anticipating numerous Z-Wave LR enabled devices to launch throughout the year.

Top