IEC clears wireless standard for low-power devices

Oberhaching, Germany – The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has ratified a new standard – ISO/IEC 14543-3-10 – for wireless applications with ultra-low power consumption.

The new standard is geared to wireless sensors and wireless sensor networks with ultra-low power consumption. It also includes sensor networks that utilise energy harvesting technology to draw energy from their surroundings - for example from motion, light or temperature differences.

It is the first and only wireless standard that is also optimised for energy harvesting solutions, announced EnOcean GmbH – a developer and manufacturer of self-powered wireless products for use in building, industrial, logistics and consumer applications.

The international standard lays the foundation for fully interoperable, open wireless technology comparable to standards such as Bluetooth and WiFi, said EnOcean, based in Oberhaching, near Munich..

“Standardisation will boost the demand for energy harvesting sensors and wireless modules and step up their implementation. At the same time, we anticipate the development of even more efficient energy harvesting solutions that use a wide range of energy sources,” says Laurent Giai-Miniet, CEO of EnOcean.

The standard covers OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) layers 1-3, being the physical, data link and networking layers. The full title of the standard is: ISO/IEC 14543-3-10 Information technology — Home Electronic Systems (HES) — Part 3-10: Wireless Short-Packet (WSP) protocol optimised for energy harvesting — Architecture and lower layer protocols.