User Manual

Overview of RF500 LITE Mesh Networking
The RF500 LITE Wireless Monitoring System uses the IEEE 802.15.4 radio transmission
standard to implement a radio mesh network.
A mesh network is comprised of the following devices:
• Gateway
• Mesh Transmitter
• Transmitter
On installation each transmitter is associated with a particular Gateway by serial number.
Messages are transferred between transmitters and the Gateway using two-way
communication with acknowledgement of successful message reception.
Transmitters which are physically close to their associated Gateway such as transmitter A in
below, will most likely transmit directly to it. Others such as transmitter B which are further
away rely on meshing transmitters to forward messages to and from the Gateway on their
behalf.
The route taken by the message can vary depending on network load and link reliability. The
ability to dynamically reconfigure the network is termed self-healing. In the figure below the
self-healing ability is shown.
Figure 7 - A Typical Mesh Network
M e s h T r a n s m i t t e r
G a t e w a y
T r a n s m i t t e r
!
D a t a t r a n s f e r i n t e r r u p t e d
t r a n s m i t t e r c o n t i n u e s t o
s t o r e d a t a .
T r a n s m i t t e r r e r o u t e s t o
s e l f - h e a l n e t w o r k a n d
t r a n s f e r s s t o r e d d a t a .
A
B
A
B