How Morse Micro's Wi-Fi HaLow solutions can help reduce the earth's consumption of carbon-based fuels, and build sustainable clean energy infrastructures
Clean. Green. Renewable. Sustainable. No matter how innovative energy companies label themselves, they likely share an ultimate goal of reducing the reliance on hydrocarbon sources and eliminating harmful emissions and pollution from the process of creating, distributing and consuming energy. At each stage, there are opportunities to increase efficiency by using advanced communications systems.
With the advent of sub-1 GHz IEEE 802.11ah Wi-Fi HaLow technology, these systems can now rely on a secure, low-power, long-distance Wi-Fi network across a broader scale of applications. With Wi-Fi HaLow, the combined effects of using lower frequencies and narrower band channels than previous generations of Wi-Fi are connections that reach much farther while using less total energy. Devices can communicate with an access point (AP) up to 1 kilometer away, depending on the country's regulations on radio systems. For some clean energy systems which span several square kilometers, Wi-Fi HaLow can connect more than 8,000 devices to a single AP.
Improving the Efficiency of Existing Systems
The existing infrastructures of energy creation, transmission, storage, distribution and consumption can all benefit from immediate improvements in efficiency. Aggregating small improvements across large numbers of consumption devices can result in a major impact on demand. Studying the patterns of consumption can lead to better predictions of how to control the grid and power generation plants. Wi-Fi HaLow simplifies the process of connecting more devices across much greater distances so that intelligent systems can make use of the finer granularity of knowledge and control. Morse Micro can already begin making contributions to energy efficiency today, while enabling new ideas for future clean energy systems of tomorrow.
Home Automation
A home's thermostat is a good starting point to explore how Wi-Fi HaLow can improve efficiency in today's infrastructure. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are among the largest consumers of energy in the home. When wireless connectivity is added to a programmable thermostat, the homeowner can adjust settings remotely via cloud applications over the Internet. However, not all homeowners program their systems in efficient ways. Smart thermostats improve efficiency by adjusting settings based on patterns of actual system usage, and they account for occupancy in the home. These systems would also be improved by incorporating knowledge at a higher level within an ecosystem that might be aware of the homeowner's location and schedule. For instance, if the homeowner's smartphone reports to a cloud-based home automation system that his location is presently 500 miles away, there might not be a need to crank up the heat at the "usual" time.
When the solution uses Wi-Fi HaLow, a new level of improved connectivity is enabled. Wi-Fi HaLow's sub-1 GHz radio signals penetrate through walls, floors and ceiling better than typical 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi or other technologies like Bluetooth, Zigbee or Z-Wave. Traditional Wi-Fi might require buying repeaters or meshes to connect a smart thermostat to the router, adding cost and energy consumption. The low power Wi-Fi HaLow thermostat can reach the home's Wi-Fi router more easily, simplifying installation costs, and potentially allowing for battery-operated thermostats without any power wires. The individual components in the HVAC system such as air handlers, furnaces, heat pumps, AC compressors and sensor devices in different parts of the home, can be interconnected over Wi-Fi HaLow instead of via wired cable. Each component can become an untethered modular piece of the HVAC system, where each can be incorporated into the usage analysis, and each could be independently upgraded as more efficient technologies emerge.
New types of Wi-Fi HaLow sensors such as room occupancy, angle of the sun, humidity and air pollution can provide a larger picture for the HVAC system to provide an intelligent response. Their placement can be chosen by where they provide the best information, instead of being limited to non-optimal placement due to Wi-Fi's limited coverage. They can operate using very small batteries and outdoor temperature and wind speed sensors can also be installed. Smart window shades and smart tinted glass solutions can be incorporated into this Wi-Fi HaLow network to assist the HVAC system in managing temperatures. These passive systems require very little energy, yet can greatly reduce the demands on the HVAC system if they can be reliably connected over a Wi-Fi HaLow network at much further distances away from the AP.
Click here to learn how your wireless cameras can benefit from Wi-Fi HaLow
Building Automation Systems (BAS)
Wi-Fi HaLow can improve the efficiency and cost of ownership of a commercial building's HVAC system. Consider the example of cooling the air for a large office building. A centralized compressor or heat pump provides refrigerant or chilled liquid to one or more evaporator coils on each floor. An air handler takes in air from the occupied space and blows it through the evaporator coil to reduce the temperature. The cool air travels to the multiple office areas and conference rooms via an air duct, or plenum, and small damper doors are opened or closed by controller devices near each room to allow the cool air to satisfy what is demanded by sensors and thermostat settings inside the space. This entire network of compressors, sensors, thermostats and damper controllers can be networked together to provide a high-level view of the building's performance to building management system (BMS) monitors on site, or in the cloud. The old method for building this network relies on installing wired power and signal connections to most of these components. Some systems incorporate short-reach wireless mesh networks, including 802.15.4 Zigbee or proprietary radios for sensor devices. Several stages of proprietary hubs or gateways add delays, latency and data throughput restrictions on the path from these devices to reach the BMS on the Internet.
IEEE 802.11ah Wi-Fi HaLow ICs provide unique advantages over these wired and proprietary wireless technologies. HaLow operates in the sub-1 GHz frequency range using narrow bandwidth channels, which can penetrate walls, ceilings, floors and objects much easier than wired or 2.4 GHz wireless technologies. Devices can be placed where they are needed, with fewer restrictions.
