Schedule a Teams Meeting with Radiocrafts or leave a message on our contact form to learn more about our Sub-GHz mesh networking solution, RIIM, optimized for efficient Smart Irrigation Networks!

Do you need a cost-effective subscription free connectivity for your Smart Irrigation system capable of covering an area of approximately 80×80 km on a single gateway with up to 1000 nodes?  Then Radiocrafts’ ultra reliable Industrial IP Mesh (RIIM) is the solution for you!

Smart Irrigation systems have several unique properties that make subscription free sub-GHz Radiocrafts Industrial IP Mesh (RIIM) very well suited:

• Need for connectivity without mobile network coverage, data plans or operator lock-in
• Ultra reliable communication and operation
• Long battery life for sensors spread out over a large area
• Not only collection of sensor data, but also control of devices such as water valves
• Reliable in-field Over-The-Air update of connected devices
• Global coverage to target new and emerging markets

RIIM by Radiocrafts is an easy-to-use, Sub-GHz, wireless communication network completely embedded in an RF module. It includes all the critical components for a complete wireless network and has no license fee or subscription costs. It is ready to go when you buy the module. Additionally, since RIIM is a mesh network, it is self-forming, self-healing and self-optimizing. This is simplifies the installation and implementation of your smart irrigation system greatly.

RIIM can cover a huge area of around 80×80 km squared in a semi open rural environment. It also supports up to 1400 m communication range between devices. Additionally, a RIIM data packet can spread across the network by hopping from device to device up to 28 times (28 mesh hops). Long range and coverage plus the possibility to have up to 1000 devices for a single border router (gateway) reduces the cost of the installation as less gateways are needed to support a large scale deployment. To cover a larger area you simply add another border router.

In addition, the RIIM Mesh Router can handle down to 118uA @ 3.3v average power consumption enabling all battery devices in the network to further extend the network coverage.

RIIM includes the ICI framework. An ICI application is always running on the module to tailor the modules behavior to the customers unique requirements. The ICI application configures the radio network, the modules hardware interfaces, and defines when to read/write to those interfaces. ICI makes it possible for the user to directly interface to virtually any sensor and/or actuator, such as a soil moisture sensors, water valve control, UV sensors, rain/freeze sensors, wind sensors, and more, removing the need for external circuitry. It supports mist computing to reduce bandwidth requirements and for fast responses to local events.

RIIM supports Adaptive Frequency Agility  which allows for high-throughput networking with minimal packet loss by taking the allowed duty cycle in Europe from 1% to around 40%! In the US high-throughput networking is not a big issue but you can still take advantage of the robustness. Using an example, this means that you can now go from 1 packet reaching the Border Router every 4 seconds to 40 packets reaching the Border Router every 4 seconds! This feature is essential to keep up with the vast amounts of data communication required from modern Smart Irrigation deployments.

Time-Synchronization is essential for Smart Irrigation because it supports the management of exact start/stop times for certain events. For example, the user might need to start irrigation of a certain part of the field immediately after irrigation stops in another part.

faulty node detection is available in RIIM as well. The gateway sends a message to every node asking if they are still connected to the network. If the Border Router does not receive a reply from one of the nodes, this means that this node is lost.

RIIM supports unmatched reliability in data transmission success rates thanks to the Time Synchronized Channel Hopping (TSCH) feature. TSCH works by re-sending a data packet that was lost between two devices on a different channel in the next available time slot. It is a channel hopping mode designed to make a mesh network with less packet collisions and higher reliability.  A TSCH network has proven to have a reliability of up to 99.99%. RIIM is also protected by encryption using a pre-shared key and supports DTLS end to end security.

RIIM is also very low power for battery operation supporting long lasting projects. It supports a number of features that reduce power consumption, including:

1. The chosen electronic components inside are low power to start with.
2. The network leaf nodes can be put in “Sleepy” mode, reducing the current consumption to a minimum (4.7 uA).
3. The output power of the module is configurable, not to consume more power than needed during transmit.
4. TSCH allows Mesh routers to sleep when there is no time slot for incoming or outgoing RF data packages.
5. The data processing that can be done by the customer in ICI can save substantial power. RIIM™ supports cloud computing which means that instead of sending all raw sensor reading data to the Cloud, the user can just send the interesting data, such as an alarm when a threshold is met.

A RIIM node can last 10 years on a CR2772 (870 mAh capacity coin cell battery) while sending 12 bytes every hour, 24 hours per day.

We recommend that you buy a RIIM Development Kit in your early stage product evaluation. The development kits are designed to be easy to use and to very quickly support a wireless link or network, where you can make a good analysis of the network performance. 

You can buy the RIIM Development kit from:

• Digi-Key
• Or from a distribution partner in your country.

Read more about the RIIM Network here.

Learn about the different RIIM Parts and Tools here.

Read our extensive documentation on RIIM, including datasheets, User Manuals, Development Kit documentation, Application Notes and more, here.

Download Software Tools for RIIM here.

Watch tutorial videos on how to use the RIIM Development Kit here.

Schedule a Teams Meeting with Radiocrafts or leave a message on our contact form to learn more about our Sub-GHz mesh networking solution, RIIM, optimized for efficient Smart Irrigation Networks!