Although there has been a lot of research in sensor networking for a while now, products and solutions are starting to show up on the market.This was apparent on the floor at ISA last week.

It is important to note these are not 802.11 wireless LAN but shorter range, lower power (and throughput) mesh networks based on IEEE 802.15.4 that dynamically reconfigure themselves as nodes join and leave the network. These are also not TCP/IP enabled devices, but require gateway devices to access (or be accessed by) more intelligent devices and applications.

I was repeatedly told these are not ZigBee-based (although ZigBee also sits on top of 802.15.4) but proprietary protocols that perform routing, key exchange, device enrollment and all functions about the MAC layer. Zigbee outlines the use of SKKE (based on AES) but the key exchange mechanisms for these new “non-Zigbee” 802.15.4 sensor networks are a big question mark (for me, at least) for now.

Only time will tell whether 802.15.4 fares better than 802.11 from a security (and vulnerability) perspective.

For links to vendors and technology backgrounders, see my Industrial Mesh Wiki Page