B+B SmartWorx releases Wzzard Mesh Gen 2: Low-Power Wireless Sensing for Environmental and Energy Monitoring

Wzzard Mesh Gen 2 Wireless Sensing improves on cost of ownership, efficiency of set-up, and expands end-user options for commercial applications

Ottawa, IL – May 1, 2018 – B+B SmartWorx powered by Advantech has announced the release of its Wzzard Mesh Gen 2 Wireless Sensing solution, offering advanced environmental and energy monitoring in both industrial and commercial applications.Wzzard Mesh Gen 2 models have the ability to monitor temperature, humidity and vibration, and can accommodate virtually any industry-standard external sensors. Connections can be made via M12 connector or conduit fitting. The nodes provide a wide variety of sensor interface options, including general purpose analog input, digital input/output and thermocouple.

Wzzard Mesh Gen 2 includes a light industrial model, ideal for commercial applications that don’t need a full rugged IP67 design. Industries that will realize this new benefit quickly are ones in which temperature monitoring is needed, such as refrigerator monitoring for temperature-controlled inventory. The new price point of the commercial application model also allows for quick and easy ROI. Some main benefits of the new intelligent devices include:

• Enhanced cloud management tool for configuration and device management
• Light industrial version for commercial applications, in addition to full industrial version
• Sleep mode to extend battery life and simplify installation
• Ability to monitor 100 nodes per gateway
• Automated network configuration and health monitoring
• Internal temperature sensor part of hardware purchase
• Battery life for up to 10 years

The enhanced cloud device management tool is included with the hardware purchase and allows for management of status information, diagnostic information, firmware updates and bulk operations. Additionally, sensor nodes can be physically deployed, then configured and managed remotely, decreasing cost of installation and ownership. This eliminates the need for specialized installation skill-sets.

The Wzzard intelligent wireless sensor platform creates a complete, quick and easy connectivity stack between sensors and applications. The platform uses Wzzard mesh sensor edge nodes and a self-forming, self-healing wireless mesh network to transmit sensor data to a Wzzard gateway. The Wzzard gateway easily transfers data to connect to popular platforms and/or the cloud via Internet of Things (IoT) protocols, such as MQTT, and easily integrates with third-party applications, such as Ignition, OSIsoft PI, KEPServerEX, etc.

“It can be difficult for integrators and engineers to develop scalable IoT connectivity solutions—this is where Wzzard Mesh Gen 2 sensing technology comes in,” said Kevin Nelson, IoT Product Sales Manager at B+B SmartWorx. “The Wzzard Platform offers the ability to access sensor data in many different applications and IoT solutions. Plus, our Wzzard solution can be customized to support many different industrial remote monitoring applications and needs.”

Ideal end-user applications for monitoring include: food and agriculture, water and wastewater, industrial automation, transportation, data centers, building and automation, and energy and power. OEMs and machine builders can also work with B+B SmartWorx engineers for application-customized hardware.

Wzzard Mesh Gen 2 wireless sensor nodes can be configured to communicate data only when specified threshold or alert levels are exceeded. When reporting, they can associate useful information like geo-location, device name and uptime. This eliminates unnecessary network traffic, eases the processing burden on upstream resources and cuts the cost of cellular data plans when the gateway is using a cellular data network.

Starter kits are available for Energy Monitoring, HVAC Monitoring and Refrigeration Monitoring. Wzzard Starter Kits can help test a system with the technology and help to quickly prove a business case to expand the Wzzard Mesh Network. The Wzzard Mesh Gen 2 sensing solution is incrementally scalable. For more information, visit www.advantech-bb.com/wzzard.

About B+B SmartWorx, Inc.

Founded in 1981, B+B SmartWorx (formerly B&B Electronics) designs and manufactures intelligent M2M and IoT connectivity solutions for wireless and wired networks. Specializing in intelligent connectivity at the “edge” of networks in remote and demanding environments, the company’s product solutions use Ethernet, serial, wireless, cellular and USB communication technologies. In 2016 B+B SmartWorx became part of Advantech, global provider of trusted and innovative products, services and solutions in industrial automation and embedded computing across diverse industries and applications. Together, Advantech and B+B SmartWorx work to enable an intelligent planet.