Implementation and Performance Evaluation of a Wi-SUN FAN for Large-Scale Outdoor IoT Applications

Abstract

The increasing demand for dependable, scalable and secure communication in large-scale outdoor Internet of Things (IoT) deployments has highlighted the limitations of traditional wireless communication protocols such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Bluetooth. These protocols mostly suffer from limited communication range, poor scalability and unreliable connectivity in outdoor and industrial environments. The Wireless Smart Utility Network (Wi-SUN) Field Area Network (FAN) has emerged as a robust solution for such applications due to its IPv6 based mesh networking and long-range Sub-GHz communication because of its self-healing topology and enterprise grade security. This paper presents the design, implementation, and experimental validation of a Wi-SUN FAN network using a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) based Border Router/Gateway and an EFR32FG28A122F1024GM48 Wi-SUN leaf node developed on a custom printed circuit board. The implemented system runs in the Indian Sub-GHz frequency band and uses mesh networking principles for reliable data transmission. The network was confirmed through successful node authentication, IPv6 address assignment and data transmission to the dashboard. To evaluate the practical applicability of Wi-SUN FAN, three real-world IoT use cases were implemented and analyzed. First, crop health monitoring through compressed image transmission, second smart streetlight monitoring through energy and status reporting and third is industrial equipment monitoring through vibration, temperature, and acoustic sensing. Experimental results confirm successful network formation, secure communication, and reliable end-to-end data transmission. The implementation shows that Wi-SUN FAN provides a scalable, secure and energy efficient communication framework suitable for large-scale outdoor IoT deployments. The results confirm Wi-SUN as a promising communication technology for next generation smart agriculture, smart city, and industrial IoT demanding reliable long range wireless mesh networking.

Keywords

Graphical Abstract

Novelty Statement

This work presents a complete end-to-end hardware implementation and experimental validation of a Wi-SUN FAN network using a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) Border Router and a custom EFR32FG28-based leaf node operating in the Indian Sub-GHz frequency band.