100th US patent for energy control networking firm Echelon
Energy control networking company Echelon has obtained its 100th patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office. The newest patent applies to a method of constructing a communications transformer for high reliability in energy control network applications, and at significantly lower cost than previously possible.
Echelon’s energy control networking technology has a three-tier architecture:
- Intelligence at the field level within smart devices;
- Intelligence in control nodes at the edge, where control networks connect into data networks and the internet; and
- Intelligence at the enterprise.
Echelon also provides communications and control over both existing power lines and common unshielded wires. Communications over existing power lines is essential for smart grid and smart city development.
The use of unshielded wired communication links that are commonly found in building energy management systems and smart building infrastructure provides communications for very low cost. Echelon developed a number of patented techniques that allow companies to build highly reliable control networks using ordinary unshielded wires. In the process, the companies overcome the limitations of traditional communications wiring techniques, enabling greater reliability at lower installed and life-cycle cost.
