Mount Kelvin mesh consists of three parts: The mesh network, a gateway to convert signals between IP and mesh networks as well as a cloud backend.

Each Mount Kelvin gateway needs a working Internet connection via Ethernet as well as power. Networking components like switches are never offered as part of a Mount Kelvin project proposal, customer networking contractor must acquire and install these separately. All Mount Kelvin gateway units require outbound connectivity to the Internet. Notably, the network connection must be installed and fully functional prior to starting commissioning.

The gateways acquire IP addresses via DHCP, no manual IP assignment is needed. All gateway units in a single installation must be placed in a single network, which does not filter mDNS traffic.

In a typical network no firewall changes are necessary, but if a firewall with outbound communications restrictions is present, the following ports must be open:

No inbound connections are needed.

The connection between the gateways and cloud backend is built upon websockets. Monitoring of gateway connection status is handled by monitoring the websocket state. In addition to the socket to the command&control backend, a separate fleet management system monitors the gateways.

The bandwith requirements of the gateway are relatively low, a few hundred MB / month. A more critical consideration is network latency, but this aspect is only relevant when using the mobile or web application to control the system and during commissioning. During normal operation the switches and sensors in the rooms are used as the primary control mechanism and the network connection is mostly used for status reporting and monitoring. Temporary spikes in network usage may be observed during updates of the gateway software, which can amount to 1-2Gb/gateway.

The Mount Kelvin gateways do not support PoE, a separate power socket is needed in the installation location.

Wireless network radio characteristics

As the Mount Kelvin control network (which is based on Mesh technology from Wirepas) runs on the 2.4Ghz ISM band used by Bluetooth and Wifi devices, interference with other radio devices cannot be ruled out. To mitigate this issue, the network attempts to find quiet channels in the band to ensure reliability of both the Mount Kelvin network and other radio networks.

You can read more on the subject of Wifi and Wirepas coexistance at the Wirepas website.