Limitations of Existing Technology
To date the performance of free spectrum and proprietary communication technologies for sensor networking based on the 802.15.4 physical layer "PHY" have been inadequate for many sensor applications. Existing technologies are based on connection centric legacy wireless physical layer technology designed to maximize throughput for a given connection bandwidth with the end device. This technology is well suited for shorter range higher bandwidth applications but has significant limitations in terms of range, capacity and robustness for sensor networking and other low data rate and low power applications such as location tracking and ad-hoc mobility data communications. This results in fragmented implementations and very high deployment and operational costs due to:

• Limited range and mesh scalability which results in numerous power drops and cabling installations which can cost upwards of USD 200.00 per foot in many environments
• Lack of robustness to interference from other radio sources impacting reliability
• Network congestion and increased power consumption due to limited capacity and significant network control overhead to address congestion and interference
• Extensive network site surveys and planning to ensure a network can be deployed and maintained
• Expensive software management support and operational overhead to ensue acceptable network performance and reliability

On-Ramp's Technology Solution
The On-Ramp Ultra-Link Processing™ based system can support a -145 dBm receive sensitivity while simultaneously obeying the FCC rules governing the ISM free-spectrum. Also, unlike any of the free spectrum protocols (Zigbee, etc.) the aggregate capacity of the system does not reduce with range or link conditions. The Ultra-Link Processing™ based protocol - unlike other existing technologies - allows demodulation of up to 1000 links simultaneously.

This results in 25-times advantage in capacity and range (without mesh) while maintaining acceptable power consumption for battery operation. In an On-Ramp's star topology network configuration, with use of Micro Repeaters, the range is virtually unlimited. This in turn enables large scale plug and play network deployments with far fewer power installations and lower operational cost unlocking the true value of sensor networking for a broad set of applications.