Hello!
We currently deploy networks of Zigbee Xbees for building automation - they are used in API mode, as part of our own hardware. Our networks typically consist of between 100 and 500 nodes. With Zigbee, we use Aggregate Routing for data from the nodes to the coordinator, and Source Routing for data from the coordinator to the nodes.
We are currently evaluating DIgimesh for our use. We’ve got a few XBee XR 900s running with our hardware and software, and overall it seems to work. Aggregate routing is available and we can use it. However, it appears that source routing is not available in Digimesh - at least, no documentation I have found indicates that it is. Since the routing table on these Xbees is only 128 entries long, and our networks almost always consist of more than 128 nodes, we are concerned about coordinator-to-node unicast traffic. Our networks are relatively “busy”, and with Zigbee, use without Source Routing causes a prohibitive amount of Network Discovery traffic, rendering the network nearly unusable.
If Digimesh does not support Source Routing, is network discovery notably less disruptive in it than it is in Zigbee? Is it available and I am missing documentation of it? Or is Digimesh not really suitable for busy networks over 128 nodes?