dear all,
i plan to build a sensor network that will cover a large perimeter, with ~1,000 battery-operated nodes, located ~1Km apart (in a regular grid topology).
the nodes will take some quick measurements at regular time intervals (once every 5min), and hopefully will sleep during the rest of the period. the system should gather all the information at one specific node (sink).
it looks as if the best candidate for the job is the XBEE PRO (900MHz or 2.4GHz) with the DigiMesh firmware.
the problem is (as always) - budget. these units are priced at ~40$ each.
i've looked into some alternatives - nordic or hoperf, but couldn't find evidence regarding their ability to create these mesh networks, with sleeping nodes to conserve battery..?
i'd appreciate any help on that matter.
thanks in advance!
rubin