WPAN

WPAN stands for Wireless Personal Area Network. It refers to short-range wireless networks that connect devices within a personal space, typically a few meters to a few tens of meters apart. WPANs prioritize low power consumption, low cost, and modest data rates, enabling peripherals, sensors, wearables, and consumer electronics to communicate without cables. The technologies are standardized by the IEEE 802.15 family, complemented by industry profiles and certification programs.

IEEE 802.15 defines several WPAN variants. The most widely used are IEEE 802.15.4, a low-rate standard designed for simple, low-power networks; it forms the basis of ZigBee and Thread and is used in sensor networks and home automation. IEEE 802.15.3 is a high-rate WPAN intended for multimedia and rapid data transfer over short distances. IEEE 802.15.6 targets body-area networks for healthcare and wearables. Bluetooth is commonly listed as 802.15.1 in older literature and is a closely associated technology in personal-area networking.

Typical WPAN topologies include star, and mesh or tree topologies supported by 802.15.4-based ecosystems. Operation commonly occurs in unlicensed ISM bands, such as 2.4 GHz worldwide and regionally at 868/915 MHz for 802.15.4 variants. Data rates range from tens of kilobits per second in low-rate modes to tens of megabits per second in some high-rate variants; actual speeds depend on the specific standard and physical layer in use.

Applications span home and building automation, environmental sensing, health monitoring, industrial control, and consumer electronics. WPANs are valued for low power, simple deployment, and short-range reliability, but are constrained by limited range, interference in shared spectrum, and lower data throughput compared with larger networks such as WLANs.