This International Standard specifies a method of reliable and secure wireless operation for non-critical monitoring, alerting, supervisory control, open loop control, and closed loop control applications. This standard defines a protocol suite, including system management, gateway considerations, and security specifications, for low-data-rate wireless connectivity with fixed, portable, and slowly-moving devices, often operating under severe energy and power constraints. The application focus of this standard is the performance needs of process automation monitoring and control, where end-to-end communication delays on the order of 100ms can be tolerated.

This standard specifies the following:

• physical layer service definition and protocol specification;

• data-link layer service definition and protocol specification;

• network layer service definition and protocol specification;

• transport layer service definition and protocol specification;

• application layer service definition and protocol specification, including support for protocol tunneling and gateways;

• security and security management;

• provisioning and configuration;

• network management; and

• additive communication role profiles (i.e., one or more can be selected concurrently).

Functionality above the application layer of the OSI Basic Reference Model, such as the so-called User Layer and different profiles for functionality at that layer, is not addressed. However, it is discussed briefly in AnnexA.