Monitoring the network topology gives you visibility into the structure and health of your Wi-SUN network. You can see how nodes are connected, identify the paths traffic takes through the mesh, and detect connectivity issues or unreachable devices.

This is particularly useful during deployment, to verify that all nodes have joined the network as expected, and during maintenance, to diagnose issues or assess the impact of changes.

Depending on your use case or status in the development cycle, you can monitor your Wi-SUN network with either of the following approaches:

Using XBee Studio Network Topology

The Network Topology view in XBee Studio allows you to discover and visualize the topology of your Wi-SUN network, showing all nodes and their connections in real time.

Monitor the network with XBee Studio (click to expand)

  1. Ensure your border router is connected to the same LAN as your PC.

  2. Open XBee Studio.

  3. Wait for your border router to be discovered.

  4. Click on the device. The Dashboard page appears. It contains:

    1. The device information.

    2. Network information.

    3. A list of quick actions.

  5. The Network information pane displays the following Wi-SUN network details:

    • Network name: The configured name of the Wi-SUN network.

    • Domain: The regulatory or operational domain in which the network operates (e.g., NA for North America).

    • Channel plan ID: The identifier for the channel plan in use (defines frequency usage).

    • PHY mode ID: The identifier for the physical layer mode (modulation, data rate, etc.).

    • Mesh address: The IPv6 address of the border router.

    • The total number of nodes in the Wi-SUN network.

  6. To monitor the topology of the network, select the Network Topology item in the sidebar of the tab. It is located within the Network section.

  7. XBee Studio automatically starts a continuous network discovery. Remote nodes are dynamically added to the view as they are found.

    You can stop the discovery at any time by clicking the Stop network discovery button, and resume it by clicking the Start network discovery button.

While the network discovery is running, the right side of the toolbar displays network information such as the network name, and node count, along with the number of scans performed and the elapsed time since the discovery began.

In the graph view, each node is connected to its preferred parent with lines. Click a node to highlight its direct connections and dim the rest of the network.

You can change the layout to display discovered devices in a table format.

This Network Topology view displays the following information of each node:

  • Role: The function of the node (e.g., Border Router, Full Function Node).

  • EUI-64: The unique 64-bit identifier for each device/node.

  • IPv6: The IPv6 address assigned to the node.

  • Border router name or node name (NI) if it is configured.

  • For remote nodes:

    • Firmware version: The firmware version of the device.

    • Hardware version: The hardware version of the device.

  • Parents: As connections in the graph view and in a combo list in the table.

To perform remote operations, you can use the shortcut buttons of each remote node in the graph or in the table or double-click it to open its Dashboard: Change settings or Update the firmware.

See the Network topology section of the XBee Studio User Guide for more information.

Using XBee Hive for Wi-SUN CLI

The XBee Hive for Wi-SUN command line interface (CLI) allows you to query detailed information about the Wi-SUN network the border router is connected to.

Review the network with CLI (click to expand)

The XBee Hive for Wi-SUN CLI command show wisun displays information about the network and its nodes. You can run this command from the CLI:

> show wisun verbose

The output displays information such as:

  • Border router information:

    • Firmware version: The version of the Wi-SUN firmware running on the border router.

    • MAC address: The unique hardware address of the border router’s Wi-SUN network interface.

    • Management status: Indicates whether the device is online and managed.

  • Wi-SUN network details:

    • Name: The configured name of the Wi-SUN network.

    • Domain: The regulatory or operational domain in which the network operates (e.g., NA for North America).

    • Channel Plan ID: The identifier for the channel plan in use (defines frequency usage).

    • PHY mode: The identifier for the physical layer mode (modulation, data rate, etc.).

    • Size: The configured expected size of the network, used for network operation timings. SMALL (< 100, default), MEDIUM (100-1000), LARGE (> 1000).

  • Number of border routers, FFN, LFN, and total nodes in the network.

  • Detailed information about each node in the network. Per node:

    • EUI-64: The unique 64-bit identifier for each device/node.

    • Role: The function of the node (e.g., Border Router, Full Function Node).

    • IPv6: The IPv6 address assigned to the node.

    • Authentication status: Indicates if the node has successfully authenticated to the network.

    • RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indicator - raw value indicating signal strength.

    • Signal levels: The received and advertised signal levels from the node’s perspective (in dBm).

    • Link quality: A metric indicating the quality of the wireless link between the node and the rest of the network. This value is an aggregate of various others (such as RSSI). Higher values are indicative of a better overall connection. A report of '0' is also possible while the calculations are in progress.

    • Parent: The EUI-64 of the parent node in the mesh topology.

  • Device identifiers. See Allowlist fields:

    • Serial number: The unique serial number of the device.

    • Hardware type: The hardware model identifier (OID format).

> show wisun verbose

Wi-SUN Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Firmware Version         : 1004
MAC Address              : 88:0F:62:FF:FE:10:A6:18
Management               : Online

Network
-------
Name                     : Digi Wi-SUN - Network 1
Domain                   : NA
Chan Plan ID             : 1
Phy Mode ID              : 2
Size                     : SMALL

Nodes
-----
Border Routers           : 1
Full Function (FFN)      : 2
Limited Function (LFN)   : 0
Total                    : 3

Nodes (Detailed)
----------------
EUI-64                   : 880F62FFFE10A618
Role                     : Border Router
IPv6                     : fd12::8a0f:62ff:fe10:a618

EUI-64                   : 880F62FFFE10A5DA
Role                     : Full Function Node (FFN)
IPv6                     : fd12::435c:8d05:ac08:5eb4
Authenticated            : true
RSSI                     : 134
Received Signal Level    : -33
Received Signal Level Adv: -30
Link Quality             : 0
Parent                   : 880F62FFFE10A618

EUI-64                   : 880F62FFFE10A9FF
Role                     : Full Function Node (FFN)
IPv6                     : fd12::435c:8d05:ac0c:5fd5
Authenticated            : true
RSSI                     : 151
Received Signal Level    : -20
Received Signal Level Adv: -26
Link Quality             : 0
Parent                   : 880F62FFFE10A618
                          : 880F62FFFE10A5DA

Initial Device Identifier (active)
----------------------------------
Serial Number            : 8797d64cc0750bc25c9288ae
Hardware Type            : 1.3.6.1.4.1.332.11.20.2

Local Device Identifier
-----------------------
Serial Number            : 8797d64cc0750bc25c9288ae
Hardware Type            : 1.3.6.1.4.1.332.11.20.2