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enModus is a UK-based smart home technology company founded in 2010. The company has developed a powerline-based communications protocol called Wattwave, which aims to offer a long-range, low-cost alternative to existing connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee for mains-powered smart appliances, heating and lighting controls.

History
enModus was founded in January 2010 by Andy Heaton, Phil Young and John Spear to realize an idea which first came to Andy Heaton in 2006 for a low-cost powerline communications (PLC) technology specifically designed for smart home requirements. The company raised £250,000 of angel investment in 2010 and £1 million of venture capital in 2011. In 2013, enModus was awarded significant grants from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Technology Strategy Board. enModus is affiliated with the SETsquared business incubator and is a member of Microsoft's BizSpark program.

Wattwave technology
Wattwave is a proprietary, full duplex, low bitrate communications protocol operating in the CENELEC B band (~100kHz). It uses Time division multiple access (TDMA) and Code division multiple access (CDMA) techniques and principles borrowed from Global Positioning Systems (GPS), as well as a number of its own patent-pending innovations to achieve optimal data throughput. Wattwave is implemented in firmware running on a low-cost off-the-shelf 32-bit microprocessor (currently the ARM Cortex-M family of processors), supported by a custom analog chip. As it uses the copper electricity wiring in homes, Wattwave doesn't suffer from wireless interference and signal propagation issues that limit the range and robustness of wireless communications protocols commonly used for connected smart homes devices such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee and Z-Wave. Wattwave's simpler design is also inherently lower in cost than more complex alternatives such as ZigBee. The main limitation of Wattwave is its low bitrate (< 1 kpbs) which makes it unsuitable for applications such as media streaming - and as a powerline-based protocol it is not applicable for non mains-powered devices such as battery-powered sensors.