Battery Powered Low Datarate Wireless Network

Hello Youri,
there are some additional questions which are relevant for finding a solution:
How many users has your network (or is it only point-to-point)?
Shall it be a bidirectional or unidirectional betwork ?
Is there a master polling some data or can the other members talk at an event ?
Are there fixed times or time-slices to communicate ?

You get 433MHz-receivers with current consumptions as low as 300µA@5V and transmitters with 4mA@5V - if the transmitters can be switched on only when used you will reach for two years.

For slow data rates at low range you should look at cheap TX/RX-modules of the italian company telecontrolli.com who have not only modules but also evaluation boards.

But the world is full of "wireless modules" - have a look at google.
Hope these thoughts help - Uwe

Yes the world is full of "wireless modules" that's why I asked the question.

The network should be bidirectional there could be a master which communicates to the slaves point-to-point. This master can than be used as a kind of repeater to expand the distance between two devices. I'm also open to some kind of mesh network. It would be preferable that the members could invoke an event to each other. There are no fixed time slots and therefor I think polling is a disadvantage for the battery. Ultimately it could be a kind of sensor network with as many as 30 devices. Triggering an event when the user pushs the botton on one device and preferably an action from another device with an humanly acceptable delay. But unlike ligthing the receiver can't be awake all the time waiting for someone to push the button. If you add polling to the receiver every minute for instance then the user has to push on the transmitter for one minute for the receiver to see the communication. So there should be some kind of wakeup action possible.

I hope this gives a better idea of what I'm looking for.

Youri

Actually http://www.ubiwave.be/ might have a solution for this. They provide wireless mesh networking modules built (and have a proprietary improved protocol based) on Zigbee. Their modules are small and cheap (cable replacement prices). We have looked into their technology to communicate sensor data to a central system.