Picture this:
14,000 feet in the air. A controller, a dev kit, a battery pack, and a Z-Wave Long Range device strapped into a specially made skydiving pouch. The plane door opens. The wind roars. And then—jump.
This may sound like an extreme way to test Z-Wave range but it’s not just for thrills. To hear Jon-Luke West from HomeSeer tell it, it all started with a challenge: finding a perfect 700-meter, line-of-sight test environment. Traditional test chambers weren’t tuned for Z-Wave at that distance, and interference-free spaces were hard to come by. “What if we just go up?” asked Jon-Luke and the room went quiet.
Then everyone realized—this was a brilliant idea. Then he got to work.
With around 150 skydives under his belt (and a plan to hit 200 by the time of Z-Wave Summit), Jon-Luke is uniquely positioned to test Z-Wave in this way. He’s already completed jumps to test Z-Wave with the help of resident Unplug Fest guru – Eric Ryhard. They outfitted a beta board with a GPS module, paired it with a portable battery pack, and turned freefall into a live range test.
From about a mile up, he began flying passes over a ground-based controller, logging altitude and position data in real time. Multiple jumps over the course of a month refined the setup until the team achieved something remarkable: reliable communication from three miles away.
“We found that it’s not just about shouting louder with a bigger antenna,” Jon-Luke explains. “It’s about hearing better—and we were hearing three miles away.”
The data gave the Product Certification Working Group new insight into long-range performance. The skydiving method turned out to be not just flashy, but one of the cleanest, most accurate ways to establish a baseline.
This October at Unplug Fest, this testing approach will be part of Unplug Fest at the Z-Wave Alliance Summit, and you can be a part of it.
The Only Event Where You Can Test, Tinker, and Trade Insights in Real Time
Unplug Fest has always been about pushing devices to their limits in the real world. This year, JL’s extreme jump is just one part of a larger, hands-on experience. Members will get to experience firsthand how devices perform in varied, realistic conditions.
If you’ve never attended Unplug Fest, here’s why it’s worth the trip: it’s where Z-Wave members put devices through their paces in real-world conditions, compare results on the spot, and leave with both answers and new industry connections.
The real value is in doing it together. You’re not just running tests, you’re swapping ideas, troubleshooting side by side, and seeing how others approach the same challenges you face in your own work. As Jon-Luke explains, that shared experience is what sets Unplug Fest apart:
“It’s a hands-on experience, and that makes all the difference. You’re not on a zoom call talking about theory, you’re out in the field, walking the streets or open terrain, testing side by side with other members. You see their process, they see yours, and you both walk away smarter.”
Don’t miss your chance to be part of it.
Register now for Unplug Fest at the Z-Wave Alliance Summit.
