Silicon Labs releases next-generation Gecko platform for the smart home
Following the acquisition of Z-Wave technology earlier this year, Silicon Labs introduces the next-generation Z-Wave 700 on the Wireless Gecko platform. It is, say the company, the industry’s most comprehensive hardware and software connectivity solution for the IoT.
The smart home platform builds on Z-Wave’s Security 2 (S2) and interoperability by improving energy efficiency and adding higher performance, longer range RF capabilities, explains Silicon Labs. With the Wireless Gecko platform, developers will be able to create new classes of smaller, more intelligent smart home products at a lower cost and faster time-to-market, assures the company.
The worldwide smart home market is expected to grow to 1.3 billion devices, shipped annually by 2022. Much of that growth will be driven by sensors that enable AI and edge computing applications, in new verticals such as security, aging-in-place, energy, voice control and insurance.
Z-Wave 700 combines a powerful Arm processor-based platform with large on-chip memory to enable greater intelligence at the edge and secure inclusion in less than one second. The Z-Wave 700 platform delivers 10-year coin-cell battery life, enabling more wireless sensor applications. Enhanced RF performance extends the Z-Wave 700 device range beyond traditional limits to the edge of the yard and throughout a multi-storey home.
Z-Wave 700 enables interoperability with thousands of devices and ensure best-in-class security with built-in S2, says Silicon Labs. Z-Wave 700 also includes SmartStart, to automatically create and configure Z-Wave networks for instant device installation success.
There are no requirements for regionalised SAW filters or external memory, which means that the Z-Wave 700 offers a single global software stock-keeping unit for easier logistics and cost-effective global production, predicts Silicon Labs. .
Silicon Labs offers a range of development tools to enable smart home product design. It offers developers low-cost developer kits, energy profiler tools and ready-made gateway software with certified reference code, minimising the time from prototype to final product. Developers can also use Silicon Labs’ Simplicity Studio development suite to access tools to simplify Z-Wave 700-based designs.
