NXP Semiconductors has shown a wireless smart lighting network designed for ease of installation in the home using near field communication wireless sensors.
The demo includes an energy harvesting switch (battery-less, no wires) developed by EnOcean, a world leader in energy harvesting wireless solutions. The switch uses the NXP JN5161 wireless microcontroller designed in the UK and implements the ZigBee Green Power feature.
Using NFC technology, the EnOcean switch can be added to a home network simply by tapping an NFC-equipped mobile phone on the gateway to collect important network parameters, and then using the phone to pass them on to the switch.
Designed by NXP, the gateway connects devices using ZigBee or JenNet-IP to the Internet via an existing home Wi-Fi router. The gateway simply plugs into the home router via an Ethernet port, and supports ZigBee Light Link, ZigBee Home Automation and JenNet-IP for wireless communication, as well as NFC for commissioning. Completing the demo are wireless colour LEDs and tunable white dimmable LED lamps, which can also be added to the network using NFC and then controlled via an Android smartphone.
“Wireless smart light bulbs are now available from major retailers in the US,” said Thomas Lorbach, marketing manager for the RF connectivity solutions product line at NXP Semiconductors. “The challenge now is to ensure that setting up and expanding a wireless smart lighting network is as painless as possible for the everyday home user. NFC provides a quick, secure and easy way to add new devices to home networks and to the broader ‘Internet of Things.’”
“We are very proud to partner with NXP, one of the world leading semiconductor companies, in exploring further energy harvesting wireless sensor solutions. It’s great to see how our joint technological forces result in next generation solutions that bring energy harvesting wireless possibilities and benefits to the specific requirements of the consumer market,” said Matthias Poppel, Chief Operation Officer at EnOcean. “Very quickly, we were able to develop a battery-less wireless switch module prototype for the first time operating a 2.4GHz radio and NFC powered by energy harvesting. Such new technologies add to EnOcean’s more than 12 years of experience in energy harvesting, ultra-low power wireless communication and energy management thus enabling easy installation and exciting new use cases for our sensor solutions.”
The reference design for the 802.15.4 to Ethernet bridge, which is based on the JN5168 wireless microcontroller, is available immediately. The RGB and tunable white LEDs, which offer very high brightness and colour saturation, use NXP’s patented sensorless sensing technology.
Fior more information, visit www.nxp.com or www.enocean.com