NEC Electronics and Skyley Networks are proud to announce that their jointly developed ZigBee® platform has been deemed as a ZigBee Compliant platform by the ZigBee Alliance. The ZigBee compliant platform is based on an NEC Electronics’ 78K0R 16-bit microcontroller, a wireless RF transceiver chip by Uniband Electronic Corporation (UBEC) and the ZigBee stack, which is a software to manage the network. By utilizing this convenient platform, customers can easily develop low power, wireless peer-to-peer mesh networks ideal for the rapidly growing field of industrial and residential building management systems, lighting controls, automated meters, sensors, and security systems which can be certified as a ZigBee product.

Because the ZigBee stack has already been ported to 78K0 and V850ES microcontrollers, developers can choose to build their systems using any of NEC Electronics’ All Flash™ microcontrollers, including the 8-bit 78K0, the 16-bit 78K0R, and the 32-bit V850ES microcontrollers. The company now boasts a lineup of more than 300 devices, allowing customers to select the MCU that meets the precise needs for the applications they want to develop.

The ZigBee wireless technology operates at 2.4 gigahertz, the same frequency utilized by wireless LAN (WLAN) and Bluetooth specifications, and can be used to transmit up to 250 kilobits of data in a 70 meter radius, with such low power consumption that devices can be operated using standard dry batteries.