SiLabs’ combined expertise in multiple technologies relevant to home automation and security systems
- click to enlarge
Silicon Labs merges security and home automation by leveraging innovations in sensing, connectivity and embedded computing. A key strength of Silicon Labs in the intelligent home security market is our combined expertise in multiple technologies relevant to home automation and security systems. These include wireless transmitters and receivers, isolation, precision analog and embedded signal processing. We leverage these technologies in our portfolio which results in Silicon Labs becoming a single source supplier for intelligent home security and automation needs.
Home security and automation today is no longer defined as a “professionally” installed system governed by large distances of cabling hidden under the carpet, nor is it a matrix of large and unsightly sensors all connected to a control box under the stairs. The older ‘professional’ installation is a thing of the past. Through technologies offered by semiconductor suppliers such as Silicon Labs, security systems are now much smaller, more affordable and easy to install by the average home owner. As microcontrollers enabled smaller and yet more powerful installations, cables runs have been reduced or replaced by low cost short range wireless radio solutions. Also, sensor technologies enabled newer methods in detecting issues of concern. Cosmetic designers have even played a large part in gaining the general public’s acceptance of electronic systems throughout the house. Silicon Labs’ portfolio enables solutions within all aspects of this growing market space including MCU’s, wireless short range radios, DAAs and Codecs, Ethernet and modems.
Today’s modern intelligent home security and home automation market space concentrates its technology requirements in four easily definable segments:
Technology requirements
- Core processing — the C8051F9xx MCU offers extremely high performance and extremely low operating power consumption. The F9xx family also enables a single cell battery capability enabling very small sensor designs.
- Wireless connectivity — EZRadio™ and EZRadioPRO® offer solutions to hostile environments caused by walls and other physical radio blockers, as well as battery life. Features such as antenna diversity and industry-leading link-budget address environmental factors.
- Wireline connectivity — Silicon Labs’ globally-compliant modem and DAA chipsets offer modem and DAA solutions to address a wide range of system requirements to provide a complete solution for voice and data interactivity via the telephone network.
- I/O and peripheral support — the diversity in the portfolio allows customers to address report communications through low power wireless, modem and Ethernet protocols. The Si304x PoE ICs allow designers to distribute and harness power from an Ethernet infrastructure while bridging products such as the CP210x USB to UART allow for simple configuration interfaces to be available.
If we look directly at the applications that are commonly used within the home automation and security market space we can quickly see that every opportunity has the ability to consume multiple Silicon Labs products. Usually at the heart of most implementations is a central alarm panel or control box. While historically these units were big and bulky, today they are often the size of a simple 3x4 button keypad. The panel itself is usually the lowest volume product in an infrastructure but it is often the unit that consumes the most silicon. The panel today is also usually the main outgoing communications hub. Modern systems often have the ability to call the owner or the authorities in the event of a problem - this is often done with the use of a modem or an Ethernet connection via broadband subscriptions. It may also be achieved via pager networks or through the use of GSM modems.
At the heart of the system is usually an 8-bit microcontroller such as the C8051F900. The F900 is an extremely low power device that allows the unit to continue on batteries correctly in the event of a power failure. A power failure may also be considered an alarm condition also. The C8051F900 additionally provides touch sense capabilities for keypad operation. When attached to the EZRadio or EZRadioPRO RFICs, the panel can communicate without wires to a network of sensors and actuators distributed around the house. The same may also be achieved in wired or Ethernet implementations.
These alarm panels typically communicate with a whole range of other products including smoke/gas/heat detectors, motion detectors, flood sensors, window break monitors, and personal emergency response systems. Each of these other applications typically exhibit a very similar architecture containing an 8-bit MCU as the core processing unit and a wireless transceiver as its communication link, Our industry leading C8051F900 and EZRadio/EZRadioPRO products are ideal for these applications as they enable the longest battery life and most robust communication in the industry.
We have a wide variety of tools that allow you to begin work today. We have hardware and software platforms for both the MCU and the EZRadioPRO. We have software stacks that provide turn-key networking support for multi-node networks. We even have software simulation tools that can estimate system power consumption and determine expected battery life. The complete hardware and software solution is available from Silicon Labs.