Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC and Hillsboro, OR, USA (which provides core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and defense applications) says that its Low Power Wireless business unit (formerly GreenPeak Technologies until its acquisition in April) is first in the industry to receive the ZigBee 3.0 certification for its smart home gateway platform. A certified ZigBee 3.0-ready platform enables software developers to quickly integrate the standard into their smart home applications.
ZigBee 3.0 combines the best capabilities of the existing ZigBee smart home profiles in a single unified protocol. It also includes ZigBee Green Power, which supports battery-less, energy-harvesting devices. ZigBee 3.0 facilitates communication and interoperability among a wide variety of smart devices for home automation, light control, building automation, retail services, health care and telecom services.
"Certified platforms are important tools for ZigBee 3.0 developers," comments Lee Ratliff, principal analyst for connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT) at market research firm IHS Markit. "Platforms such as this allow more companies to participate in the ZigBee ecosystem by reducing complexity and shortening time-to-market for developers. This is especially important for the newly revised ZigBee 3.0 standard which helps address the pent-up demand from developers eager to introduce compliant products," he adds.
"Our ZigBee 3.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) for smart home gateways allows software developers to use a mature and well documented model to deliver solutions quickly and cost effectively," says Cees Links, general manager of Qorvo's Low Power Wireless business unit. "Together, our SDK and Qorvo's multi-channel and multi-protocol GP712 communication chip enable gateways to handle a variety of different connectivity standards. Developers can now plug in different application protocols as needed," he adds. "Multiple leading gateway manufacturers have started the development of a ZigBee 3.0 gateway with Qorvo's GP712."
The new ZigBee 3.0 SDK for smart home gateways provides an optimized design template enabling a quick system integration. Developers can focus on building a system without needing to dig into the details of the ZigBee 3.0 standard. By incorporating the GP712 radio communication controller chip in the new ZigBee 3.0 SDK for smart home gateways, multi-channel radio support is guaranteed. It allows seamless communication with various sensors, controllers and systems. Its multi-stack protocol capability and the scalable software architecture enable application developers to smoothly integrate current and upcoming standards.
