Multi-Sensor and Generic Switch Extension for Battery-Free Smart Home Devices

Qorvo® has been awarded certification for the multi-sensor and generic switch features of Zigbee® Green Power v1.1. These new features greatly expand the types of smart home sensors that can be powered by energy harvesting, eliminating the need for batteries or enabling ultra-long battery life.

The multi-sensor extension to the Green Power specification significantly compresses data to reduce the length of Green Power communication frames. These ultra-short, ultra-dense data packets result in longer battery life and enable support for multiple types of smart home sensors in a single device.

For example, the multi-sensor feature measures temperature, humidity, light levels and air quality in a single indoor device. The extension adds support for ultra-low power door and window sensors, motion sensors and leakage detectors.

Functions can be assigned to the various switches on a device during commissioning – in a user-friendly way – by using the generic switch extension. This enhances flexibility for the end customer and reduces the volume of part numbers (SKUs) for the product manufacturer.

“There are hundreds of millions of smart home devices worldwide and Zigbee has the largest market share,” said Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director. “Creating battery-free systems is a growing trend, and Zigbee Green Power is the solution for developers to create interoperable Zigbee products that are powered with energy harvesting.”

Cees Links, general manager of Qorvo’s Wireless Connectivity business unit, said, “By offering the first multi-sensor and generic switch features to be certified under the Zigbee Green Power v1.1 specification, Qorvo is first to create new opportunities for smart home sensors that eliminate batteries or substantially increase their longevity. These features are essential to making the fully-networked smart home a practical reality.”