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Diego.Duran
In the latest edition of EETimes Magazine, on page 10 under the title 'Android ...
Diego.Duran
It's great to see a big manufacturer that not only innovates in the crowded ...
NXP's foray into 'Internet of things' starts with light bulbs
Junko Yoshida
5/17/2011 10:01 AM EDT
NEW YORK – NXP Semiconductors’ foray into the “Internet of things” will start with IP-based light bulbs, according to Richard Clemmer, CEO of NXP.
The company is combining its own wireless IP connectivity with newly developed energy-efficient lighting technology.
During an interview with EE Times Monday (May 16th) in New York City, NXP’s CEO demonstrated that lights – both compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and LED bulbs – are dimmed or brightened, turned on or off – remotely via smartphone, tablet, PC or TV.
Underlying technology for NXP’s vision of the “Internet of things” includes low power RF and mesh network solutions originally developed by Jennic, a startup NXP bought last July. In wirelessly controlling CFL and LED light bulbs, NXP is using 802.15.4 short-range wireless for communication, the same 2.4 GHz frequency in which ZigBee operates. However, NXP is ditching ZigBees protocols altogether. Instead, it is embracing IP-based protocol stacks – 6lowpan (Ipv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks).
Breakthroughs behind such a “smart” lighting demo, which NXP is showing this week at Lightfair in Philadelphia, have “two parts,” explained Clemmer. “They are drivers [for CFL] and communications [for wireless network].”
First, CFL drivers.
At a time when the world’s attention on “green” technology replacing incandescent bulbs is mostly focused on LED bulbs, NXP made a conscience effort to include CFL bulbs in the fold, by developing energy efficient CFL technology together with TCP, a leading CFL manufacturer. NXP developed CFL drivers that allow effectively noticeable dimmable capability, better quality and color in TCP’s energy efficient CFL bulbs.
TCP’s “TruDim” CFL light bulbs can dim from 100 percent all the way down to 2 percent, a dimmable feature that’s the closet to incandescent lamps, according to TCP. It’s a feat never before accomplished in CFL bulbs.
Second, communication technology.
While using 802.15.4 short-range wireless, NXP emphasized that it is using IP-based protocol stacks. “ZigBee’s protocol is not IP-based,” said Clemmer.
More significantly, NXP is turning the API -- originally developed by Jennic – loose in an open source community. Clemmer said NXP hopes to see many developers build new apps on this open-source API, unleashing the “Internet of things,” including machine-to-machine communications in forms that go far beyond lighting.
Indeed, potential applications for such low-power RF and mesh-network solutions are broad and many. They include apps like smart metering, tele-healthcare, security cameras, home appliances and the sorts of “smart” home automation systems many have dreamed of since the Jetsons set up futuristic housekeeping on TV.
Clearly different from previously much talked about home automation, though, is that NXP’s solutions enabled by Jennic’s underlying technology do not require a whole house to be new rewired or retrofitted. Smart devices, co-existing with dumb devices, can be still controlled.
Lighting first
Despite all the application potentials for smart connectivity at home, NXP chose lighting controls as the first apps for its wireless communication technology, making IP-based light bulbs the entry point for the brave new world of the “Internet of things.”
Clemmer said, “25 percent of home energy consumption is in lighting.” To make any dent in controlling CO2 emissions, addressing the issue by both energy efficient light bulbs and applying a wireless network to advanced lighting controls is essential, he explained.
For that, NXP is partnering with GreenWave Reality, a company focused on home energy management and automation systems. GreenWave offers an energy management platform, said Greg Memo, GreenWave’s CEO, placing IP in every node ranging from intelligent plugs to smart meters and displays to enable monitoring and control of all devices. In essence, “We translate any protocol into an IP address,” said GreenWave’s Memo.
As GreenWave deals with Z-Wave, ZigBee and now 6LoWPAN, the company’s partnership with NXP is by no means exclusive. However, Memo made it clear that GreenWave prefers NXP’s smart lighting control solutions based on Jennic’s technology. “Lighting control is the most challenging” of all the home automation and smart energy management systems, said Memo.
This is because 20 to 30 percent of lights at home can be switched off, missing from the network. “It needs a mechanism for self healing in the mesh network,” he said. More specifically, it has to make a smart decision to route and send signals from one node to another, and it needs to sense nodes that are dropping out of the network. Moreover, it must reconfigure itself with no latency, so that lights can be physically turned on and off without delay. Jennic-invented technology does all this very well, said Memo.
Next: NXP's GreenChip solution
The company is combining its own wireless IP connectivity with newly developed energy-efficient lighting technology.
During an interview with EE Times Monday (May 16th) in New York City, NXP’s CEO demonstrated that lights – both compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and LED bulbs – are dimmed or brightened, turned on or off – remotely via smartphone, tablet, PC or TV.
Underlying technology for NXP’s vision of the “Internet of things” includes low power RF and mesh network solutions originally developed by Jennic, a startup NXP bought last July. In wirelessly controlling CFL and LED light bulbs, NXP is using 802.15.4 short-range wireless for communication, the same 2.4 GHz frequency in which ZigBee operates. However, NXP is ditching ZigBees protocols altogether. Instead, it is embracing IP-based protocol stacks – 6lowpan (Ipv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks).
Breakthroughs behind such a “smart” lighting demo, which NXP is showing this week at Lightfair in Philadelphia, have “two parts,” explained Clemmer. “They are drivers [for CFL] and communications [for wireless network].”
First, CFL drivers.
At a time when the world’s attention on “green” technology replacing incandescent bulbs is mostly focused on LED bulbs, NXP made a conscience effort to include CFL bulbs in the fold, by developing energy efficient CFL technology together with TCP, a leading CFL manufacturer. NXP developed CFL drivers that allow effectively noticeable dimmable capability, better quality and color in TCP’s energy efficient CFL bulbs.
TCP’s “TruDim” CFL light bulbs can dim from 100 percent all the way down to 2 percent, a dimmable feature that’s the closet to incandescent lamps, according to TCP. It’s a feat never before accomplished in CFL bulbs.
Second, communication technology.
While using 802.15.4 short-range wireless, NXP emphasized that it is using IP-based protocol stacks. “ZigBee’s protocol is not IP-based,” said Clemmer.
More significantly, NXP is turning the API -- originally developed by Jennic – loose in an open source community. Clemmer said NXP hopes to see many developers build new apps on this open-source API, unleashing the “Internet of things,” including machine-to-machine communications in forms that go far beyond lighting.
Indeed, potential applications for such low-power RF and mesh-network solutions are broad and many. They include apps like smart metering, tele-healthcare, security cameras, home appliances and the sorts of “smart” home automation systems many have dreamed of since the Jetsons set up futuristic housekeeping on TV.
Clearly different from previously much talked about home automation, though, is that NXP’s solutions enabled by Jennic’s underlying technology do not require a whole house to be new rewired or retrofitted. Smart devices, co-existing with dumb devices, can be still controlled.
 lights – both compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and LED bulbs – are dimmed or brightened, turned on or off – remotely via smartphone Click on image to enlarge. |
Lighting first
Despite all the application potentials for smart connectivity at home, NXP chose lighting controls as the first apps for its wireless communication technology, making IP-based light bulbs the entry point for the brave new world of the “Internet of things.”
Clemmer said, “25 percent of home energy consumption is in lighting.” To make any dent in controlling CO2 emissions, addressing the issue by both energy efficient light bulbs and applying a wireless network to advanced lighting controls is essential, he explained.
For that, NXP is partnering with GreenWave Reality, a company focused on home energy management and automation systems. GreenWave offers an energy management platform, said Greg Memo, GreenWave’s CEO, placing IP in every node ranging from intelligent plugs to smart meters and displays to enable monitoring and control of all devices. In essence, “We translate any protocol into an IP address,” said GreenWave’s Memo.
As GreenWave deals with Z-Wave, ZigBee and now 6LoWPAN, the company’s partnership with NXP is by no means exclusive. However, Memo made it clear that GreenWave prefers NXP’s smart lighting control solutions based on Jennic’s technology. “Lighting control is the most challenging” of all the home automation and smart energy management systems, said Memo.
This is because 20 to 30 percent of lights at home can be switched off, missing from the network. “It needs a mechanism for self healing in the mesh network,” he said. More specifically, it has to make a smart decision to route and send signals from one node to another, and it needs to sense nodes that are dropping out of the network. Moreover, it must reconfigure itself with no latency, so that lights can be physically turned on and off without delay. Jennic-invented technology does all this very well, said Memo.
Next: NXP's GreenChip solution
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Duane Benson
5/17/2011 11:31 AM EDT
The Internet of Things along with the smart phone, or a personal "key fob" for those that don't have a smart phone, has the potential to radically change the way we think about energy use and conservation. If the costs are as low as indicated here, it is indeed viable to add such control circuitry into just about anything that already contains electronics.
A good next step would be to add in the on/off control to this circuitry. That would eliminate the concern about the 20% or more of house lighting that might be switched off.
The question that I have in regards to this technology is the issue of theoretical vs actual performance. CFLs theoretically can last for many years, but there are far too many examples of the reality being somewhere between a month and a year in actual use. 802.11a/b/n, in theory, has plenty of range to cover your entire house, but put an inside wall or two between the base station and computer and reality often doesn't match with reality.
I'm left wondering if 6lowpan and other low-power networks will be able to provide the real-world reliability and range required for such use.
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junko.yoshida
5/17/2011 1:09 PM EDT
Thanks, Duane. That's a good point. Theoretical vs. actual performace issues always dog any wireless technologies and things like the real life of light bulbs. But what I liked about this technology is that it does represent a new era of "home automation" systems -- which frankly had been a yarn for many of us covering the beat. But, then, if we can implement this with no new wires, no retrofitting, it does get in teresting.
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Luis Sanchez
5/17/2011 4:45 PM EDT
Somebody stole my idea?! This is great! You're correct Junko, this has been a long awaited dream of many (I raise my hand). Is it just because I'm lazy perhaps but every time my kids forget to turn the light out in the 2nd floor, I think about developing this... chucks! NXP just beat me to it!
The cost is impressive! Under a buck?!
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J_Alan
5/17/2011 5:10 PM EDT
Junko, I wonder if this would really save energy? After all, each of these RF smart bulbs will be another "vampire" on your overall home electrical system. They are low-voltage devices and will require some sort of AC-DC power supply. Every time I read about one of these bright ideas (you should pardon the pun), I have to wonder whether they have thought of some of the other consequences of having a couple of dozen of these always on in standby in a typical home?
There is something to be said for the old-fashioned break-the-circuit mechanical on/off switch. When it's "off," the power consumption is zero.
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PJames
5/17/2011 6:49 PM EDT
The standby power of these is reported to be 50mW. Assuming a CFL with 15W consumption, it would only take cutting it off for a few minutes a day more than it otherwise would have been to "pay" for the days worth of standby power.
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Paul.Wilson
5/18/2011 12:58 AM EDT
Hi, we are demoing bulbs with 30mW stand-by power at the NXP booth at Lightfair this week. This is achieved by using our TEA1721 AC/DC converter that only draws 10mW of stand-by power and (as you rightly state) keeps power to the chipset so it can "listen" for instructions from the controlling element (iPhone, Andriod, simple remote etc).
Some reports put forward that 30% of the lighting energy in the home and office is wasted (i.e. my kids leaving the play room lights on when they left 4hrs earlier ! :-)).
We can eliminate that wasted energy via these smart lighting networks adn then the stand-by power consumption is negligible compared to overall savings. For instance, Greenwave developed an "app" that has smart controls that allow you to create scenes, one of them being "night" which switches all the homes / offices lights off when you are sleeping - using this scene alone when going to bed will save a lot of lighting energy from the inevitable couple of lights we forget to switc off.
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pixies
5/18/2011 9:44 AM EDT
Agree. Also the energy required to make the circuits is not counted toward the total energy cost. Also, if everything in the household is "smart" and can be remotely controlled. People will walk less, this may create health problems and require more energy to tackle.
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B.V.Rao
5/18/2011 12:48 AM EDT
10mW no load capability supply controller and sub 1$ price! should take the market by storm.
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prabhakar_deosthali
5/18/2011 1:45 AM EDT
Just by networking the light bulbs together and giving control in remote does not solve the energy saving problem. Finally the person operating that remote should have a will to save energy otherwise it becomes yet another gizmo to show-off. In stead of this concept if an adaptive intelligent system is developed then it will switch on-off the lights by detecting the presence/absence of activity in a particular room.
"Internet of things " is a good concept. But reality os situations should be taken into account before putting this technology in use in day to day applications.
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junko.yoshida
5/18/2011 6:52 AM EDT
I get what you are saying. In the end, it's up to an individual's action. But at the same time, there is a real world situation where I wonder, "Gee, did I turn off the lights upstairs?" Wouldn't it be nice to be able to turn off without going back to upstairs? Or set an automatic setting?
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Battar
5/18/2011 1:56 AM EDT
I don't seem to have any problems with the conventional wall mounted on/off controlling my lights. I don't see a return on customer investment here - more a gimmick than anything else.
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agk
5/18/2011 7:06 AM EDT
The remote control of the electrical fittings in the house or office is quite usefull in many ways. Example while i switch on a light and accomadate its brightness level and after some time i wil be liking to either increase or decrease the light level for various reasons like day,morning,evening,night time ,or a cloudy day and alo by my mood. So controlling them from my place without moving gives lot of pleasure.Looking for this NXP based tech gadgets soon.
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ughhhh
5/18/2011 11:22 AM EDT
Battar "I don't seem to have any problems with the conventional wall mounted on/off controlling my lights", I see a major cost problem. When I want to add a new light I have to not only wire power to the lamp but also wire to a switch. This may involve damaging walls etc.
If I can buy a 1$ device to do the same and more then I do like it.
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tb1
5/18/2011 12:48 PM EDT
NXP has gone full circle.
Philips, along with Westinghouse and General Electric started out making light bulbs. Light bulbs led to vacuum tubes, which lead to electronics, which lead to NXP, a spinoff of Philips.
Now NXP is back to light bulbs again.
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lcovey
5/19/2011 12:41 PM EDT
So here's the basic problem: You have to add additional circuitry to a CFL bulb which increases the price. So now you have a light bulb priced between a "dumb" CFL and an LED. On top of that, you have a "smart" CFL that is constantly drawing power to maintain a processor (not a controller), which makes the smart bulb as much as 25 percent less efficient than a dumb one. Why wouldn't you just control the lighting at the switch? It would be more power efficient and eliminate costs.
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jeremybirch
5/20/2011 12:29 PM EDT
Of course NXP and other manufacturers like to sell something which is "one per bulb" rather than "one per switch" or "one per room" - because there is a larger multiplier and a need to replace periodically. If this is such a good idea then why not either have a detachable ballast with it in (so when the CFL bit blows you dont have to replace the intelligent ballast) OR doe the signalling on the power wires and eliminate the whole wireless element altogether.
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Charles.Desassure
5/21/2011 9:26 AM EDT
OK, I think NXP Semiconductors is on to something big here. This is is really "thinking out of box."
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Simon7382
5/21/2011 4:57 PM EDT
This idea of wireless remote dimming is age old. Nevertheless, it is a good idea if executed well. But, adding it on to CFL controllers is a mistake. There will be no CFL-s in use 2-3 years from now. I have thrown out all of them from my house. They do not only contain mercury (which I do not want anywhere close to my children), but also are a sham as far as op life is concerned. I have rarely had one that lasted longer than about a year (two years max in rare cases) in a downward facing can applications, which is where most of them were used in my house.
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Sanjib.Acharya
5/23/2011 12:47 PM EDT
I don't think this is only about controlling/ dimming light bulbs using portable devices such as smart phones. But this looks to me, NXP is taking one step forward to build solutions which could be seamlessly integrated with the smart-grid technologies in near future. What do you think?
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Adele.Hars
5/24/2011 8:21 AM EDT
Another key enabler of NXP's GreenChip technology is SOI. If you're wondering why they need SOI in a lightbulb, here's a link to a recent piece that explains it:
http://www.advancedsubstratenews.com/2010/12/driving-light/
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Diego.Duran
5/28/2011 9:31 PM EDT
It's great to see a big manufacturer that not only innovates in the crowded field of SSL; but also understands that ZigBee stacks were engineered to empower utilities, NOT the consumer. Technically, ZigBee is very constrained and complex, resilience and security don't justify that kind of control over the flow of information in the Smart Grid. It would be like an ISP trying to set the rules inside every single LAN (from the IP addressing, to the ACLs inside a firewall) deployed.
IEEE 802.15.4 and 6lowPAN (with IPv6) makes a lot more of sense because the consumer retains control of the HAN. And because is IP-based, much of the infrastructure needed is already there.
The HAN gateway will simply have an inside 6lowPAN interface and an outside ZigBee SE 2.0 interface, using a modular connector like U-SNAP.
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Diego.Duran
5/28/2011 9:36 PM EDT
In the latest edition of EETimes Magazine, on page 10 under the title 'Android aims for greater
unity, USB support' is the following: "Google is expected to release opensource code late this year for a 915-MHz wireless mesh protocol that will be a low-cost alternative to ZigBee or Z-Wave. It could require as little as 16 kbytes of RAM and 32 kbytes of flash, enabling a 30 percent lower bill of materials than for ZigBee Pro.
The Google protocol will enable frequency hopping and ride on top of the 6LoWPAN(IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks) spec from the Internet Engineering Task Force."
Is NXP also behind this Goolge@Home wireless interface?
It would make sense since they're already in the NFC-wallet business with Google.
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