Silicon Labs simplifies PoE deployment for residential gateways, surveillance systems

Silicon Laboratories Inc. has developed a single-port Power over Ethernet (PoE) controller that brings economical plug-and-play simplicity to embedded power sourcing equipment (PSE) designs.

Dubbed Si3462, Silicon Labs' latest controller eases the development of PSE endpoints such as residential gateways, set-top boxes, fiber-optic media converters, and surveillance and security systems that connect to a wide variety of powered devices, including VoIP phones, security cameras, keypads, network attached storage and Wi-Fi access points.

Powered devices (PD) continue to proliferate in small office/home office (SOHO) and small-to-medium business (SMB) markets, driving the need for easy-to-use single-port embedded PoE/PoE+ PSE solutions to enable these end devices. With the rising popularity of the higher power IEEE 802.3at PoE+ standard and the need to support PD applications that consume up to 30 watts, developers require PSE controllers that offer flexible power measurement and monitoring capabilities, standards-compliance and no interoperability hassles.

The Si3462 controller is a complete, cost-effective single-port PoE and PoE+ PSE solution. When deployed with the new Classification Optional Mode, the Si3462 eliminates the need for up to 10 discrete components, reducing the total BOM cost for embedded PSE to $1.60 (USD), according to Silicon Labs. In this mode, the Si3462 controller determines when a valid PD is connected at the other end of the cable and immediately applies a predetermined amount of power. This mode optimizes cost and simplicity for applications that do not require classification such as proprietary systems operating with a fixed set of PDs.

The Si3462 controller's architecture eliminates the need for a separate MCU and related software, simplifying overall system integration, mitigating software development costs and risks, and speeding time to market. The Si3462 device's detection, classification, power-up, fault monitoring, protection and disconnect processes all run according to hardware pin configurations without the assistance of a host processor or MCU. The Si3462 continuously monitors the power delivered to PDs, ensuring that each PD is operating safely and within all IEEE-required PoE/PoE+ specifications.   

Pricing: The Si3462 is priced at $0.95 in 10,000-unit quantities.The Si3462-EVB evaluation kit costs $95.

Availability: Now in production quantities in a tiny 3 mm x 3 mm QFN package.

Datasheet: Click here.