NEC and Skyley Announce Compliance of ZigBee Platform

24th October 2007

ES Admin

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NEC Electronics and Skyley Networks have announced that their jointly developed ZigBee platform has been deemed as a ZigBee Compliant platform by the ZigBee Alliance. The ZigBee compliant platform is based on an NEC Electronics’ 78K0R 16-bit microcontroller, a wireless RF transceiver chip by Uniband Electronic Corporation (UBEC) and the ZigBee stack, which is a software to manage the network. By utilizing this convenient platform, OEMs and system developers can easily develop low power, wireless peer-to-peer mesh networks ideal for the rapidly growing field of industrial and residential building management systems, lighting controls, automated meters, sensors, and security systems which can be certified as a ZigBee product.

Because the ZigBee stack has already been ported to 78K0 and V850ES microcontrollers, developers can choose to build their systems using any of NEC Electronics’ All Flash™ microcontrollers, including the 8-bit 78K0, the 16-bit 78K0R, and the 32-bit V850ES microcontrollers. The company now boasts a lineup of more than 300 devices, allowing customers to select the MCU that meets the precise needs for the applications they want to develop.

The ZigBee wireless technology operates at 2.4 gigahertz, the same frequency utilized by wireless LAN (WLAN) and Bluetooth specifications, and can be used to transmit up to 250 kilobits of data in a 70 meter radius, with such low power consumption that devices can be operated using standard dry batteries.

In recent years the evolution of peer-to-peer mesh networks based on such devices, which can communicate directly with each other without needing to bypass a central server, has spurred growth of wireless technologies such as ZigBee, and the market for ZigBee-based products is expected to increase to 200 million units by 2010, and 500 million units by 2015. To capture this potential market, NEC Electronics and Skyley have leveraged their respective strengths in embedded microcontroller solutions and peer-to-peer network technology, first announcing a jointly developed platform in November 2006.
The companies expect that the market for ZigBee wireless systems will continue to grow in both size and scope, and plan to actively improve and expanding upon their existing ZigBee platforms and solutions to help customers reduce development times and costs associated with developing ZigBee products.

The ZigBee platform jointly developed by NEC Electronics and Skyley was exhibited from October 12-17, 2007 as part of a demonstration of peer-to-peer mesh networking at the China Hi-Tech Fair held in Shenzhen, China.