Smart home
Low power wireless connectivity solutions for smart home
"World first" Zigbee-certified smart home thermostat for direct control of underfloor heating solutions
14
May
2019
2019
Oslo, Norway
Sikom’s Z3 Thermostat EP employs Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC to enable Zigbee wireless connectivity and mesh networking in smart homes
Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Sikom, a Trondheim/Verdal, Norway-based developer of GSM-based Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, has selected Nordic’s nRF52840 advanced multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the Zigbee wireless connectivity for its ‘Sikom Z3 Thermostat EP’ for the smart home OEM market. According to Sikom, the thermostat is the first Zigbee-certified product for the direct control of smart home underfloor heating solutions.
The thermostat integrates actuators enabling the device to control floor heating cables directly, and is mains-powered, eliminating the need for battery replacement. Once installed, the thermostat can be controlled via a Zigbee Home Automation Profile-enabled control device using Zigbee wireless connectivity provided by the nRF52840 SoC. The thermostat can be easily implemented in a robust and secure Zigbee smart home mesh network, where the device acts as the router to other connected Zigbee devices.
The thermostat integrates actuators enabling the device to control floor heating cables directly, and is mains-powered, eliminating the need for battery replacement. Once installed, the thermostat can be controlled via a Zigbee Home Automation Profile-enabled control device using Zigbee wireless connectivity provided by the nRF52840 SoC. The thermostat can be easily implemented in a robust and secure Zigbee smart home mesh network, where the device acts as the router to other connected Zigbee devices.
The nRF52840 SoC is a powerful solution that gave us a lot of design freedom and functionality while keeping costs down
Øyvind Tande Hovdsveen, Sikom
Nordic’s nRF52840 multiprotocol SoC is Nordic’s most advanced ultra low power wireless solution. The SoC supports complex low power wireless applications that were previously not possible with a single-chip solution. The nRF52840 is Zigbee PRO (R21) and Green Power proxy-, Bluetooth 5-, and Thread 1.1-specification-certified and its Dynamic Multiprotocol feature uniquely supports concurrent wireless connectivity of the protocols. The SoC combines a 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4F processor with a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio with 1MB Flash memory and 256kB RAM. A new radio architecture with on-chip PA provides features -95dBm RX sensitivity (at 1Mbps Bluetooth LE), a maximum output power of 8dBm, and a total link budget of 103dBm. Designed to address the inherent security challenges that are faced in IoT, the nRF52840 SoC incorporates the Arm® CryptoCell-310 cryptographic accelerator, offering best-in-class security.
The SoC is supplied with the Zigbee-compliant and industry-proven ZBOSS 3.1 stack, optimized for minimal resource usage, robust execution, and high performance.
“The nRF52840 SoC is a powerful solution that gave us a lot of design freedom and functionality while keeping costs down,” says Øyvind Tande Hovdsveen, Senior Systems Developer, Sikom. “Aside from Zigbee and Bluetooth LE support, the most important features for us were the memory allocation and processor capacity that allows for swift development of complex applications without needing to spend time fine tuning performance or sacrificing functionality.
“The rich Software Development Kit with example applications was also an important factor in our decision to select the nRF52840 SoC.”
The Sikom Z3 Thermostat EP thermostat complements the company’s "Bluetooth Thermostat EP", a Bluetooth 5/Bluetooth Low Energy heating control solution launched in May 2018 and also employing Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC.
The SoC is supplied with the Zigbee-compliant and industry-proven ZBOSS 3.1 stack, optimized for minimal resource usage, robust execution, and high performance.
“The nRF52840 SoC is a powerful solution that gave us a lot of design freedom and functionality while keeping costs down,” says Øyvind Tande Hovdsveen, Senior Systems Developer, Sikom. “Aside from Zigbee and Bluetooth LE support, the most important features for us were the memory allocation and processor capacity that allows for swift development of complex applications without needing to spend time fine tuning performance or sacrificing functionality.
“The rich Software Development Kit with example applications was also an important factor in our decision to select the nRF52840 SoC.”
The Sikom Z3 Thermostat EP thermostat complements the company’s "Bluetooth Thermostat EP", a Bluetooth 5/Bluetooth Low Energy heating control solution launched in May 2018 and also employing Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC.
