Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Silicon Labs Targets Smart Home Market With Reference Designs

Austin-based semiconductor developer Silicon Labs is targeting the smart home market, by rolling out two "smart home" reference designs aimed at OEMs. According to Silicon Labs, it has released a occupancy sensor and "smart outlet" design--which are already FCC and UL pre-certified--which lets manufacturers create their own products for the home automation market. The new designs are based on its ZigBee "Golden Unit" Home Automation software stack, and its Wireless Gecko systems-on-a-chip (SoC) portfolio, according to the company. Reference designs are used by hardware OEMs to implement their own branded products, without a large investment into engineering and design. Silicon Labs did not say if any OEMs have yet adopted the reference designs, which typically make it very easy for developers to take a design from concept to final product and manufacturing.