The promise of the Smart Home continues to evolve. In its infancy, Smart Home consisted of devices in the home that could be controlled remotely via a mobile phone or tablet. Over time, however, the vision of the Smart Home grew much broader and more complex. Very early on, different wireless chipsets and protocols emerged, forcing manufacturers to pick a winner before the market provided the ultimate decision. For closed ecosystems that have to work and maintain stability, Zigbee® has been an excellent choice for well over a decade.
The first version of Zigbee was introduced to the public in 2005. Using an 802.15.4 radio, Zigbee chipsets are exceptionally low power and use a self-healing mesh network that eliminates single points of failure. These attributes, along with key manufacturer support and adoption, have led to its ultimate success in the market. According to the Connectivity Standards Alliance, over half a billion Zigbee chipsets have been sold. Best of all, this vast quantity of deployed hardware stands ready to deploy a new sensor category, Wireless Network Sensing, through Ivani’s sensify™ technology suite.
When working with partners using Zigbee, a common refrain is that Zigbee “just works.” Typically, a Zigbee ecosystem provides a very stable platform for our OEMs and a very clean integration for sensify. With the flexibility of communications between devices, various groupings and coverage patterns are easily available within the platform. For instance, several Zigbee devices grouped in one room can provide room-level data granularity. Spread those same number of devices throughout an average-sized home, and you have a detection area that spans multiple rooms or even a whole floor. Additionally, the integration with other ecosystems by means of a hub leads to a very clean interface for using sensify occupancy data within greater automation ecosystems.
To add significant value to your existing Zigbee hardware platform, consider “sensifying” your offering through Ivani’s sensify software suite.