Chip supplier Silicon Laboratories Inc. in Austin, Tex. says it is providing ZigBee technology for the award-winning Element connected light bulb from Sengled Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. Silicon Labs wireless SoCs and ZigBee stacks let Element bulbs connect to multi-node mesh networks deployed in smart homes. Using iOS and Android apps or popular smart home ecosystems, consumers can control Element bulbs individually or as groups, customize an array of smart lighting features, and schedule lights to turn on automatically in the evening or off during daylight hours to conserve energy.
Element LED bulbs use a Zigbee hub and a cloud-based smartphone app to let users program their on/off schedules and track energy use statistics. The bulb’s brightness and color temperature can also be controlled. LED bulbs in the Element Plus family can also work with existing wall and dimmer switches. Element LED bulbs are compatible with iControl, Alexa, Samsung Smart Things, AT&T Digital Life, Stringify and Xfinity.
Said Charles Sun, Vice President of R&D at Sengled, “Silicon Labs’ global applications engineering team also provides unparalleled expertise in mesh networking design and worldwide RF certification.”
An Element bulb uses 80% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, offers a 60-W output equivalent while using only 9.8 W and is rated to last approximately 22 years. The Sengled Element bulb was selected as a 2017 CES Honoree in the Eco-Design and Sustainable Technologies category.
Zigbee is a leading wireless mesh networking protocol for connected lighting applications. Based on the widely adopted IEEE 802.15.4 standard and operating in the 2.4-GHz band, ZigBee provides the scalability, interoperability, reliability, energy efficiency and security features required for wireless smart lighting control. Silicon Labs supplies ZigBee mesh networking technology for Internet of Things (IoT) applications including connected lighting. To date, Silicon Labs has shipped more than 100 million mesh networking SoCs and modules.