Camarillo, Calif. — Semtech Corp. and Virtual Extension (Tel Aviv, Israel), have developed a two-chip wireless mesh network chipset that the companies say brings a new level of performance and signal robustness to smart lighting applications, by delivering a high performance, low-power consumption and low-cost mesh solution.
The chipset pairs Semtech’s SX1211 transceiver for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band applications with Virtual Extension’s VE209S wireless mesh controller. This gives smart lighting designers a low-power, high-performance solution for building a wireless sensing network with no single point of failure and very robust signal processing, said the companies. This low-power chipset can also be used in battery-operated applications with a 10-year operating lifetime.
The SX1211 is part of Semtech’s complete platform of ISM-band transceivers and is optimized for asynchronous sensor network designs in unlicensed ISM frequency bands (868-870 MHz and 902-928 MHz). The device is said to feature the industry’s lowest receiver current consumption (<3mA) for increased battery life. All of the transceiver's major RF communication parameters are programmable and can be configured dynamically, with RF output power programmable up to +12.5 dBm.
The VE209 family of high-performance mesh controllers serves as the main building blocks of a VEmesh unit, either a gateway or a node. These mesh controllers have the necessary internal elements for performing all the interfaces and network management.
VEmesh units provide highly reliable bi-directional communication and best-in-class range and coverage for distributed monitoring and data collection of sensor and metering systems, said the companies. All VEmesh nodes also act as relays to retransmit data from other units in order to create a modular solution with no practical limitation to the number of nodes or size of coverage area.
Availability: Evaluation kits (order code: SX1211MESH-868 and SX1211MESH-915) are available immediately from Semtech. For customized ready-to-use modules based on the chipset, contact Virtual Extension.