Smart HVAC

High performance, low power, and advanced security all under one roof 

Our suite of hardware, connectivity stacks, tools, and first-class support offer industry leading solutions for implementing HVAC sensor and actuator networks in commercial buildings.

Best-in-class RF performance, stacks and coexistence solutions offer high reliability in tough environments. From cable replacement point-to-point Bluetooth connections to large mesh networks of 80,000 nodes, we’ve seen it all. The Gecko Microcontroller architecture and low-leakage technology enable energy harvesting applications and long 10-year battery life potential from coin cell batteries.  Developers of applications for commercial buildings can build secure, robust and certified products to meet the market requirements in minimal time by using our portfolio of RF modules and Secure Vault IoT device technology.

What you need to know to pick the right technology

There are several design considerations to consider when designing smart HVAC systems, including network protocol and interoperability, network size, RF range, data bandwidth, battery life, security architecture, and time to market. The best solution depends on specific system requirements, but there are a few general guidelines:

• Sub-GHz frequencies provide longer line-of-sight RF range than 2.4 GHz protocols.
• Zigbee, Thread and Bluetooth Mesh are wireless standards designed for low power, large scale networks. The “self healing” and node hopping capabilities of these systems allow them to scale and cover a large building with thousands of nodes.
• Battery life depends on power consumption of the MCU (sleep, active, wake up times) and the radio (TX, RX), the duty cycle, operating temperature and voltage, and more.
• For faster time to market, pre-certified modules and software can accelerate design cycles. Pre-certified solutions are available for Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth and Z-Wave but Proprietary (custom) solutions will require certifications and will delay time to market.
  

Smart HVAC Block Diagram