Texas Instruments Inc. (TI), leading the industry with the most complete wireless connectivity portfolio for embedded applications, announced that the CC2538 is the industry’s first ZigBee® wireless network processor to offer the three most popular ZigBee standards for one end-device (ZigBee Smart Energy™, ZigBee Home Automation™ and ZigBee Light Link™). Now a single end-equipment can support these three standards, offering a seamless user experience with fast switching between each standard making it seem like concurrent operation. In turn, manufacturers of smart meters, home appliances, home gateways and connected lighting products are able to deliver better quality of service.

The CC2538 ZigBee network processor and Z-Stack™ 2.5 with ZigBee and ZigBee PRO support offer the broadest feature set, which can be tailored for specific end-device(s). With a CC2538-enabled device, consumers can more easily network within their homes as well as monitor and interface to the smart grid to save money and energy. The CC2538 features a robust IEEE 802.15.4 radio and a powerful ARM® Cortex™-M3 microcontroller system. All security operations are handled by dedicated accelerators, leaving enough processing power and memory to handle multiple ZigBee standards concurrently.

“The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) requires ZigBee devices that can easily network with deployed ZigBee-enabled end-products for smart grid infrastructure, home automation and connected lighting networks. By delivering a ZigBee wireless network processor that supports the three most popular ZigBee standards, we are raising the bar for functionality and efficiency and enabling manufacturers’ products to interoperate with the existing ZigBee devices on the market,” said Oyvind Birkenes, general manager, Wireless Connectivity Solutions, TI.

Availability

A CC2538 development platform is sampling to early adopters through the low power RF developer network now. Volume production and sale through authorized distributors is expected in 1Q 2013.             

The CC2538 will be demonstrated at electronica 2012 in Messe Munchen, Munich, Germany, in the TI booth 420 in Hall A4. For more information on the CC2538, contact TI at smartenergy@list.ti.com