GreenPeak Looks to Comcast to Bolster ZigBee Home Control Through Set-Tops

GreenPeak Technologies, supplier of the ZigBee chip inside Comcast-issued set-top boxes, announced availability last week of its GP510 communication controller chip that supports communication between ZigBee RF4CE-enabled devices and a set-top box or home gateway. The GP510 was developed to be a low-cost solution for next-generation ZigBee set-top boxes, CEO Cees Links told us, and is currently rolling out in set-top boxes from Comcast in select markets, according to a schedule the cable provider announced at CES earlier this year. Comcast uses GreenPeak chips in all its set-top boxes, Links said, but he wouldn’t disclose its five smaller MSO customers, citing nondisclosure agreements.

Comcast’s Xfinity home control system allows consumers to monitor lights, thermostats, security cameras and alarm systems remotely from a computer or smartphone. The GreenPeak-enabled set-top boxes serve as the hub for wirelessly connected ZigBee devices and a sensor network in the Comcast home control system, Links said. AT&T’s Digital Life platform, in contrast, uses the competing Z-Wave wireless standard.

Links cited the growth of sensor-based control and Wi-Fi networks in homes and said momentum was building around ZigBee as the standard for data communication for sensor control networks. Future set-top boxes will have Wi-Fi for content and ZigBee for sensor control for temperature, lighting, appliances and security, Links said. A connected water heater could send a signal via the cloud by email or text that it has malfunctioned, according to the Xfinity website, or a tripped window sensor could trigger a video camera to record.

Zigbee offers a low-power control solution for sensors connected in the Zigbee world, as opposed to Wi-Fi connectivity that requires more power and replaceable batteries. When it comes to control sensors like those used for security systems, lights and thermostats, “You want battery life that exceeds the life of the sensor or controller,” Links said, adding that many network-capable devices in the home are not Wi-Fi-enabled because “Wi-Fi uses too much energy.” A Wi-Fi chip in a light switch would be “overkill,” he said, because a light switch doesn’t need a 100-megabit-per-second data speed.

GreenPeak maintains that its chip’s Wi-Fi “robustness” against interference, along with “antenna diversity technology,” delivers twice the working range of single-antenna chipsets operating in the crowded wireless 2.4 GHz environment along with garage door openers and other devices, making it suitable for whole-house coverage, the company said. Links said range is 60-100 meters, depending on building materials. GreenPeak’s approach integrates RF filtering, which the company said simplifies RF design, enabling low-cost single-layer applications using PCB antennas that don’t require shielding and only a minimum number of external components. The result, the company said, is an efficient bill of materials.

According to Links, the market for ZigBee RF4CE is “ramping quickly” and the remote control/set-top box market is growing into the “millions per month.” He referred to the GP510 as an “optimized architecture for the new generation set-top box,” which is increasingly becoming the Internet gateway into the home for distribution of entertainment content along with sensing control data for the smart home.

In a home network, GreenPeak chips go into thermostats, light switches, remote controls and other devices. GreenPeak’s Zigbee-based remote controls are two-way, which allows consumers to press a button on the set-top to trigger an identifying beep from the remote that locates the device when lost. “It’s useful if you have children,” Links said. The two-way communication also allows consumers to get information on a remote, such as sports scores and stock results. Remote controls are two-sided with normal remote functions on one side and a Qwerty keyboard on the back. A built-in accelerometer identifies which orientation to use, much in the same way a tablet or smartphone display orients itself to a user, he said.

ZigBee is based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard and the ZigBee Alliance website currently shows about 500 ZigBee-certified products, but Links said there are “a lot of companies that have ZigBee products that are not certified.” GreenPeak GP510 development kits are available to assist OEMs in evaluating the GP510, to facilitate their integration and to allow a simple implementation of ZigBee RF4CE technology in the set-top box for “a quick time to market,” the company said.

Links predicts that in 10 years “everyone will be used to Zigbee in the same way people are used to Wi-Fi” today. It “takes a few years before a standard settles in and harmonizes with everything around it,” he said, which is happening with ZigBee now. His view of the environmentally aware smart home of the future takes consumers “in a completely new direction.” When sensors and devices are connected over the same standard they can communicate in a transparent way, he said. In the environmentally aware smart home of the future, when a window is opened it can trigger a security breach if the homeowner is away and the alarm is on. If the alarm isn’t on, the home knows it’s occupied and the sensor triggers the heat to go off to save energy, he said.

"We think there’s a place for a second network in the home,” Links said, envisioning homes with both Wi-Fi and ZigBee-based networks. Cost has been a major barrier to home automation at the mainstream level but cost is “going down significantly,” Links said. There’s been a “breakthrough in the thinking of cable operators” who want to offer more in a competitive market than just entertainment content and Internet service, he said, and an emerging market needs a major player like Comcast to “shake up the market like Apple did for Wi-Fi” with AirPlay, he said. When Apple adopted Wi-Fi, “everybody else was standing in line” wondering why they needed Wi-Fi, he said. “We see Comcast as somewhat equivalent to Apple in playing this role because of their clout and reach,” he said.