Electro/Telecom Industry Trends
January 2003
New Echelon transceivers make building automation more affordable
| Issue Table of Contents |
|
|
 |
Echelon Corporation, creator of the LonWorks® device networking platform, introduced two power line transceivers that add intelligence and power line networking capabilities to household devices for less than ten U.S. dollars.
Smaller than a pencil eraser head, the new PL 3120® and PL 3150® Power Line Smart Transceivers are ANSI standards-based "devices on a chip.” Each delivers an intelligent networking processor core that can send information between everyday devices such as appliances, electric meters, water heaters, or lighting systems through a home or building's AC power wiring.
The PL 3120® Smart Transceiver will become available on a sample basis in February 2003, with the PL 3150® Smart Transceiver following in April. Volume availability of both transceivers is expected by summer 2003.
Power to the people
Industry analysts are giving Echelon’s new transceivers a thumbs up. "The penetration of power line networking into everyday devices has been stymied by the lack of low cost, high quality, enabling technology,” said Jaclynn Bumback, In-Stat/MDR's Home Networking analyst. “Products like Echelon's new Smart Transceivers are just the catalyst the market needs to break open and drive rapid growth in the consumer market for smart appliances and devices."
Device manufacturers agree. "Samsung has developed a line of home appliances that use Echelon's power line technology, including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, and gateways,” said Yongoe Han, president of the Digital Appliance Business unit at Samsung Electronics. "Echelon's new power line Smart Transceivers are exactly what our industry needs for accelerated growth."
What’s under the hood
The PL 3120® Smart Transceiver combines an enhanced ANSI/EIA 709.2 compliant power line transceiver with an Echelon Neuron® core, which is an 8-bit multi-processor optimized for intelligent, connected devices. The transceiver features:
- 4K bytes of non-volatile memory for application code and configuration information
- 2K bytes of RAM
- I/O drivers and a task scheduler
- ANSI/EIA 709.1 device networking protocol built into ROM
Ideal for use in sensors, actuators, switches, lamps, and energy meters, the PL 3120® Smart Transceiver operates at up to 10MHz and is offered in a 38-lead TSSOP package.
The PL 3150® Smart Transceiver differs from the 3120 in that it includes:
- 0.5K bytes of non-volatile memory
- 2K bytes of RAM
- An external memory bus that addresses up to 64K bytes of external memory
Designed for use in devices with larger application programs or more input/output (I/O), the PL 3150 Smart Transceiver operates at up to 10MHz and is offered in a 64-lead TQFP package.
Echelon teamed with STMicroelectronics to develop the PL 3120® and PL 3150® Smart Transceivers. Both transceivers can be used worldwide and comply with regulations from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (Japan), FCC (US), Industry Canada (Canada), and CENELEC (Europe).