Z-Wave SoCs offer 1.5+ mile range, 50% power consumption reduction, PSA level 3 security

Silicon Labs announced that Z-Wave 800 system-on-chips (SoCs) and modules are now available for the Z-Wave smart home and automation ecosystem. Expanding the company’s award-winning Series 2 platform, the EFR32ZG23 (ZG23) SoCs and ZGM230S modules provide developers with sub-GHz connectivity for Z-Wave Mesh and Z-Wave Long Range and are ideal for smart home, multi-dwelling units (MDU), hospitality, and lighting applications, supporting both end devices and gateways. The Z-Wave 800 Series family is the industry’s most secure, ultra-low-power wireless solution for advanced, high-performance battery-powered Internet of Things (IoT) devices, also touting over 50% improvement in battery life compared to the Z-Wave 700 series.

Silicon Labs’ ZG23 allows for Z-Wave long-range and mesh networking, using ultra-low-power capabilities with the most secure components available in the market. The single-die ZG23 comes with a 78 MHz ARM Cortex-M33 and offers an optimized combination of ultra-low transmit and receive radio power [25.4 mA TX @ +14 dBm, 4.0 mA RX (915 MHz, 100 kbps)] and best-in-class RF performance (+20 dBm output power and -110 dBm RX at 915 MHz, 100 kbps O-QPSK), which makes it possible for IoT end nodes to achieve 1.5+ mile wireless range.

ZGM230S modules simplify development and leverage the ultra-low-power and RF performance of ZG23, while providing the smallest footprint in the industry at 6.5mm x 6.5mm for Z-Wave modules. These unique solutions provide up to 10 years of battery file while operating on a coin cell battery.

Both solutions also support Z-Wave 800 standard S2 security capabilities and Silicon Labs Secure Vault suite, enabling the world’s first wireless SoCs and modules with the industry’s highest level of security: PSA Certification Level 3.

The Silicon Labs Unify SDK protocol controller offers ready-made protocol-specific translations for Z-Wave with its “design once, support all” capability. Unify SDK simplifies and speeds development by providing a common, well-defined data model API and status definitions for commonly used IoT services, such as adding, updating, and removing a device. Silicon Labs will be showcasing a Z-Wave to Matter bridge solution with Unify SDK at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022.

EFR32ZG23 SoCs (5 mm x 5 mm QFN40 and 6 mm x 6 mm QFN48 packages), ZGM230S modules and accompanying kits (xG23/ZGM230 Radio Boards and the Z-Wave 800 Pro-Kit) are shipping today.