Fremont, CA–Zensys, developer of the Z-Wave wireless home control standard, is offering a software upgrade that will provide consumer electronics manufacturers developing Z-Wave-enabled products with new enhancements, including support for battery-to-battery communication.
This is an important development for the Z-Wave standard that further distinguishes it from other control technologies for the home, stated Tony Shakib, CEO of Zensys.
The 5.0 software release contains a number of enhancements and new introductions to Z-Wave. Key features of Z-Wave 5.0 are:
Battery-to-battery communication – translates into real-time control of battery-operated devices used in home control and automation such as shades and doorbells. This also includes the ability to wake up battery-operated devices to communicate from main-powered devices.
Z-Waves new ZensorNet functionality – allows operating not just point-to-point links, but entire networks of battery operated devices. Applications such as advanced smoke detectors where one device wakes up and alerts a whole network of smoke detectors that are reached via multiple hops can easily be implemented thanks to the ZensorNet feature in Z-Wave 5.0.
Multi-year life in battery-to-battery operation – Z-Wave devices can now run for multiple years without requiring to be serviced.
Battery-less devices – thanks to the further reduced power consumption in Z-Wave, entirely battery-less devices can be implemented that are powered through solar cells or other forms or energy scavenging.
Full backward compatibility to earlier Z-Wave generations – new devices that are based on Z-Wave 5.0 are fully interoperable with all previous Z-Wave devices, protecting the investment of OEMs, consumers, and all Z-Wave partners in the market.
Support for new frequencies – including the 919.82 MHZ band in Hong Kong, and 921.42 MHZ in Australia and New Zealand.
As the only standard that offers battery-to-battery communication and even battery-less devices, Z-Wave extends its lead as the most mature and successful command and control technology available for the home today, said Mark Walters, chairman of the Z-Wave Alliance. We continue to grow its capabilities and our success can be seen in the number of Z-Wave-enabled products on the market.
More than 160 companies–including Cooper Industries, Danfoss, Intel, Intermatic, Leviton, Monster, Universal Electronics (UEI), and Wayne-Dalton–are members of the Z-Wave Alliance.
