TI's home gateway reference design makes homes smarter

USA: A leading innovator of energy management, communication and control solutions for the smart grid, Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) has announced its first integrated HG3352 Home Gateway Reference Design to be demonstrated at DistribuTECH 2013.

The easy-to-use reference design links home energy systems that use ZigBee to any Wi-Fi router, so consumers can monitor or control their smart energy devices or home automation systems in the palm of a hand via smartphones or tablets. The reference design supports ZigBee, Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity right out of the box to allow developers to create home gateways that can interface with multiple systems, products and applications within a smart home.

TI's new reference design has been designed in partnership with Alektrona – a specialist in creating networked smart energy products and applications.

The Home Gateway Reference Design gives developers all of the hardware and software needed to build a home gateway system, including a 275 MHz Sitara ARM AM3352 Cortex-A8 processor that runs applications, multiple communication stacks, and provides local intelligence for energy management and home automation activities.

For wireless connectivity to the smart grid and within the home, the reference design includes TI's CC2530 ZigBee system-on-chip (SoC), WiLink 8.0 combo-connectivity solution, and TPS650250 power management integrated circuit. The home gateway design demonstrates how TI's complementary portfolio of embedded, analog and connectivity components can help developers save time and money by using tested and interoperable components from a single supplier.

The new Home Gateway Reference Design is the latest example of TI's commitment to helping developers create innovative technology that reduces energy consumption and smarter connected devices for the smart grid. With TI's extensive ARM processor portfolio that has more than 500 products and boasts offerings from $1 in price and up to 5 GHz in performance, developers can maximize their investment, accelerate time to market and enable differentiated products based on customer needs.