An essential piece of our everyday technology is about to change. At its Technology
Forum in June, Freescale Semiconductor announced its EC-net entertainment control
platform, which will dispose of the typical infrared (IR) remote control that
we all know and love and replace it with IEEE 802.14.4 technology (see
the figure).
Despite more than 30 years of service and billions in daily use, the IR remote
control has its limits, with an upper range of about 15 ft and a need for direct
line of sight (LOS) and a ±15° cone of acceptance to operate. Today's
growing TV screens and complex home entertainment systems with DVD players,
PVRs, sound systems, set-top boxes, and other items—demand more flexibility.
Freescale's true point-to-point solution is based on the IEEE 802.15.4
wireless standard for personal-area networks (PANs) in the 2.4-GHz band,
which is now widely adopted in home
and building/industrial monitoring and
control applications. Additionally, the
standard is the basis for ZigBee wireless mesh networks.
By adding a networking layer to 802.15.4's media-access controller (MAC) and
physical layers (PHYs), the result is a comprehensive platform that enables
advanced control capabilities such as two-way communications between the controller
and/or between the different devices being controlled. This opens up a whole
new world of control options and features.
Current IR remotes are unidirectional.
They're also proprietary designs, as each
manufacturer has its own control protocol. Large memories are needed to store
tables. In addition, the protocols call for
multiple redundant transmissions to
ensure that each command is received.
This uses excessive power. Interference
from plasma and LCD screens decreases
reliability as well.
An RF remote has no LOS limitation,
and the range is considerably longer.
With RF, you get truly "remote" control.
Furthermore, RF protocols can verify successful packet reception, eliminating the
need for redundant transmissions. With
bi-directional communications, a remote
also can download program guides and
other information for display on a remote
LCD. And, device capabilities can be
transmitted to the remote for automatic
device configuration.
Freescale's EC-net control platform network is a stack built on the 802.15.4
PHY and MAC layers. Consumer electronics manufacturers can add an applications
layer above that. The EC-net also can co-exist with a ZigBee stack, making the
remote useful for controlling other home devices like lights and ceiling fans.
It features 65,535 (64k) potential
commands, 16k public commands, 16k
manufacturer-specific commands, and
another 32k for internetworking commands and identifiers. Some commands
may also have a payload. It additionally
features device pairing via the remote.
With such a flexible system, designers
will have lots of opportunities for creative
control scenarios.
Freescale is working with several leading consumer electronics manufacturers
to drive the RF remote system to become
a global industry standard that will be
publicly available in 2008.
Freescale Semiconductor
www.freescale.com
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