January 23, 2013 – Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB, LM Wang, VP of APAC Sales), a global leader in high-performance analog-intensive mixed-signal ICs, announced that it will participate in the DistribuTECH smart grid conference in San Diego, California, from the 29th to the 31st to showcase wireless solutions for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), a core component of the smart grid. Silicon Labs’ mixed-signal device products, including wireless radios, ultra-low-power 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), 32-bit Precision32™ MCUs, and digital isolators, support the communication, sensing, calibration, timing, processing, security, and reliability performance of smart meters. At the exhibition, Silicon Labs plans to showcase the Ember® ZigBee® SoC, EZRadioPRO® sub-GHz wireless transceiver, and easy-to-use wireless development tools.

According to a recent market research report by IHS, the number of smart meters installed worldwide accounts for only 18% of the total 1.4 billion meters installed globally, and this is projected to more than double by 2016. IHS predicted that global shipments of two-way remote meter reading devices would surge in 2015, as projects for two-way remote meter reading devices are being discussed in earnest in Europe and developing countries, and China is emerging as the largest market for two-way remote meter reading devices.

Silicon Labs is a specialist in supplying wireless technology for AMI applications, encompassing not only Wireless Home Networks (HANs) that connect communications between thermostats and other in-home systems, as well as Neighborhood Area Networks (NANs) that aggregate up to thousands of meters for backhaul for utility providers. Silicon Labs’ Ember ZigBee and sub-GHz products provide wireless access solutions for smart meter products to leading global AMI companies, including Korea’s Nuri Telecom, Landis+Gyr, Elster, Itron, Robulink, and Holley Metering.

Diwakar Vishakhadatta, Vice President and Head of Embedded Systems at Silicon Labs, stated, “DistribuTECH, a specialized exhibition for smart grids, provides an opportunity to share our expertise in wireless solutions and smart meter applications with leading companies in the smart grid industry. From semiconductors to software, we are providing smart meter manufacturers with integrated solutions that reduce the costs and complexity associated with AMI applications.”

Ember ZigBee and EZRadioPRO Wireless Solutions
The Ember Zigbee solution is based on the ARM® Cortex™-M3 processor and is a feature-rich, highly integrated Zigbee solution that can be used in 2.4 GHz wireless networks. This product offers excellent performance, low power consumption, and superior code density in a compact package. Ember Zigbee devices are the most widely used Zigbee platform for mesh networking and can be built as SoCs for cost-sensitive sensor networks and other simple connected devices, or configured as network coprocessors (NCPs) for complex applications running on high-performance application processors.

The EZRadioPRO product family features industry-leading performance, low-power sub-GHz transceivers designed to maximize wireless range and battery life for power-sensitive wireless systems. EZRadioPRO devices deliver industry-leading RF performance while providing a continuous transmit/receive frequency range of 119 to 1050 MHz. As a result, wireless range is extended, and compliance with the industry's most stringent narrowband regulatory standards is possible. The superior power efficiency of the EZRadioPRO product family significantly reduces battery size while requiring fewer battery replacements.