Pre-Certified Occupancy Sensor and Smart Outlet Solutions Using Multi-Protocol Wireless Gecko Technology and Zigbee Mesh Stack

Silicon Labs (Branch Manager Baek Un-dal) has announced the launch of two types of reference designs for new wireless occupancy sensors and smart outlet solutions that provide Internet of Things (IoT) connected device solutions to make life at home safer, more convenient, and more energy efficient for the home automation market.

These reference designs, which have obtained FCC and UL pre-certifications, are based on Silicon Labs' robust Zigbee® 'Golden Unit' Home Automation (HA 1.2) software stack and multi-protocol Wireless Gecko SoC portfolio, and include all the hardware, firmware, and software tools necessary to create feature-rich and forward-looking connected home products.

Silicon Labs' occupancy sensor reference design and smart outlet reference design enable home automation device manufacturers and developers to shorten product time-to-market and reduce system costs and complexity by leveraging best-in-class Zigbee mesh network technology.

Using these new turnkey reference designs, developers can rapidly advance from design concept to final product through pre-certified wireless technology, open-source hardware design files, and industry-standard software stacks, and can also leverage verified test setups and manufacturing techniques.


The occupancy sensor reference design is a compact, pre-certified Zigbee HA 1.2 solution equipped with Silicon Labs' illuminance and temperature/relative humidity sensors as well as wirelessly connected passive infrared sensors. The occupancy sensor is a critical component in residential and commercial security systems as well as other home/building automation systems that require occupancy detection for automatically handling operations such as turning lights on and off.

This occupancy sensor is a small, battery-powered product (powered by 2 AAA batteries) and is designed to be extremely energy efficient, capable of operating for up to 5 years after battery installation. The sensor detection range can detect up to 12 meters (approximately 40 feet) with a 90-degree field of view.

The smart outlet reference design is a complete, pre-certified solution for wireless-controlled outlet plugs for power supply and control of a wide range of home/building automation products. When powered through an AC mains line, the smart outlet communicates wirelessly with the Zigbee mesh network. The features of this smart outlet design are as follows:

Both reference designs use Silicon Labs' EFR32MG Mighty Gecko SoC to provide industry-leading multi-protocol wireless connectivity to the home and building automation market. The Mighty Gecko SoC's energy-efficient architecture combines ARM's high-performance Cortex-M4 processor with a 2.4 GHz transceiver. The transceiver incorporates a power amplifier and balun, is capable of +19.5 dBm output, and supports excellent wireless range with low power consumption.