Solving cabling and wiring problems for IoT devices
Reduce maintenance costs for battery replacement

Building automation requires attention to changes in environmental factors. Sensors are used to collect environmental data, but adding sensors requires a large amount of cables and wiring to provide power and communication. IoT devices equipped with wireless sensors can solve this wiring problem.

Some applications still require wiring, such as ambient light sensors and door and window sensors. It is not as difficult as you might think to implement existing wired applications wirelessly.

Ambient light sensors used in commercial buildings detect the intensity of light in a specific space and balance the overall ambient light in a given workspace. Typically, light sensors are wired to the lights that are controlled by the sensor. To implement a wireless solution, the lights are connected to a smart controller via wireless connectivity and the wireless light sensors are installed near a window. Wireless sensing nodes also make it easier to build smart systems.

If the sunlight coming in from the window is not enough to illuminate the work area, and you cannot control the light of the indoor lighting when using indoor lighting, the room may be too bright. For example, if 60% of the light comes in through the skylight and windows, the wireless ambient light sensor platform can detect the light intensity and dynamically adjust the artificial light source to produce the remaining 40% of light. Artificial light sources can save energy in buildings because they do not use as much power as natural light does.


Door and window sensors will soon be implemented wirelessly. Currently, many industrial and building automation security systems use sensors to monitor the opening and closing of doors and windows. In the security system, a central monitoring device generates notifications and alarms based on information from multiple door and window sensors. However, this requires a lot of wiring, and if all door and window sensors are converted to battery power, maintenance costs for battery replacement increase.

On the other hand, door and window sensor applications mainly use magnets to detect when a door or window is opened or closed. In a typical configuration, the magnet is embedded in the door or window, and the sensor is attached to the door or window frame. The sensor and magnet are positioned so that they are closer together when the door or window is closed, and farther apart when the window or door is opened. Since these sensors are mainly used in security applications, tampering detection is required. Some configurations use multiple sensors to detect magnetic tampering.

Powered by ultra-low-power digital Hall-effect sensors and the SimpleLink™ wireless microcontroller (MCU) platform, this reference design provides a door and window sensor solution that eliminates wiring and maximizes battery life.

As more and more building automation applications turn to wireless sensor nodes, battery life becomes a critical requirement. TI’s ultra-low power sensors, operational amplifiers and wireless microcontrollers help reduce average current in battery-powered applications.