Wireless SoC Enables DIY Convenience in Smart Home Devices

Smart Home Device with DIY Ease and Professional Standards

You’ve heard it many times: The COVID-19 pandemic changed our world. This spanned everything from how we worked to who we interacted with: suddenly, we had to be extremely cautious. Homeowners started opting to perform technology upgrades themselves rather than rely on a professional installation, all to avoid contact with too many people for health reasons. This DIY approach, however, comes with a few challenges itself: proper self-education on the installation process, correct execution, and a high degree of certification to name a few. Most DIY applications rely on self-education, which isn’t the case for professional installations as these must adhere to a certain degree of standards issued by the right authorities.

So LEEDARSON, one of the world-leading ODM partners for developing IoT products and the manufacturer behind many of today’s most well-known tech brands, set out to address this problem using Silicon Labs’ EFR32MG22 Series 2 Zigbee wireless SoC due to their offering:

High-performance and low-power 76.8 MHz Arm® Cortex®-M33 core with TrustZone
Ultra-low transmit and receive power (8.2 mA TX at +6 dBm, 3.9 mA RX)
1.4 μA deep-sleep mode power and low-power peripherals
Energy efficiency for applications using the Zigbee protocol
Multiprotocol support including Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth 5.2), Bluetooth Mesh Low Power Node (512 kB parts only), Zigbee PRO/Green Power and Proprietary
High-security features including Secure Debug, Secure Boot with Root of Trust & Secure Loader

The Challenge

To provide a full-featured smart home security system that meets the rigorous industry certifications required by EN grade 2 certification.

The Solution

Working with Silicon Labs’ EFR32MG22 Series 2 Zigbee SoC (part of the Wireless Gecko platform), LEEDARSON developed a solution that would open up both channels for IoT device brands.

The Result

LEEDARSON created the Security Kit Pro product line, which provides user-friendly innovation and cost effective products, as well as ease of installation expected from everyday homeowners and robust certification of EN grade 2.

Multipronged Solution

In addition to easing the certification burden, delivering a good user experience was high on its list of priorities. LEEDARSON’s knew its sensors would need to be multifunction to meet user requirements. A home security system that gets turned off because the homeowner gets frustrated with a high number of false alarms isn’t very effective. In sensor applications that rely on infrared (IR) light to operate, there are several factors that can trigger false alarms. White light can interfere with PIR sensors the same way infrared light from a human body can. So, one of the most important design considerations from LEEDARSON was developing an advanced ambient temperature compensation algorithm to detect IR light, providing immunity to white light interference that could meet the accuracy requirements needed to eliminate false alarms.

Long-battery life was another key feature, and by optimizing the firmware on the device, the company was able to optimize the design for low-power deployment. Recipient of the iF Design Awards 2021, LEEDARSON’s Security Kit Pro Line contains a gateway and a variety of sensors, featuring both reliable functionality and a human-centered design approach.

Smart Integration with our Wireless SoC

In the smart home device market, there’s no shortage of wireless protocols – each with a set of benefits and drawbacks that developers must take into consideration. But LEEDARSON wanted an open protocol, which meant Zigbee or Z-Wave, while also needing to accommodate proprietary protocols that are being utilized by some of the leading IoT brands. Silicon Labs became the obvious choice for LEEDARSON’s Security Kit Pro because of the stable, robust protocol stacks and wide selection of low-power modules offered by the Wireless Gecko platform. Coupled with a feature-dense SDK that also provides a user-friendly development environment, the EFR32MG22 was selected. Silicon Labs is also one of the driving forces behind Matter, formerly known as Project CHIP, which will help companies like LEEDARSON overcome protocol barriers in the future and provide more integration among smart objects in a household (and beyond).

Of course, security was a top design requirement for this smart home device. Silicon Labs also stood out in this area thanks to a security-first design philosophy backed by our Secure Vault technology. This offers developers peace of mind that they can instill in their customers.

Learn more about LEEDARSON’s Security product lineup.