Texas Instruments has introduced sub-1GHz 6LoWPAN plug-and-play, aimed at providing a gateway for remote, wireless sensors to connect to the Internet and a wireless extension of wired IPv6 infrastructures. By operating in the sub-1GHz band, the plug-and-play offers long wireless range at low power levels than traditional 2.4GHz-based plug-and-play, claims the company. It supports large-scale mesh networks and is suitable for applications such as smart grid, security, home and building automation, street lighting and wireless sensor networks. The plug-and-play family includes the CC1180 network processor, CC430 complete SoC microcontrollers, 6LoWPAN software stack, and CC-6LOWPAN-DK-868 development kit.
The plug-and-play supports hundreds of hops, enabling the development of wireless mesh networks with large network depth using one gateway such as the light poles on a city street could be wirelessly connected and managed using one gateway, based on the company's plug-and-play. The plug-and-play can monitor bulb replacements or outages and ensure proper lighting for drivers if weather conditions change. Self-healing capabilities of the company's plug-and-play would also assist in good monitoring of the network - if a node went out, other nodes would find another way through the network to maintain the connectivity, says the company.
The CC1180 solution is available in an ROHS-compliant, 6x6mm QFN-36. The CC430 solutions are available in ROHS-compliant, 7x7mm QFN-48 without an LCD driver and 9x9mm QFN-64 with an integrated LCD driver. The CC-6LOWPAN-DK-868 development kit supports 868MHz frequency band and can be reconfigured in software for operation in the 915MHz ISM band.
