With EnOcean Link, EnOcean has launched the first middleware for energy harvesting wireless technology. OEMs can now integrate EnOcean technology easier and faster into a wide range of applications and systems, such as those in smart homes. The software provides a universal interface for wireless communication and automatically interprets information from EnOcean telegrams. As a result, sensor data such as moisture or temperature is automatically arranged so that different devices, servers and even cloud services can process it immediately. OEMs can obtain EnOcean Link directly from EnOcean as licensed software.
EnOcean Link converts the bits and bytes of an EnOcean telegram directly into data values. In doing so, the middleware automatically takes into account all specifications of the EnOcean protocol stack and the EnOcean Equipment Profiles (EEPs) of the EnOcean Alliance as well as encryption mechanisms. This means EnOcean Link provides all wireless applications with a ready-made key to the energy harvesting wireless world. Since the software interprets all data, it also ensures the interoperability of equipment from different manufacturers.
Faster development
The use of EnOcean Link saves OEMs valuable development resources, which significantly quickens the time-to-market for energy harvesting wireless applications. Instead of developing their own software for a particular application in order to interpret the communication protocol of the energy harvesting wireless technology, OEMs can use the finished middleware for this purpose immediately. The same applies to any application that integrates or further processes the energy harvesting wireless technology as well as to each EnOcean radio frequency.
“Our gateway solutions combine energy-consuming and -generating units interactively in a building. Thereby, the seamless communication between different protocols is an important requirement,” says Wolfgang Luth, Head of Sales & Marketing Smart Home, Diehl AKO Stiftung & Co. KG. “EnOcean Link is the perfect tool by which our gateways can integrate the EnOcean wireless standard into each network – just Plug & Play. We save developing effort due to the middleware and can immediately provide batteryless wireless communication as a key function of our solution.”
Manufacturers can now focus all their attention on the application and their core activities. At the same time, EnOcean Link makes it easier to implement powerful energy harvesting wireless networks, which are required by comprehensive smart home and M2M systems. EnOcean will update EnOcean Link continuously. With the purchase of the licensed software, OEMs will receive all updates within the first year free of charge. Afterwards, they can extend this service, including the related support, by entering into a maintenance agreement. EnOcean also offers a one-day training course on EnOcean Link.
Fully prepared data
In a smart home application, for example, a gateway can use EnOcean Link to immediately interpret the information from energy harvesting wireless sensors, including temperature, occupancy and light intensity, and forward this information to a central building control system. It does not matter if the system is networked with BACnet, KNX, Z-Wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth low energy or other automation protocols. For cloud services, working with GSM or WiFi, the data speed needed for automated control is also increased. If wireless telegrams are encrypted on the air interface, EnOcean Link decodes them before they are further processed by an external controller.
EnOcean encrypted with Decoding Gateway
Along with EnOcean Link, EnOcean has also addedDecoding Gateway to its software portfolio. This solution is specifically aimed at manufacturers who want to integrate data encryption into their applications quickly and easily. The firmware adds an important component for the receiving side to EnOcean’s security portfolio. When the PTM 215 energy harvesting wireless switch module transmits encrypted telegrams with rolling code based on the AES 128 standard, the TCM 300 transceiver module – programmed with Decoding Gateway – can decrypt these telegrams and then forward them to an external controller for immediate use.
Security functions can be easily added to existing receiving and gateway products by programming the TCM 300 transceiver module with Decoding Gateway. During the programming process, the firmware stores the rolling code together with the corresponding key on the Dolphin chip, so that no changes need to be made to the hardware. Alternatively, OEMs can also store this information on a separate EEPROM, especially for new product developments. The security information is therefore stored outside the module’s program memory.
About EnOcean
EnOcean is the originator of patented energy harvesting wireless technology. Headquartered in Oberhaching, near Munich, the company manufactures and markets energy harvesting wireless modules for use in building and industrial applications as well as in further application fields such as smart home, smart metering, logistics or transport. EnOcean technology combines miniaturized energy converters with ultra-low-power electronics and robust RF communication. For 10 years, leading product manufacturers have chosen wireless modules from EnOcean to enable their system ideas. EnOcean is a promoter of the EnOcean Alliance, a consortium of companies from the world’s building sector that has set itself the aim of creating innovative solutions for sustainable buildings. Self-powered wireless technology from EnOcean has been successfully deployed in more than 250,000 buildings worldwide. The EnOcean wireless protocol is standardized internationally as ISO/IEC 14543-3-10, which is optimized for wireless solutions with ultra-low power consumption and energy harvesting.
