Silvair, a pioneer in Bluetooth-based smart lighting technologies for commercial applications, announced a partnership with Nordic Semiconductor, a major provider of ultra low power wireless connectivity chips. The company has selected Nordic’s nRF52832 system-on-chip (SoC) as the most suitable platform for its Bluetooth Mesh stack which is expected to be the first commercially available qualified implementation of the upcoming Bluetooth Mesh specification.

 

(Silvair/ LEDinside)

 

Optimized to meet the challenging requirements of the commercial lighting environment, Bluetooth Mesh delivers a range of features that make it the world’s first wireless technology capable of driving the connected lighting revolution in professional applications. These include unmatched scalability, wire-like reliability, guaranteed cross-vendor interoperability and support for innovative location-based services. Silvair aims to deliver a full-stack Bluetooth Mesh implementation allowing lighting manufacturers to easily incorporate a robust and scalable wireless networking technology into their products.

 

The Silvair Mesh Stack, a proprietary Bluetooth-based mesh networking solution developed by Silvair, can be updated to become compliant with the Bluetooth Mesh standard following its adoption. The Stack has been optimized to enable low-latency mesh connectivity even in large-scale lighting networks that employ sensors to drive efficiencies. It is designed as a complete and finished solution, ready for instant integration with a variety of lighting products. With flexible integration options (PWM/0-10V/UART/DALI), the Silvair Mesh Stack ensures a smooth transition into the Internet of Things for manufacturers of LEDs, drivers, switches and sensors. Silvair gives its partners a head start with a ready-to-use wireless technology, the shortest time to market, and guaranteed compliance with the global Bluetooth Mesh standard.

 

“We’ve chosen Nordic’s nRF52832 because it is simply the most powerful and robust system-on-chip for the applications Silvair is targeting. Connected lighting is a particularly demanding environment, so the core Bluetooth Mesh stack is deeper and more complex than in the case of other low-power connectivity technologies. And since we’re focused on commercial lighting, performance requirements are extremely important for us,” says Rafal Han, CEO of Silvair. “Nordic’s nRF52832 fully meets our requirements with respect to memory resources and the processing power. It handles complex processes with minimal energy use, which is crucial for battery-powered wireless sensors and switches, while its large flash capacity allows easy over-the-air firmware update.”

 

“Silvair’s mesh platform and ecosystem demonstrates the flexibility of the nRF52 Series' hardware and software architecture,” says Alf Helge Omre, Nordic Semiconductor’s Business Development Manager, Bluetooth. “Nordic’s Bluetooth stack is a proven solution upon which Silvair has been able to seamlessly build its mesh stack and ecosystem for smart-lighting applications.”

 

More information about the upcoming Bluetooth Mesh standard and Silvair solutions for professional lighting can be obtained at the Silvair booth (#5911) during this year’s largest lighting trade show Lightfair International in Philadelphia (May 9-11).