January 9, 2006—Hitachi WirelessInfo Venture Company (WI), a division of Hitachi, Ltd. that was formed in July 2005, is working with Ember Corporation to develop a family of ZigBee-based sensors for use in a variety of wireless monitoring, sensing and control applications, says Hitachi.
ZigBee is an embedded wireless network standard that solves the unique needs of remote monitoring and control, and sensor network applications.
Hitachi WI is developing ZigBee wireless sensor and control modules based on Ember’s ZigBee compliant platform.
Ember develops tiny, low power ZigBee systems for creating wireless sensing and control networks that automatically configure and heal themselves, and work for years on very little power. The Ember EM250 is a 802.15.4/ZigBee semiconductor system that integrates a programmable microprocessor, RF radio, network protocol stack and memory into a tiny, single-chip solution.
The new modules will be marketed to other Hitachi business units, including Hitachi Electronics Services Co. and Hitachi Urban Development, as well as other OEM companies. Hitachi WI plans to adopt Ember’s next generation EM250 system-on-a-chip in 2006.
Hitachi WI is developing both standard and application-specific ZigBee modules using Ember chips and software. These include innovative wireless applications for: sanitary control in warehouses and food factories; commercial building security and energy saving systems; supply chain quality monitoring; and remote facility monitoring and control, says Hitachi.
Ember’s ZigBee systems are already being used in a variety of consumer and industrial applications, such as home automation and control, automatic meter reading and asset management.
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. For more information, visit the Web site.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 347,000 employees worldwide. For more information, visit the company Web site.
