Remote Control

Here at NXP, we have made it our business to understand the technologies needed for Smart Home solutions. In doing so, we know that next-generation remote controls for the Smart Home take on an increasing role:

• Connecting the consumer to an increasing array of wirelessly interconnected devices and appliances
• Becoming a management platform from which the consumer can monitor and control their home
• Providing a hub of intelligence that allows the consumer to become a whole lot smarter in the ways they see and control their home environment

If you are looking for a technology partner for your next generation of remote control then you’re in good company.

Infra-red has dominated the domestic remote control market for the last 25 years. However, the technology needs of next-generation remote controls are considerably higher. The IEEE802.15.4-based RF4CE standard, backed by many of the leading equipment suppliers, addresses the functional needs of audio and visual (A/V) equipment in the home. The Smart Home, however, is much more than just A/V control - the picture we see is much bigger.

Multi-boot Flash for flexibility and future proofing...

A remote control solution for the Smart Home needs to be able to support multiple standards of wireless communication, allowing it to control not only A/V equipment but lighting systems, heating controls, white goods and more. This is why technical solutions such as our multi-boot Flash become an essential part of next generation remote controls.

Multi-boot Flash enables you to support multiple wireless communications standards such as RF4CE, ZigBee HA and JenNet-IP, and to dynamically select which one the remote controller needs to carry out the requested task. This feature is exclusively supported with our JN51xx wireless microcontroller technology and its external serial boot Flash memory approach. We take pride in providing these technologies to enhance your success.

Key applications

The remote control plays a diverse role within the Smart Home, with key applications in:

• TVs and set-top boxes
• DVD players
• Media players
• Lighting and heating controls
• Energy monitoring and control

Wireless Solution

Our JN51xx wireless microcontrollers, combined with our wireless network protocol stacks, open up the connectivity channel to place the remote controller as a hub in the Smart Home network.

The JN51xx wireless microcontrollers are feature-rich devices, that in addition to an IEEE802.15.4-compliant 2.4GHz radio and 32-bit CPU, contain a series of on-chip peripherals to support your remote control application. These include 21 GPIO pins to support a matrix of more than 100 control buttons, ADCs and DACs for sound features, I²C for expansion and interfacing and a 4-wire digital audio interface that would typically be integrated with a high-end audio CODEC for enhanced sound capabilities.

Our wireless network protocol stacks, built on the IEEE802.15.4 standard, offer unrivalled levels of performance, functionality, flexibility and robustness:

• RF4CE serves the control requirements of A/V equipment
• ZigBee Home Automation offers a multi-vendor product interoperability route
• JenNet facilitates easy-to-use, highly robust, low-cost networking
• JenNet-IP is an enhanced 6LoWPAN network solution that provides IP-based networking to serve the 'Internet of Things'

Each stack is developed in-house and is highly optimised to the JN51xx platform. Simple C-based API's are provided to streamline software development.