RemoTI for ZigBee RF4CE RF-based Remote Controls

RemoTI is Texas Instruments‘ solution for the new standardized ZigBee RF4CE specification for RF-based remote controls. RemoTI includes hardware and software, including the CC2530 RF SoC which integrates an IEEE 802.15.4 compliant radio, 8051 microcontroller core and large enough flash memory. TI offers RemoTI-CC2530DK development kit which provides hardware, software and tools to evaluate, develop, test and debug ZigBee RF4CE products.

TI RF4CE Remote Control System

About ZigBee RF4CE
ZigBee RF4CE (Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics) is the a result of agreement (March 2009) between the RF4CE Consortium and the ZigBee Alliance to jointly deliver a standardized specification for radio frequency-based remote controls. ZigBee RF4CE has been designed to be deployed in a wide range of remotely-controlled audio-video consumer electronics products The ZigBee RF4CE RF-based remote controls are faster, more reliable and provide more freedom to operate devices from greater distances by removing the LOS (line of sight) barrier found in today’s IR (infrared) remote controls. ZigBee RF4CE also offers advanced features such as bi-directional communication between the controlled-device and its remote control.

Key features and benefits of ZigBee RF4CE and RemoTI solution:

• ZigBee RF4CE specification is based on IEEE 802.15.4. MAC/PHY radio technology in the 2.4 GHz unlicensed frequency band and is designed for a wide range of remotely-controlled audio-visual consumer electronics products, such as televisions and set-top boxes
• RF-based remotes are faster and more reliable, offer enhanced functionality only possible through RF, and give consumers more freedom to operate devices from greater distances, removing the line-of-sight barrier of today’s infrared (IR) remotes
• The RemoTI development kit provides an easy-to-use, intuitive software architectural framework and all the tools and support necessary to get a ZigBee RF4CE-compliant product to market fast with minimal cost
• Full ZigBee RF4CE protocol stack featuring sample application code, easy remote control kit with target board, simple API or optional direct RF4CE interface, and reference designs
• The RF4CE-compliant stack featuring the interoperable CERC profile support, a simple API, easy to understand sample application code, full development kits and reference designs
• Operation on TI’s CC2530 IEEE 802.15.4 SoC, with high RF performance and power saving features

RemoTI-CC2530DK Development Kit

TI’s RemoTI-CC2530DK development kit provides hardware, software and tools to evaluate, develop, test and debug ZigBee RF4CE products. RemoTI-CC2530DK includes a programmable remote control, a target module (receiver board) that interfaces to PC remote control emulation software via USB, and all debugging equipment and cables. RemoTI installer comes with the core stack library, standard remote control sample application code, legacy IR generation sample code, a PC emulator tool, over the air download and serial boot loader demonstration code, an 802.15.4 packet sniffer, flash programmer, and more. The RemoTI installer is available for free download from www.ti.com/RemoTI.

TI RemoTI-CC2530DK Development Kit

RemoTI-CC2530DK development kit package contains:

• CC2530-based RF Remote Control
• Target module (receiver board) with CC2530EM module
• CC Debugger, cables, adapter board, and more
• Quick start guide

The RF4CE Compliant Protocol Stack can be found at http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/remoti.html

The RemoTI-CC2530DK development kit is supported by the IAR EW8051 C-compiler (30-day evaluation), which is used with the RemoTI stack. The C-SPY debugger (30-day evaluation) is used as an emulator interface.

RemoTI-CC2530DK development kit is available at $149.

Reference:

• Press release: TI introduces RemoTI network protocol for ZigBee RF4CE consumer electronics applications (_http://focus.ti.com/pr/docs/preldetail.tsp?sectionId=594&prelId=sc09071)
• Press release: Texas Instruments joins RF4CE Consortium to develop radio frequency remote control technology (_http://focus.ti.com/pr/docs/preldetail.tsp?sectionId=594&prelId=sc08081)
• Change Infrared to RF with RemoTI (_www.ti.com/rf4ce-pr)
• RF4CE Remote Control (_www.ti.com/rf4ce-sbd)
• REMOTI-CC2530DK: RemoTI CC2530 Development Kit (_http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/remoti-cc2530dk.html)
• ZigBee RF4CE (_http://www.zigbee.org/rf4ce)