Technologies Covered: EnOcean, ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Wavenis
Report Title: WTRS EnOcean and Self Powered Wireless Technology Q2 2011 Report
Product Code: WT062011EETR
Published: June 2011
Report Stats: 55 pages; 26 tables & figures
Format: Electronic PDF Document
Price: $2,000
Overview:
Self-powered wireless technology has begun to attract the attention of the sensor market with its unique freedom from power requirements. As an energy-harvesting technology it provides solutions in a wide variety of sensor and control applications via very flexible facilities configuration through what are essentially stick-on switches. As one specific example, EnOcean technology is designed to be reliable and robust enough to suit diverse applications.
The WTRS EnOcean and Self Powered Wireless Technology Report outlines EnOcean technology, patent, and corporate developments first and foremost but within the wider framework of all wireless sensor network technology and standards development. It analyzes six market segments likely to adopt self-powered wireless technology and also tracks the formation of industry alliances and SIGs; it further analyzes the potential market opportunities for OEMs, describes initial versus long-range drivers in the market, and analyzes potential partnership opportunities and existing alliances.
One of the primary hurdles to wireless sensor market adoption is the requirements imposed by battery implementation. Large installations that require units to undergo battery replacement can create maintenance costs that overpower the initial cost of the equipment. Logistics surrounding battery condition monitoring and replacement can overwhelm customers. Thus, several companies have developed energy harvesting technologies that eliminate the requirement for batteries in many applications. EnOcean is an example of an energy harvesting technology with the broadest centralized support in the industry, however there are others in the field. Powercast takes the approach of harvesting RF energy to power the wireless sensor networks.
EnOcean GmbH is a German technology company that develops energy harvesting technologies, RF technologies operating with these energy harvesting devices and technology products that leverage the integration between the energy harvesting and RF technologies.
The EnOcean technology provides solutions in a wide variety of sensor and control applications. The business strategy focuses on providing solutions in commercial and residential lighting and control and the initial route to market was through the channel made up of lighting designers and architects. A prominent early design is the SAP headquarters building located in Walldorf, Germany that features 2000 wireless light and blind controllers.EnOcean invested a significant level of resources in the development of energy harvesting technologies. The company's technology portfolio includes devices that harvest small amounts of useable energy from such diverse sources as ambient light, vibration, button presses and thermal gradients. In addition, the company invested considerable effort understanding how to store and effectively utilize this harvested energy.
The other key component of EnOcean's innovation is the development of a very efficient and reliable RF protocol designed to use the small amounts of energy available from an action such as a button press. The key to this protocol is a combination of very short message telegrams, a fairly high data rate (125 Kbps) and a very simple radio that operates in the Sub-1GHz ISM band. The resulting radio takes advantage of moderately high transmission power, relatively long wavelengths for reliability, and a smart protocol and short message length that reduces the probability of message collisions that overall provides a high level of signal integrity while simultaneously requiring very little energy per message.
EnOcean enables very flexible facilities configuration, through what are essentially stick-on switches, while simultaneously reducing installation (electrician time) and material (copper) costs.
Masco Corporation and Leviton Manufacturing Company are two of the larger players in this market. They are both key members in the EnOcean Alliance. Masco has released its initial EnOcean-based lighting control system branded as "Verve Living Systems." This is a lighting control system utilizes wireless switches to provide the command inputs. The "Verve Living Systems" was positioned as the first in an anticipated series of products targeting home control and is aimed directly at the new residential construction industry. Two significant data points regarding Masco Corporation are that the company enjoys supplier relationships with roughly 60% of the US homebuilders and provides roughly 80% of the products sold through Home Depot. The Leviton Manufacturing Company is an EnOcean Alliance Promoter member. Leviton demonstrated an early version of an occupancy sensor powered by ambient light that commands an EnOcean-capable light switch.
Wireless technologies carry with them a diverse set of customer requirements. This diverse requirement set presents both an opportunity and a challenge for technology providers and developers in the broad wireless industry. Too broad a technology solution that attempts to match too many use cases will provide sub-optimal performance in too many applications to achieve broad adoption. At the same time an overly narrow technical solution that maps too precisely to a specific application space is unlikely to achieve a sufficient level of market penetration to enable the requisite number of competitors to drive multiple sources and price competition.
Energy harvesting technologies integrated into wireless sensor networks represents a significant current trends and that it will provide significant competition to its potential competitors in its targeted market segments.
