Sierra Wireless Targets Better IoT Interoperability with New Open Interface Standard for Wireless and Sensor Technologies

Sierra Wireless Targets Better IoT Interoperability with New Open Interface Standard for Wireless and Sensor Technologies

New open interface standard for Internet of Things (IoT) gaining market traction with adoption by industry leaders, including Freescale, Linear Technology, and Texas Instruments.

As part of its ongoing strategy to expand and accelerate innovation in the Internet of Things, Sierra Wireless today introduced Project mangOH™, an open hardware reference design, with an open interface standard developed by Sierra Wireless and adopted by three leading industry partners – Freescale, Linear Technologies, and Texas Instruments.

“We believe the full potential of the Internet of Things can only be realized when technologies are interoperable,” said Philippe Guillemette, Chief Technology Officer for Sierra Wireless. “To achieve this, we are actively investing in, and contributing to, both open source projects and standards bodies. Our introduction today of the IoT connector open interface standard aims to take some of the complexity and cost out of ensuring that different wireless and sensor technologies communicate effectively.”

The IoT connector is an open interface standard designed by Sierra Wireless to provide a single interface for a variety of wireless and sensor technologies. Just as the Mini PCIe standard simplified development for the laptop, tablet, and networking applications, the IoT connector interface enables plug-and-play hardware for IoT developers. IoT modules can be added in any combination to meet specific application needs, and are industrial-grade to move seamlessly from prototype to final production-ready designs.

The first implementation of the IoT connector is in the Project mangOH open hardware reference design and it has already been adopted by leading IoT industry players. Freescale, Linear Technology, and Texas Instruments have all developed wireless module designs based on the standard, enabling Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Thread, and 6LoWPAN technologies.

Freescale’s Kinetis® KW24 low power ARM® Cortex-M4 MCU with integrated radio transceiver supports the IoT connector open interface standard.

Talon’s Oasis module, designed in conjunction with Freescale, is a networking module for smart home applications, with support for Thread, a low-power mesh networking protocol.

Sujata Neidig, MCU Americas Business Development Manager for Freescale, said:

“Smart home applications will only be smart if they can work together, across multiple devices from multiple manufacturers. The industry needs standards, both in hardware and in software, to ensure this interoperability, and the IoT connector open interface standard provides a critical piece of the solution.”

Linear Technology, in collaboration with Sierra Wireless, has developed a SmartMesh IP™ IoT connector module reference design, which utilizes 6LoWPAN and Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) wireless sensor networking technologies to enable the deployment of ultra-low power industrial sensor networks.

“Industrial IoT applications represent the high bar for network reliability. They also require the flexibility for the optimal placement of every sensor, so battery power is an essential option,” said Joy Weiss, President of the Dust Networks® product group at Linear Technology. “The SmartMesh IP connector plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the link from the low power sensors to the network is reliable even in harsh industrial environments.”

Texas Instruments (TI) offers several wireless connectivity options for Project mangOH, including the WiLink™ 8 module (WL1837MOD), a 2-in-1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combo connectivity solution, and the CC2530 wireless MCU for ZigBee connectivity. These connectivity options enable users to collect information from a wide range of devices and sensors.

“At Texas Instruments, we are seeing considerable demand for industrial-grade solutions for the Internet of Things,” said Eran Zigman, Business Line Manager, wireless connectivity solutions, TI. “The IoT connector meets a real need from our customers for a standard that is robust enough to enable years of service in industrial equipment.”

Start working with the IoT connector open interface standard

The IoT connector interface has been implemented in the Project mangOH open hardware reference design, also introduced by Sierra Wireless today at the Sierra Wireless Innovation Summit in Paris. Schematics, documentation, and bill of materials for the IoT connector open interface standard is available under an open hardware license.

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