Unlimited Coverage and Control:
ZigBee Has Arrived

by Rashid Skaf, AMX president and CEO

During the months and weeks prior to this incredible gathering of residential designers, installers, programmers and manufacturers, a strange thing begins to happen at our offices in Richardson, Texas. It’s hard to describe but a buzz starts to hum and pulsate and grow - eventually spreading throughout the building, consuming everyone it touches.

From engineering and sales, to marketing and training and everywhere in between – my team has been busily working on various projects that ultimately result in the finished products, services and software that we get an opportunity to introduce to you this week at CEDIA.

Keeping It Simple
I am especially proud of the work they’ve done this year in creating a really stellar group of products that are not only incredibly functional, but more importantly, are making life simpler, easier and better for our dealers and end users - underscoring our commitment to simplify the world around us.

Two of these products that I can’t wait to unveil to you this week are the Mio Modero® R-3 and R-4 Remote Controls, the newest additions to our R-Series family of handheld remote controls. They are the first AMX products to employ ZigBee wireless, which I believe holds incredible potential for low data wireless transmissions in control/automation environments.

Ideal for Control/Automation:
Works With 802.11
When I was first introduced to ZigBee, I have to admit that I was a little skeptical. I was all too familiar with other wireless formats that weren’t viable options for control and automation and that couldn’t co-exist with 802.11 networks. However, ZigBee proved it could peacefully work alongside 802.11 and offered many features that made it ideal for residential and commercial control installations.

Perfect for Low Data Transmissions
ZigBee is great for transmitting relatively small packets of data (250kbps or less), which is why it is perfect for the new R-3 and R-4 remotes as the amount of data that is transmitted and duration of the transmission is minimal.

As Many Remotes As You Want
A feature that I know our dealers will love about ZigBee is unique network device identification. Now, every device on the network is assigned a unique ID, which allows users to have and interoperate as many R-3s or R-4s as they’d like in a home or building. So we are no longer limited by assignable RF frequencies and will never again have to worry about involuntarily affecting other devices on the same frequency.

Unlimited Device Control
Additionally, ZigBee gives us the ability to control a virtually unlimited number of devices on the network, allowing any device connected to the NetLinx master to be controlled or automated from the R-3 or R-4. But let me clarify, I did say that this capability is virtually unlimited. That’s because the device limitation of ZigBee is 65,536. But just give our dealers and distributors some time, I have all the confidence that one day an installation surpassing these limits will be designed but until then, I think we can confidently use the term unlimited.

And while the R-4's touchscreen allows unlimited device control by pushing onscreen images of each device, we gave the R-3 the same unlimited device capability but in a slightly different access method. We created a one-button menu that allows you to touch a single button and cycle through all of the controllable devices in the system. A virtually unlimited number of devices can be programmed on one receiver.

Unlimited Coverage Area
And did I mention ZigBee’s range and coverage limitations? Well that’s because there really aren’t any, which is great news for installations with extremely large or far-reaching parameters. All that is required is a single ZigBee gateway to coordinate network traffic. And because of ZigBee’s virtually unlimited device capability, just about any number of ZigBee Repeaters can be added to the mesh network to ensure an all-encompassing coverage area with no dead spots.

Imagine the Possibilities
Now earlier, I said that the R-3 and R-4 are our first ZigBee-enabled products. This is because I fully expect us to find many more uses for the technology throughout our product line. Imagine the possibilities that ZigBee could offer for retrofit or complex installations with device locations that may be too costly, too difficult or physically impossible to run cable to.

The possibilities for ZigBee are staggering and seem to be growing every day. But we must remember that technology is only as useful as the support it offers the user. While I am supremely confident in our ability to lead the market with innovative products, only time will tell whether ZigBee will be successfully adopted in the marketplace and make its way into other AMX products in the future. But until then, I’ll just have to be satisfied with the unlimited device controllability, unparalleled coverage area and wireless superiority of my new R-4.