Cities already account for 75% of global energy consumption (according to the United Nations Energy Program) and with urban populations projected to grow even further over the next few decades, the impact on our environment and the depletion of unreplenishable energy resources are major concerns. Figures published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that 41% of total energy consumption in the U.S. currently comes from residential and commercial buildings.
One way to address the issues outlined is to ensure that we improve, by as much as possible, the operational efficiencies of our living and working spaces. The use of advanced technology will be critical in achieving this goal - allowing deployment of more controllable heating, lighting and air conditioning systems, where key parameters can be easily adjusted and substantial energy savings subsequently realized. Through employment of intelligent bus systems, home and building automation can be made more economically viable. These will allow multiple communicating devices to be connected via a single bus, thereby shortening the time period needed for design and implementation, as well as lowering the level of investment needed. These bus systems also present a way of keeping ongoing upkeep/maintenance costs in check.
KNX is the most widely adopted standard for supporting building automation systems. This has become a very appealing bus system and via this it is perceived that the smart cities of the future will be founded - already proving significantly more popular than other candidates available. It delivers a highly flexible multi-PHY communication medium onto which a wide variety of different automation mechanisms can be established. Furthermore, it is already an international recognized standard and has the backing of a large number of blue chip companies. A major advantage of KNX network infrastructure is its decentralized topology. This dispenses with the need for a central control hub as the system’s intelligence is distributed throughout its constituent devices rather than just being located in one place. This means that if one device happens to fail, other devices within the network will still carry on operating as normal.
The KNX bus system is set to furnish us with an extremely proficient way to address modern building automation related applications for a very long time to come. ON Semiconductor fully appreciates this and, as a result, is making ongoing investment to introduce advanced IC solutions targeting this area. The NCN5121, NCN5110 and NCN5130 KNX certified transceivers, which were released just this week, are testament to that fact. These new devices are optimized for smart building implementation - lowering component count, saving board real estate, curbing bill of materials cost and reducing the required power budget, as well as raising overall efficiency levels by up to 20% compared to existing solutions on the market.
Each of these devices external loads from the bus. The NCN5121 and NCN5130 implement the complete KNX physical (PHY) and media-access (MAC) layers, while the NCN5110 is an analog-only bit transceiver which works in tandem with a microcontroller unit (MCU) hosting the KNX MAC. The NCN5121 is a pin-to-pin replacement for the previous generation NCN5120, but offers elevated efficiency and increased linear regulator output. NCN5130is capable of taking up to 40 milliamps from the KNX bus and gives engineers extra scope to power devices such as an LCD panels or touchscreens, or alternatively to drive relays at higher speeds.
