STMicroelectronics Joins the Zhaga Consortium

The Zhaga Consortium is a worldwide collaborative endeavor between companies across the globe with members including luminaire manufacturers, suppliers of materials, LED module makers and components, and testing labs.

The market-orientated consortium focus on creating specifications for electrical, mechanical, thermal, optical, and communication interfaces for the interoperable components used in LED luminaires. Recently, a leading semiconductor manufacturer, STMicroelectronics (STM), announced that they became an associate member of the consortium. 

“With the Zhaga Consortium, the lighting industry is paving the way towards harmonized and interoperable usage of NFC technology, driving new opportunities to enhance lighting-equipment connectivity," said Sylvain Fidelis, Head of Marketing & Application for NFC Tags and Readers at STM.

 

Image used courtesy of Zhaga Consortium.

 

STMicroelectronics' Industry Offerings 

STM has a range of technologies and solutions to offer the lighting industry. This includes LED driver chips and a diverse portfolio of NFC tags. STM’s ST25DV series for NFC Forum type 5 dynamic tags feature up to 64-Kbit of EEPROM memory which can be accessed through a radio frequency (RF) contactless interface (13.56 MHz) or a low-power I²C interface except for ST25DV-PWM series (PWM outputs). STM’s range of dynamic tags are not only suitable for lighting, but home appliances, consumer electronics, industrial and IoT applications, metering, and more.

STM’s membership with Zhaga is an opportunity for advancing and consolidating market adoption of NFC technology, as well as establishing verified specifications and smart standards for such technologies. 

 

STM at the 2019 Developers Conference exhibiting how NFC can be used in motor control. Image used courtesy of STMicroelectronics

 

What is NFC technology?

NFC technology allows users to send and receive information from smartphones and tablets to NFC-compatible devices. When you tap your oyster card on a reader at the stations or tap your credit card on a payment terminal in a store, you are using NFC. For lighting manufacturers, the benefits of using this technology include:

• Speed: lighting fixtures can be configured faster without worrying about time-consuming wiring mechanics or using power up drivers.
• Safety: Lighting fixtures can be configured off the grid without power.
• Flexibility: before spare parts are installed in the fixture, the settings and lumen output can be modified. If customers wish to further modify settings later down the line, this can be done with ease. 
• Reduced costs: inventories can be reduced and troubleshooting conducted efficiently in the field if settings are incorrect.

Zhaga and STM will be working hand-in-hand and are likely to benefit substantially from their collective vision to grow the NFC market. 

This drive combined with STM’s expertise is set to foster a “bridge between NFC standards and lighting-industry requirements,” Fidelis said.