ROHM – Ongoing development of the interoperable energy harvesting wireless standard

ROHM has announced that it has become the ninth promoter of the EnOcean Alliance. In this highest membership class ROHM will lead, define and drive the Alliance as one of its innovative key players. The EnOcean Alliance is an independent consortium of companies to further develop and promote solutions and systems based on EnOcean’s energy-harvesting wireless technology. One of its main objectives is to establish this battery-free and maintenance-free technology as international standard for sustainable, energy-efficient buildings. The Alliance counts more than 300 members worldwide, including leading companies from the building technology and electronics sectors. By installing as a promoter, ROHM is reinforcing its commitment to harvesting wireless technology and will promote further development of the interoperable wireless standard internationalized by EnOcean Alliance.

In recent years, wireless technology has been applied in a variety of consumer products such as smart phones, tablet PCs, and computers. As wireless technology is expanding rapidly, there is also a great need for establishing interoperable wireless monitoring and control systems in various facilities such as office buildings, factories and homes. Wires or batteries to power wireless products have however proved to be a critical problem for wireless technology in such applications. Since diverse utilities, telecom and service companies now include wireless products in their offerings, unreliable power supply of interior wireless solutions has become a major challenge.

An innovative alternative is EnOcean’s energy-harvesting wireless technology. It powers wireless communications by collecting energy from the surroundings such as motion, indoor light and temperature differentials. The entire process of transmitting a signal is started, executed and completed in no more than a thousandth of a second. This enables wireless sensor solutions with ultra-low power consumption working without cables and batteries. The EnOcean-based products are maintenance-free and provide many benefits such as reliable operation and highly flexible planning and installation, even for the retrofit of existing buildings.

A group of key companies across Europe and North America formed the EnOcean Alliance as a non-profit organization in April 2008 to integrate EnOcean’s energy harvesting wireless technology in their products. By using the same basic technology for different solutions, they create devices and systems that are compatible with each other. The guiding principle behind this is the international standard ISO/IEC 14543-3-10, approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission in spring 2012, which is optimized for wireless solutions with ultra-low power consumption and energy harvesting. The EnOcean Alliance has three membership classes: promoters, participants and associate members. As one of nine promoters ROHM is a core member of the Alliance, playing a central role in promoting the development of EnOcean’s batteryless wireless technology as communication standard in buildings.

“We are very pleased to welcome ROHM as new member and promoter in the EnOcean Alliance,” said Graham Martin, chairman, EnOcean Alliance. “In Japan we see a strongly increasing demand for energy-efficient buildings based on reliable and sustainable solutions. With ROHM we have won a very strong and highly experienced partner who will support us to educate this emerging market on the advantages of energy harvesting wireless solutions and establish the technology as number one communication standard in buildings. The commitment of ROHM is also a sign for the fast growing internationalization of the EnOcean Alliance and the EnOcean technology. ”

Hidemi Takasu, managing director, Research and Development Headquarters ROHM, said: “EnOcean’s batteryless wireless and maintenance-free technology has great potential to bring new opportunities not only to the building or home energy management system market but also to the sensor network market which is expanding in management of infrastructure, logistics and health care. ROHM will work closely together with other members of the EnOcean Alliance and proceed developing and enhancing batteryless wireless sensor networks by providing our sensor technology and low-power consumption technology.”

ROHM’s established communication and device technology enable it to be authorized as the only one Japanese company among nine promoters of the EnOcean Alliance, so far. ROHM has developed many products for wireless communication and energy-harvesting market such as ICs, modules and high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells which captures room light as power source. By optimizing those technologies and its renowned low-power consumption technology as well as being a core member of the EnOcean Alliance, ROHM will dedicate to the development of energy harvesting wireless technology as international communication standard. Furthermore the company will strengthen its corporative relationship with EnOcean and support the establishment of the innovative technology on the Japanese market, says the company.