Bridgetek has just unveiled one of the pivotal pieces of hardware behind its recently released PanL Smart Living and PanL Room Manager solutions. Fully FCC and CE approved, the PanL Hub enables installers to incorporate various different communication technologies into their system deployments, so that greater functionality can be derived while still ensuring maximum user convenience and keeping down costs.
In terms of wireless connectivity options, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), ZigBee and RF433 protocols are all included, plus more specialist OEM-specific protocols like Hue, DALI and DMX512. Consequently, the PanL Hub is able to interact with the broadest possible variety of wireless smart devices (both sensors and actuators) within environments like homes, offices, hotels, retail outlets, etc. There are no limitations imposed by the communication technology of the device, thereby allowing control of everything (heating, lighting, air conditioning, room/building access and so on) directly through intuitive PanL-based user interfaces.
Thanks to its wireline connectivity the PanL Hub is able to hook up to the building’s existing Ethernet (10/100 Base-T) infrastructure through standard CAT 5/6 cabling, with PoE capabilities meaning that power can be drawn via this route, as well as using it for data transfer. There are 2 different configurations available - with the PanL Hub 44 featuring 4 serial ports for display unit connection and the PanL Hub 80 expanding that to a total of 8 serial ports for this purpose. The PanL Hub 44 can connect directly to 8 PanL70/PanL70Plus display units through these serial ports (with another 4 serial ports dedicated to interfacing with sensors), while the PanL Hub 80 can connect to 16 of these. There is scope for multiple hubs to be hooked up to the network and cascaded - so that any size of office facility or residential complex can potentially be addressed.
The foundation of the PanL Hub is its high performance semiconductor technology - with a 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex A53 microcontroller unit (capable of running at 1.2GHz), plus 1GB of low-power DDR2 RAM memory resource and 4GB of embedded flash available. Relying on the Linux operating system, it is easy to integrate this item into different building automation scenarios and to adapt it if needed.
For more information, go to www.brtchip.com
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