INS14278-4
How to Use Certified Apps in Z-Wave 700
2019-03-22
| Building a more connected world.
Page 12 of 45
4 SDK AND FRAMEWORK INTRODUCTION
4.1
SDK 7.11 Overview
With the release of Z-Wave 700, both hardware, software, and specifications have improved.
The hardware is now based on the Silicon Labs EFM32™ Gecko family, a 32-bit Microcontroller based on
the powerful ARM® Cortex®-M3 core. This change has resulted in power consumption being reduced by
80%, the point-to-point range has been increased to over 100 meters, and the mesh range increased to
over 400 meters. With fast wake-up and back to sleep-mode, battery powered sensors can now last for
ten years using a single coin cell.
To leverage off the powerful hardware, the software has been redesigned. Now the software uses a
Real Time Operating System to divide the Z-Wave protocol and the application into independent tasks,
an event driving architecture to ensure no direct function calls between protocol and application, and a
power manager to automatic power down to lowest possible power mode. While everything has been
redesigned, existing customers will find the Z-Wave Framework has been kept, thereby ensuring easy
development.
Specifications have been updated to the Z-Wave Plus v2 to ensure interoperability between all Z-Wave
products and vendors, and backward compatibility with all existing products. Z-Wave 700 devices work
seamlessly with the world’s largest ecosystem of interoperable smart products.
4.2
Z-Wave Plus v2 Specification
Each product must follow the Z-Wave Plus v2 specification to be able to pass the certification program
and ensure interoperability in the ecosystem of existing products. The primary focus is ease of use for
consumers, which can be summarized into the following:
Shopping does not require intensive knowledge about which products work with which other
products.
Installation is as simple as possible and intuitive.
Operating the products does not require any technical knowledge.
No tricky maintenance procedures, such as exclude/include, are needed.
To accomplish this vision, several new requirements are added to the original Z-Wave Plus specification.
These additions include:
Both Security-2 (S2) and SmartStart are now mandatory to increase security while keeping the
inclusion process simple.
Each product must support Identify functionality, i.e. must feature a visible LED for
identification purpose, making it easy to identify a product.
All actuators must support Basic command class, guaranteeing that any controller can control
any actuator.
