LS Research launches Rate$aver

LS Research has teamed with Ember to develop Rate$aver, a device which serves as a wireless communications portal between utility companies and their customers.

LS Research's Rate$aver is a ZigBee Smart Energy-certified and FCC/IC-approved in-homedisplay (IHD) energy usage rate monitor based on Ember's ZigBee technology.

The device enables homeowners and utilities to collaborate on conserving energy and reducing costs. It provides "reliable, wireless communication of consumption data from the utility meter into the home", according to a release.

Rate$aver is the first battery-powered, wireless graphical display employing the ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile, which supports pricing, security, simple metering and messaging clusters, and is interoperable with other ZigBee Smart Energy certified products including electric smart meters. Rate$aver runs for up to two years on two AA batteries and uses a unique display technology that allows the display to remain visible even after the radio and the power are turned off.

The Rate$aver provides an advanced radio architecture and a 100mW power amplifier that eliminates the need for repeater devices in most homes. Rate$aver also employs Ember's bootloader capability enabling easy implementation of software updates.

LS Research was able to take advantage of Ember's Smart Energy Suite (SES) to bring the Rate$aver to market quickly.

Ember's Smart Energy Suite provides a fully integrated hardware and software platform including: the EM250 ZigBee System-on-Chip (SoC), EmberZNet PRO networking software, Smart Energy Certified application profile, Ember AppBuilder - a development tool for ZigBee Smart Energy, and Certicom elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) security software for ZigBee Smart Energy.