GainSpan Application Development Kit Speeds Wi-Fi Smartplug Design

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- GainSpan® Corporation, a leader in ultra-low power Wi-Fi connectivity for the Internet of Things, has introduced the Smartplug Application Development Kit (ADK) that allows developers to quickly and easily add Wi-Fi connectivity to a regular plug or power strip and control and monitor electrical loads using a PC or an iOS or Android based smartphone.  The ADK is a complete reference design and provides an excellent starting point for development of smart plugs and smart power strips used for load control and monitoring of appliances, hot water heaters and lighting control.

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With the ADK, users can control electrical loads and accurately measure power consumption of any household electrical appliance either locally using a PC or smartphone, or from the cloud via an infrastructure network. Voltage, current, frequency, instantaneous power, energy and power factor are measured or calculated and displayed on the mobile or web application.

The Smartplug ADK includes smart plug hardware, complete hardware design package and software suite with reference source code for the smart plug embedded application and iOS and Android based mobile applications.  A Smartplug Application Evaluation Kit (AEK) is also available that provides a binary version of the software and can be used to evaluate and demonstrate smart plug operation.

The Smartplug hardware includes a standard socket, single-phase 100-245V, 10A smart plug which uses a GainSpan GS1011M Wi-Fi module interfaced with a power measurement IC. The embedded software runs on the GainSpan Wi-Fi module and offers complete Wi-Fi functionality including the entire networking stack and services, wireless security and provisioning software. It supports mDNS/DNS-SD based device and service discovery that allows users to automatically discover and connect to the embedded Smartplug profile. In addition, the Smartplug application includes provisioning software that allows configuration of the Wi-Fi module in Limited AP or Client modes, and allows over-the-air firmware upgrades. It also supports factory restore of the embedded firmware and WPS for ease of setup.

The Smartplug ADK provides hardware and software building blocks that provide a starting point for product development while allowing the developer to add application software and services, and customize the end product's user interface.  With the reference source code included in the kit, customers can rapidly build custom features suited to their end applications.

"With the growth in 'green' initiatives, we've had a lot of interest from customers looking for a simple way to develop new wireless smart energy applications and our new ADK allows them to do just that," said Bernard Aboussouan, vice president of marketing at GainSpan.  "This is one of a series of ADKs that we're developing featuring complete end applications, and all are aimed at speeding time-to-market for customers."

Other GainSpan ADKs currently available include an Audio ADK, Temperature and Light Sensors ADK, a Renesas Wi-Fi Sensor ADK, and functional ADKs such as Provisioning and Over-the-Air Firmware Update.

Pricing and Availability
The Smartplug ADK is priced at $3000 and is available immediately.  The evaluation version of the kit is available for $250.  Customers can purchase the kits at GainSpan's online store.

About GainSpan Corporation
GainSpan, a spinoff of Intel Corporation, is an innovator and leader in semiconductor solutions for wireless connectivity for the rapidly emerging Internet of Things. GainSpan's solutions let customers quickly and easily create connected products for smart energy, healthcare and control/monitoring in industrial, commercial and residential markets.  With a broad portfolio of state-of the art low-power Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi/ZigBee IP chips, modules and software, GainSpan is changing the world by connecting Things to the Internet and People to Things. GainSpan is a member of the Wi-Fi Alliance® and the ZigBee Alliance.  www.gainspan.com.

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SOURCE GainSpan Corporation