iPhone Based Remote : Case Study
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The case study details a startup's project to develop an iPhone-based universal remote control for TV programming using Zigbee technology. Mistral Solutions provided a firmware solution for two intermediate devices, facilitating the communication between the iPhone and various IR devices, overcoming design challenges and completing the project under tight deadlines. The collaboration resulted in a user-friendly product that meets power consumption and performance requirements, ready for large-scale production.
iPhone Based Remote : Case Study
- 1. Case Study iPhone Based Remote Introduction The Customer The advent of living room entertainment has lead to the control The customer is a startup, specializing in building products for living room of TV programming from any handheld device. This case study entertainment. showcases Mistral's capability in providing a ZigBee technology based solution for a Universal Remote Controller. The product is now The Requirement going into large volume production by the customer. The customer came up with the concept of providing an easy access to TV programs, and controlling the various IR devices using an iPhone, iPad (or any other device from Apple Inc.) interfaced with wireless access points/routers. Both these devices are very common in any US household. The concept involved development of intermediate devices between the iPhone and the end IR-device. The intermediate devices, called Node and the Hub, are based on ZigBee technology. The customer came up with two ZigBee devices that would address this requirement and approached Mistral to provide the ZigBee based firmware solution for these two intermediate devices. Solution Provided Mistral provided the customer with a ZigBee firmware solution, using the CC2530 ZigBee SoC from TI with Stellaris Microcontroller. The Hub plugs into a Wireless router using Ethernet and communicates to the Node using the ZigBee protocol. The Node emits IR to the endpoint IR-devices. iPhone communicates to the Hub using the UDP protocol. The Hub operates on AC power and the Node is battery operated. The Challenges ! The Mistral team had to spend time onsite at the customer's premises to clearly understand the customer's requirements and deliver the entire solution in a very tight time-frame. This was achieved by setting up a very tight interaction system with risk mitigation An iPhone based Remote for mechanism between the Mistral team and the customer controlling TV programs and various ! Designing the custom protocol for communication between the iPhone and the Hub. This custom protocol involved actions starting IR devices from Hub discovery to sending the IR codes to the Node and to emit the IR for the end IR-devices
- 2. ! Designing a device with low-power consumption. This involved the ! Mistral not only provided the ZigBee based solution to the customer but tuning of the firmware, to achieve optimal battery performance also supported them to take it to production and product launch ! Meeting the RF range of ZigBee. This involved designing a ! Built a strong expertise on the ZigBee technology communication software between Hub and Node that was within the ! Getting the customer to recommend Mistral to other customers for required RF range, while maintaining the defined power consumption firmware support. metrics, to achieve better battery life ! Solution for user-friendly access of TV from the iPhone. This involved Customer Benefits tuning of firmware to achieve almost the same user experience from the ! Leveraged Mistral's proven expertise in firmware development, to iPhone as provided by the default remote control. architect and develop the a living room entertainment solution faster- to-market Key Achievement ! The powerful and highly integrated architecture designed by Mistral ! Implementing the ZigBee solution on the existing design was complex allows the customer a quick-turn around cycle for future designs. and the customer approached Mistral to provide it with a working solution. The Mistral team worked onsite with the customer team and was able to provide a working ZigBee solution on their platform www.mistralsolutions.com Mistral Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Mistral Solutions Inc., Branch Offices: No.60, 'Adarsh Regent', 4633 Old Ironsides Drive, INDIA 100 Ft. Ring Road, Suite 410, ! Hyderabad Domlur Extension, Bangalore - 560 071 Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA ! New Delhi Tel: +91-80-3091 2600 Phone: +1-408-705-2240 USA Fax: +91-80-2535 6440 Fax: +1-408-987-9665 ! Dallas, Texas E-mail: info@mistralsolutions.com E-mail: us_west@mistralsolutions.com © Copyright 2011, Mistral Solutions Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. & ...Partners in Real Time are registered Trademarks and Logos of Mistral. All other Trademarks and Trade names are the property of the respective owners.