Smartification and electrification aren’t just limited to our smartphones and computers anymore; these trends are steadily making their way into our home appliances and the market is booming. But what technologies are driving home appliance innovation and how do semiconductors play a role?
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Smart home & smart building



# Smart home & smart building

### Comfortable, safe, and energy-efficient

## How microchips make homes and buildings smart

Infineon’s semiconductor solutions, software and tools enable appliances and systems for smart homes and buildings to dynamically adapt and react to their situation and surroundings.

We live in an increasingly connected world, shaped by the IoT as it continues to network more and more "things". Smart homes and buildings are a case in point. A smart home is a house that is equipped with networked devices. These are controlled via a smartphone, computer, or smart speaker. Some devices are also able to act autonomously ins response to the surrounding triggers. For example, a smart home enables the lights and air conditioning in a room to be turned off automatically as soon as the occupants leave the room. Or users can tell a smart speaker to close the garage door or start the washing machine in the basement.

Unleashing the power of IoT - with tiny but powerful microelectronics

### Smart technologies for more personalized, intuitive living experiences

Demand for smart home devices is experiencing dynamic growth as more and more consumers are looking to increase comfort, energy efficiency, and security of their homes. The market is also evolving as new solutions, use cases and target markets emerge.

Our sensors, actuators, and control systems all work together seemlessly to enable appliances in a smart home or building to correctly collect, evaluate, and process real-time data before executing or initiating the appropriate action or reaction. At the same time, our security solutions safeguard these networked systems and all of the actions that they trigger against external cyber-attacks. And our reliable connectivity technologies build the basis of intelligent homes and buildings.

Discover our solutions driving the development of innovative appliances for smart homes and buildings.

Equipping buildings with sensors means they can collect data on the operational status of networked systems and on their surroundings in order to trigger appropriate actions in real time.

Our comprehensive XENSIV™ family has the perfect fit for all sensing challenges:

XENSIV™ MEMS microphones can be used to implement voice control, for example. Capacitive sensors from the CAPSENSE™ family are an elegant and reliable way to control devices using touch.

In addition, motions can be effectively detected by our radar sensors. With their small form factor and low power consumption, our highly integrated XENSIV™ 60 GHz radar sensor solutions bring innovative, intuitive sensing capabilities to many motion detection applications.

And our REAL3™ image sensors with time-of-flight (ToF) technology supply accurate depth data in real time; they are contactless, fast, and robust to ambient light.

Microcontrollers process data in countless building systems and fixtures. Our vast portfolio spans a variety of architectures.

XMC1000 microcontrollers with their Arm® Cortex®-M0 core and cutting-edge 65 nm technology are used in connected LED power supplies and in wireless charging solutions. Potential applications in smart homes and smart buildings for XMC4000 microcontrollers powered by Arm® Cortex®-M4 with a built-in DSP instruction set range from solar converters through sense and control use cases to lighting networks.

With their dual-CPU architecture, our PSoC™ 6 microcontrollers bridge the gap between high performance and low energy consumption and are thus ideal for IoT devices. Last but not least, our PSoC™ 4 is a true problem-solver: Functions such as analog sensor integration, capacitive touch, and wireless connectivity are all integrated as standard.

We design our smart home and building devices and solutions to work anytime, anywhere, while also offering maximum safety, reliability, and protection. Designers can rely on our broad portfolio of secure and reliable solutions for embedded systems and check out our NOR Flash products.

In the sense, compute, actuate continuum, actuators connect the real and the digital world.

Actuators use the data and information received from sensors to control and actuate the connected devices in the homes and buildings. Our OptiMOS™ N-channel power MOSFETs are designed for high-performance applications, boasting high efficiency, high power density, and optimization for high switching frequencies. Highly integrated ICs for motor control applications like our iMOTION™ series and intelligent power modules (IPMs) from the CIPOS™ family have been developed to keep motors running efficiently in household appliances, fans, pumps, and more.

Power management applications for main power supplies to home appliances, set-top boxes, or even telecommunications systems/servers with a maximum rated output power of 43 W can be realized with our robust CoolSET™ AC-DC power stages. Our portfolio is neatly rounded off by a wide variety of discrete IGBTs.

Connectivity is what transforms smart home and smart building systems into smart connected devices that can send and receive data. Our AIROC™ Wi-Fi + Bluetooth® combos integrate IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN and Bluetooth® into single-chip solutions to enable small-form-factor IoT designs. Many of the Wi-Fi + Bluetooth® combos are supported by WICED Wi-Fi and ModusToolbox™ software development kits that provide code examples, tools, and development support.

Our Infineon’s AIROC™ Bluetooth® portfolio consists of purely Bluetooth® Low Energy-only and dual-mode Bluetooth® solutions that support Bluetooth® Classic (i.e. Basic Rate (BR) and Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)), as well as Bluetooth® LE. The Bluetooth® SDK contains everything designer needs to build dual-mode applications (BR + EDR + Bluetooth® LE). The Bluetooth® SDK, along with the ModusToolbox™ IDE and Bluetooth® configurator tools all combine to form a powerful but easy-to-use toolset that will help manufacturers create amazing, Bluetooth®-enabled IoT solutions.

With the growing number of connected devices in smart homes and buildings, the threat of cyberattacks is rising. To arm a smart home or smart building against cyberattacks, hardware-embedded IoT security is crucial. We meet the need for embedded security with a wide range of tried-and-tested, certified hardware-based solutions designed to give data and devices in smart homes and smart buildings strong protection:

Our OPTIGA™ family offers a broad product portfolio for embedded security solutions and secured cellular connectivity - all designed for easy integration. These hardware-based security solutions scale from basic authentication chips to sophisticated cloud implementations. With our OPTIGA™ Authenticate family, we give “things” an identity so their authenticity can be verified. An identity is the basic building block for creating trust in the digital world, especially within the IoT. The OPTIGA™ Connect product family enables our customers to connect their products over secured cellular links. Rounding out our portfolio dedicated to protecting the integrity and authenticity of embedded devices and systems are our OPTIGA™ Trust and OPTIGA™ TPM families.

Included in our comprehensive lineup is SECORA™ Blockchain, a fast, easy-to-use Java Card™ solution supporting best-in-class security for blockchain implementations. It makes the design of blockchain systems easier and more secure.

### "See", "hear" and "feel" its environment

## Smart air conditioner

Air conditioning systems are joining the ever-expanding list of “things” that are connecting to the Internet of Things. An air conditioning system equipped with semiconductors and connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) can understand its surroundings and can react to the needs of the people present.

### Semiconductors support the green and digital transformation and are the heart of smart aircons



Standard/basic functionality such as stable and smooth start-up plus variable operating speeds and vibration suppression are considered essential must-haves. In addition, cooling systems in private homes must be quiet.

However, the increasing demand for energy-saving devices also requires that intelligent air conditioning systems only run when they are really needed, and only at the necessary intensity. In the EU, 50 percent of the energy consumed in buildings and industry is used for heating and cooling. So smart aircons must be able to analyze their environment and control their performance accordingly. This is made possible by sensors and controllers which identify the location and number of people in a room on an anonymous basis. Using this information, the smart air conditioning system then regulates performance on a need-driven basis, modifying fan speed as well as swing scope.

Other advantages of a smart air conditioner are that they can measure the temperature, CO2 concentration and air quality. They automatically and autonomously decide when it is necessary to provide fresh, cool air.

But they can do much more: thanks to machine learning, they adapt to the user's preferences, they provide data to the manufacturer about their condition and thus prevent expensive damage from occurring. All this is possible thanks to innovative semiconductor solutions.

### How we enable commercial HVAC applications

We provide customers with the right technologies and innovations to address current and future security, functionality, connectivity, and performance demands for smart HVAC systems.

FOr example our XENSIV™ family provides manufacturers with best-in-class MEMS sensors to increase design intelligence by enabling smart aircon systems to “see”, “hear”, “feel” and “understand” their environment. CIPOS™ IPMs integrate the latest power semiconductors and control IC technology to create highly integrated, compact power modules capable of driving motors across a wide range of applications. And our PSoC™ 6 microcontrollers provide a secure solution for IoT developments, supporting multiple, simultaneous environments without the need for external memories or system on chips (SoCs). Our experienced technical experts and partners support customers with the tools and know-how they need to easily design and implement future-proof smart aircon systems.

### Podcast4Engineers: Commercial HVAC Trends with Lara Berghoff



Whether making factories more efficient or your office complex more comfortable, commercial HVAC systems are enabling smarter buildings. In this episode, our application manager Lara discusses some of the market drivers and opportunities in the world of C-HVAC.

### Training: Introduction to sensor-enabled predictive maintenance for HVAC systems



The training gives an overview of predictive maintenance in HVAC and the role of sensors. It presents our offering and partner approach.

### Continuous, energy-efficient data-logging for predictive maintenance

EXCELON™, Infineon's next-generation Ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM) memory, delivers the industry’s lowest-power mission-critical nonvolatile memory, by combining ultra-low-power operation with high-speed interfaces, instant nonvolatility and unlimited read/write cycle endurance. This makes EXCELON™ the ideal data-logging memory for portable medical, wearable, IoT sensor, industrial and automotive applications.

Density: 2Mbit, 4Mbit, 8Mbit

Interface: SPI, QSPI

### Demonstrator Predictive maintenance in HVAC

### Connecting different products, protocols and ecosystems

## Infineon and Matter: Disrupting and transforming the smart home

As the number of smart devices increases, so too does complexity. Ensuring interoperability across different products, ecosystems, and protocols can be challenging.

Consumers love the idea of a smart home but they expect it to be easy, compatible, and secure. The reality of a connected smart home has been very different due to the many different device ecosystems, products and protocols - until now.

Matter solves this dilemma. This royalty-free standard created by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has been developed for device makers to follow for smart home applications. Infineon Technologies, CSA, along with 280+ companies, like Google, Amazon and Apple, are pioneering the game-changing Matter standard to make ease-of-use, interoperability, security and sustainability a reality in the smart home.

Consumers and device makers will benefit from having one standard for smart home devices in many ways.



Infineon technologies is taking a pivotal role behind Matter by serving on the CSA board and participating in the security committees to ensure adoption of Matter and to ensure we remain at the cusp of the innovations in smart home that come from Matter.

We also offer a range of Matter-enabled products and solutions. Building on our 20+ years of experience, these solutions are reliable, easy to implement and integrate, secure and support all connectivity protocols.

Our Matter solutions include:

- The new PSoC® 62S2 Wi-Fi BT Pioneer Kit helps developers and engineers achieve reliable, ultra-low power Matter over Wi-Fi solutions and helps them get to market faster.
- The combination of PSoC™ 6x ULP MCU and AIROC™ CYW43xx Bluetooth/Wi-Fi SoCs supports a very reliable, low power implementation of Matter over Wi-Fi edge devices, while provisioning over Bluetooth Low Energy.
- The high-performance, low-power AIROC™ CYW30739 multi-protocol SoC (Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3, IEEE 802.15.4 ) has completed Thread 1.3 certification as one of the first on this new networking standard required for Matter devices.
- Matter-compatible OPTIGA™ security solutions easily integrate into embedded systems to protect the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of information and devices. The solutions scale from basic authentication chips to sophisticated implementations.

All these solutions leverage the ModusToolBox™ development platform to shorten IoT developers' time-to-market.

Learn more about our Matter portfolio here.

## #MakeIoTwork podcast: Revolutionizing the smart home



The number of smart home devices is increasing - but unfortunately so is the difficulty of connecting them. With our guest, Skip Ashton, we talk about a solution that solves this problem: Matter - the bridge connecting different products, protocols and ecosystems.

And to learn more about our portfolio of Matter supporting products please visit our Matter website.

## Webinar: Solving the smart home ecosystem dilemma

In an AspenCore-hosted webinar, Keith Wheeler, Principle Engineer at Infineon Technologies, discusses the challenges facing the smart home market, explains what Matter is and how Matter will help, and outlines a smart home solution framework. He also walks viewers through hardware debugging and how to use Matter tools.

## Matter 1.0 Arrives for the Smart Home - IoT Times interview with Thomas Rosteck



As part of the Matter working group, Infineon has been a leader in all major security teams, including cryptographic primitives for encryption, device attestation and integrity, and security requirements certification of smart home devices.

To learn more about the Matter 1.0 specification and its impact on the smart home industry, IoT times spoke with Thomas Rosteck, Division President of Connected Secure Systems at Infineon Technologies.

To read the whole interview, please click here.

### Quieter, energy-efficient appliances driven by intuitive sensor-based operation

## Smart home appliances

Modern home appliances are increasingly smart and connected, providing a seamless, remote user experience.

Home appliances, also referred to as domestic appliances, electric appliances or household appliances are part of smart home automation networks. Due to rising economies and evolving consumer lifestyles, the home appliances market is expected to register a CAGR of more than 4% during the forecast period. The increase in consumer disposable income, high standard of living and the need for convenience are driving many consumers to purchase smart home appliances. These devices offer advanced features, promise greater convenience, reduce labor and can even save energy. And the market will continue to grow, driven significantly by trends such as effectiveness, variety, sustainability, stylish design and smart functionality of home appliances.

Infineon's products, solutions and tools enable smart and connected home appliances to be securely detected, controlled and connected. For example Infineon’s Discrete IGBTs products designed for induction heating applications, in combination with PSoC microcontrollers for system control, AIROC™ Wi-Fi & Combos products, and XENSIV™ sensors enable highly compact, robust, and reliable systems that consume less power and offer a rich user interface.

The CIPOS™ family is the optimal solution for highly integrated compressor drives whilst discrete solutions are the best choice, whenever the layout flexibility and thermal performance optimization are the major factors. They can all be combined with Infineon’s iMOTION™ products for dedicated motor control. For the auxiliary power supply, the CoolSET™ rounds up the power portfolio by offering increased robustness and performance.

### Podcast4Engineers: Home appliance trends with Jens Reinstaedt



Smartification and electrification aren’t just limited to our smartphones and computers anymore; these trends are steadily making their way into our home appliances and the market is booming. But what technologies are driving home appliance innovation and how do semiconductors play a role?

Listen to our latest podcasts to learn more about home appliances and how Infineon technology is powering the smart home of tomorrow.

### The rise of the smart kitchen



### System solutions for the smart home application era



Users control operation and receive live data from appliances, whether it's the contents of the refrigerator or information on the status of laundry. In turn, manufacturers can remotely analyze the device and suggest predictive maintenance to avoid costly repairs. This webinar will show you how Infineon's smartest power designs can help you achieve the highest efficiencies, smallest form factors and significantly improve your appliances' carbon footprint to make them smart, connected, and secured.

### Whitepaper: The rise of the smart kitchen - Connected living in the heart of the home



The smart kitchen is here to stay, with IoT-enabled appliances such as fridge-freezers, ovens, washing machines and dishwashers becoming part of intelligent home automation networks. This whitepaper charts the rapid rise of the smart kitchen and looks at how advances in electronic solutions have resulted in a new generation of quieter and more energy-efficient appliances driven by intuitive sensor-based operation. This trend has delivered higher levels of functionality, making life more convenient for tech-savvy consumers.

### Measure what matters

## Predictive maintenance and condition monitoring

Highly reliable solutions unleashing the benefits of condition-based monitoring vs predictive maintenance with our XENSIV™ sensor portfolio

Time and again, malfunctions in HVAC and refrigeration systems interrupt operations and increase maintenance costs. Predictive maintenance, which is a data-based maintenance strategy for predicting system malfunctions before they happen, can be an effective way to avoid unplanned downtime. To illustrate the benefits of a sensor-based solution, Infineon has collaborated with Klika Tech and AWS to develop a sensor-based evaluation kit. It enables designers to easily evalauate the benefits of condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. Using a range of sensors, paired with microcontrollers, embedded security, and software, the kit allows operators to monitor various parameters of vital components such as compressors, motors, and fans in real time, so that any potential anomalies can be detected immediately. If an anomaly is detected, the responsible maintenance technicians can be informed in good time – before the system fail – to address the problem, e.g. by replacing a worn part or cleaning an air filter.

Our broad range of XENSIV™ sensors can be deployed to monitor everything from single components of production machinery to an entire smart building ecosystem. Typical use cases include HVAC equipment where XENSIV sensors monitor current, vibration, and airflow in motors, compressors, and fans. These sensors can be combined with FreeRTOS-certified XMC™ microcontrollers and OPTIGA™ Trust security solutions so the data collected can be securely processed and analyzed, thus paving the way for advanced IoT features such as predictive maintenance. Leveraging our differentiated portfolio of memory solutions including SEMPERTM NOR Flash and EXCELONTM F-RAM to reliably and safely store collected data for such analysis, our end-to-end offering enables overall system health and safety to be monitored.

### Buildings that can “hear” and “see” their environment and react accordingly: Science fiction or reality?



Listen to this exciting episode of our #MakeIoTwork podcast. Together with Julia Fichte and Manuel Hollfelder we will talk about the relevance and benefits of smart homes and buildings for tenants, residents, workers and of course the operators.

- Which technologies make buildings smart?
- How can predictive maintenance help to reduce breakdowns and costs, while extending lifetime by 20%?
- Why is it so important to work in conjunction with all the stakeholders in the ecosystem?

### XENSIV Predictive Maintenance Kit

### Smart home & building solutions for a better future

## Tackling today's challenges: Decarbonization, urbanization and health

According to ABI Research 27 million households were equipped with new smart home systems in the year 2021, bringing the worldwide number of households with intelligent devices to a total of 347 million (ABI Research: Smart Home Bi-Annual Update (March 2022); p. 7). According to Statista forecasts, revenue in the smart home market in 2022 will reach 115.7 billion US dollars (Statista: Smart Home – Worldwide (July 2022)).

Smart home and building technologies can help us master the societal challenges of our time. In the long term a new class of IoT-based applications will radically change the business world; new products, systems, services and business models will emerge, opening the door to new growth opportunities.

One of the main appeals of home/building automation technologies lies in their ability to increase energy efficiency and thus contribute to global decarbonization efforts. Especially as the pace of urbanization picks up, smart technology in homes and buildings is a valuable lever in the race to decarbonize.

According to projections by the United Nations, more than seven out of ten people will live in cities by the year 2050. This will push the development of megacities with high-rise buildings, large apartment blocks, and massive office/public buildings. Digitalization will play a defining role in all of these buildings. According to the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, there will be around 154 million active IoT connections in smart buildings by 2025. And that’s just Europe!

All of these IoT connections could potentially push up global energy consumption and contribute to climate change pressures. Unless of course these new and massive buildings are managed intelligently. Smart building technologies can make facility management more energy- and cost-efficient. For example, building management solutions can identify areas in use, ensuring that specific functions like lighting, heating, ventilation, or air conditioning are only activated on demand. Digitalization and automation technologies can also reduce maintenance effort and working hours, while extending the service life of HVAC and lighting equipment.

The COVID-19 pandemic also illustrated how smart technologies can contribute to safe and healthy indoor working environments. Smart building technology can support people counting for more efficient density management, measure air quality for more effective ventilation, and enable workspace sharing schemes for more intelligent use of limited office space. All of which can help control the spread of infection by minimizing exposure to viruses such as COVID-19.

## Discover more solutions for smart home and building applications

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