Industry Spotlight

Silicon Labs collides with Amazon to create Amazon Sidewalk

Monday, September 21, 2020

Silicon Labs teamed up with Amazon to create Amazon Sidewalk, a shared network created by neighbors who share a small portion of Wi-Fi bandwidth to help their devices work better at home and beyond the front door.

Silicon Labs announces a collaboration with Amazon to support Amazon Sidewalk, a shared network created by neighbors who share a small portion of Wi-Fi bandwidth to help their devices work better at home and beyond the front door.

Silicon Labs’ wireless solutions for Amazon Sidewalk will enable developers to create IoT products with encrypted cloud communication, no matter which protocol is used. Silicon Labs’ EFR Wireless Gecko Series products support Sidewalk's sub-GHz and Bluetooth® Low Energy protocols.

“Silicon Labs and Amazon are teaming up to help OEMs create amazing new user experiences with secure, private, easy to set up Sidewalk IoT devices,” said Jake Alamat, vice president and general manager of IoT home and consumer products at Silicon Labs.

Operated by Amazon at no charge to users, Sidewalk helps simplify new device setup, extends the working range of low-bandwidth devices, and helps them stay online and up-to-date even if they are outside their home’s Wi-Fi range. With Amazon Sidewalk, users can experience improved coverage of smart devices in and around the home and throughout the neighborhood, enable limited offline connectivity for uses such as motion alerts from security cameras, receive customer support for troubleshooting even when Wi-Fi is down, and easily set-up new devices.

In the future, Sidewalk will power new device experiences such as tools that can self-diagnose problems and order replacement parts, deliver improved range with reduced energy consumption for smart locks, and offer the ability to locate pets or valuables throughout your neighborhood.

Equipped with multiple layers of security and privacy, Amazon Sidewalk will support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) and Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) in the 900 MHz band.

On September 10, Jamie Siminoff, founder & chief inventor of Ring, discussed Sidewalk during his feature keynote at Silicon Labs’ Works With 2020 virtual smart home developer conference. A replay of Siminoff’s keynote is available here, and can be viewed by registering for free on the Works With conference website here.