GreenPeak Technologies has announced the first reference design for an RF4CE USB stick. This will enable the integration of RF4CE technology in PC’s and home entertainment applications like set-top boxes, TV’s and media players. The acronym stands for Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics.

The stick design enables an easy upgrade of PC’s, set-top boxes, TVs and other home entertainment applications to accept commands from an RF4CE remote control or RF4CE wireless keyboard. 

GreenPeak's ready-to-go reference design includes both hardware and software tools required for a quick time to market. This includes the software stacks for ZRD (ZigBee Remote Control profile) and ZID (ZigBee Input Device profile). Certification guidelines and tools are provided to ensure an efficient RF4CE and USB certification process.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group said, “There are two big challenges with controlling home entertainment consumer devices. One is that things don't interoperate well and the other is that you generally have to be in the same room as most of the devices you are trying to control.  The brilliance of ZigBee RF4CE is that it aggressively addresses both problems because it can be added to any existing USB capable device and the remote uses the ZigBee network to provide location independent control.” 

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