CSA, the leading global organization in the field of Internet of Things standards

History and evolution process of CSA

In 2002, nearly 20 years ago, a group called the Zigbee Alliance was formed in the United States with the aim of developing a set of standards for IoT devices or wireless home automation devices that use the Zigbee communication protocol. The main mission of this group was to help simplify, harmonize and create global open-source standards for the Internet of Things (IoT). As the group has added other specialties such as smart energy, green energy, and home entertainment and gaming systems, and these specialties need to expand beyond the Zigbee protocol and work with other wireless standards, it has recently renamed itself as a CSA.  “The name change comes at a time when we have a lot of new innovations for the organization,” said Tobin Richardson, president and CEO of the Connectivity Standards Committee (CSA), who was the former chair of the Zigbee Alliance.” Zigbee will continue to be a very important pillar of our standards, but it's just one of several.”

Goals and mission

The Connectivity Standards Committee (CSA) With its leading role on the Internet of Things (IoT) industry, aims to actively contribute to the development, evolution and promotion of global open-source standards that enable all objects to be securely connected and interact with each other and lead the development of the smart home ecosystem.

The main mission of CSA is to transform the way people live, work and play around the world. This committee strives to lead the movement towards a more intuitive and useful world by promoting the expertise of its members, accredited certification programs and providing a complete set of open-source Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

One of the core values of this committee is to “build trust” to create a more responsible, innovative, sustainable and secure platform in the IoT industry. Certification programs, protection of investments, acceleration of development and building trust in the market are among the actions that the Connection Standardization Committee (CSA) takes in this direction.

CSA Global Members

The Connectivity Standards Committee (CSA), which has more than 500 global members including Apple, Google, Amazon, LG and Samsung, has three levels of membership: Adopter, participant and developer. Adopting members are allowed to access the full Zigbee specifications and standards. Participating members have voting rights, and developers play an important role in the development of product standards.

Why CSA?

In order to make the Internet of Things (IoT) more accessible, safer and more usable, the Connectivity Standards Committee (CSA) develops and promotes global and open-source standards. This enables products to securely connect and interact with each other.

Fields of work and products

The Committee on Connectivity Standardization (CSA) is active in the fields of issuing certificates, standards, interoperability, smart home technologies, commercial Internet of Things, wireless networks and mesh networks.

Global standards and open source provide more value to manufacturers and end users. Consumers demand choice, and the industry has realized that private ecosystems reduce choices. They also increase the cost and efficiency impact for manufacturers and developers.

Alignment with standards has several advantages:

• Faster entry into the market
• Support of advanced technologies
• Work with a wider range of devices
• Access to global supply chain and resource providers
• Having more resources and time to devote to product design, differentiation, and innovation
• Development of certification programs, tools and signs to build trust in consumers
• Develop productivity without wasting time creating protocols or developing for multiple ecosystems
• Support and support of the global open-source Internet of Things by a recognized Standard Development Organization

The Committee on Connectivity Standardization (CSA) is leading this effort by creating eight top standards to build the foundation and future of the Internet of Things (IoT). These standards reduce the barriers to entering the market and speed up the time to enter it. Also, they enable value creation and investment for innovation:

Matter technology promises reliable and secure connection. In fact, it is a seal of approval that different devices will seamlessly connect and work together. This simplifies product development strategies for manufacturers and increases compatibility for consumers. In the Matter project, the devices targeted for launch include lighting and electrical products, such as lamps, televisions, plugs and sockets, HVAC controls such as thermostats and air conditioning units, door locks and garage door sensors.

Zigbee is actually the most extensive and complete Internet of Things (IoT) solution; From the mesh network to the universal language that allows smart objects to work seamlessly together by connecting to each other. Zigbee is designed with new and old technologies in mind and their compatibility. It therefore increases choice and flexibility for users and developers, and ensures that products and services will work together through standardization and testing of all layers of the stack.

This innovation is one of the most important features of Zigbee, which enables the direct use of energy harvesting technology with the Zigbee stack. It can be said that Green Power is a global wireless standard for those devices that are expensive to replace batteries and access devices. Green Power devices combine energy harvesting capabilities with a reliable, low-power grid to create battery-free solutions for the commercial and residential markets.

Smart Energy is a world-leading innovation for those products that have the ability to interact and monitor, inform and automate the delivery and use of energy and water. Smart Energy supports the diverse needs of a global ecosystem of utilities, manufacturing and regulators. Because they are planning to respond to energy, water and gas needs in the future. This allows consumers to reduce their energy consumption and save money by providing correct and reliable information.

The Dotdot data model is the primary language for all the smart devices we use on a daily basis. Therefore, these tools can interact with each other in any network and work more efficiently. The Dotdot data model is based on the Zigbee Cluster Library (ZCL), which is also used in Zigbee and Matter technologies. This innovation is able to define and standardize all kinds of devices by doing years of testing and acceptance in the market. It is also able to define the commands sent or received by the device. As a result, different smart devices can understand and speak the same language at the application layers, regardless of the network transport infrastructure.

Access Control 

Today, smart access control solutions for homes and buildings have become dedicated solutions. Card or token-based access control for use in commercial buildings can be a little difficult; Because it lacks consistent user experience and cross-platform interoperability. Access Control defines, develops and delivers a comprehensive direct/point-to-point application layer for door locks, mobile devices as well as smart homes and buildings.

The JupiterMesh innovation is a robust, low-power industrial IoT wireless mesh network with flexible data rates that enables field communications for utility organizations as well as municipalities to deploy smart grids and smart city solutions. JupiterMesh is built on IETF and IEEE open standards and includes advanced technologies such as IPv6, multiband operation, authentication, encryption and key management.

Rf4ce innovation is an easy and cost-effective networking solution for Zigbee remote control as well as Zigbee input devices. This technology is designed to reduce energy consumption for a wide range of products including game consoles, parking garage door openers, keyless entry systems and more. Combined with Zigbee remote control and input device profiles, rf4ce results in remote control without line-of-sight limitations, resulting in two-way communication, longer range, and longer battery life.

Reference

https://csa-iot.org/