Z-Wave.Me mPCIe adaptor — Z-Wave & Zigbee/Thread mPCIe extension board

The Z-Wave.Me Z-Wave and Zigbee mPCIe adapter is a controller board for embedded application. It fits in the mPCIe slot with full- or half-size holder. A controller software compatible to the Silicon Labs Z-Wave Serial API (for example Z-Way) and Zigbee NCP is required to use the functions of the device.

The Z-Wave and Zigbee mPCIe adapter supports Z-Wave and Zigbee / Thread / Bluetooth Low Energy (on your choice, selected by firmware update).

Connectivity

The device implements two virtual serial interfaces used by the Z-Wave and Zigbee / Thread / BLE application respectively. Linux and Mac OSX has a built in device driver for the stick and will create a new device named like /dev/ttyUSB* (Linux) or /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART (OSX). Windows enumerates a new COM port device but might require a CP2105 device driver by Silicon Labs.

Z-Wave and Zigbee antennas are connected using u.fl connectors.

Z-Wave support

This device supports Z-Wave Security S2, Smart Start and Long Range technologies.

Compared to the standard firmware design used by almost all Z-Wave USB Sticks and other Z-Wave Host Interface hardware, the this device firmware offers several extensions and enhancements:

• Embedded Z-Wave Zniffer tool
• Backup and recovery function including network topology
• Optimised transmitting queue handling to speed up transmitting process
• Firmware update from the OS level in the field
• Extended Wakeup Notification to extend battery life time of battery-operated devices in the network
• Advanced statistics about network actual usage
• Allows switching frequencies from software
• Compatible with third-party software like Home Assistant, Z-Wave JS, OpenZWave, Domoticz, OpenHAB, Jeedom (thanks to static library mode)

Zigbee / Thread / 802.15.4 support

Both Zigbee and Thread use the 802.15.4 MAC/PHY layer. Zigbee is available in NCP (network co-processor) and RCP (radio co-processor) variants. Zigbee HA 3.0 protocol is supported. Thread is availble in RCP version only.

• Embedded 802.15.4 sniffer tool
• Optimised configuration for stable operation in large networks
• Firmware update from the OS level in the field
• Compatible with third-party software like Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, OpenHAB

Matter support

Matter support requires the Thread firmware and a host application supporting Matter protocol. The Z-Wave and Zigbee mPCIe adapter with Thread firmware is compatible with the Project CHIP source code.

Bluetooth Low Energy support

BLE RCP firmware is also available upon request. Supported by Linux BlueZ Bluetooth infrustracture.

Z-Way software

The Z-Wave and Zigbee mPCIe adapter can be used together with Z-Way software or any other third party software that uses Z-Wave Serial API and Zigbee NCP Serial API. There are firmwares for static controller (for Z-Way and most of third party software) or bridge (for Z/IP). It supports firmware upgrade feature.

Ordering information

The Z-Wave and Zigbee/Thread mPCIe extension board comes in three different versions depending on the transmitting frequency used:

• ZMEEmPCIe_ZW_ZB: Version for all Z-Wave frequencies around 868 MHz (EU, Russia, India, China) and 2.4 GHz for Zigbee.
• ZMEUmPCIe_ZW_ZB: Version for all Z-Wave frequencies around 908-921 MHz (USA, Australia, Brasil, Japan, Korea) and 2.4 GHz for Zigbee.
• ZME_mPCIe_ZW_ZB: Without antennas included. Connect your own antenna to Z-Wave and Zigbee u.fl connectors.

FCC ID: 2ALIB-ZMEMPCIEZWZB