'Green' PoE/PoE+ quad PSE controller
1 min read
Mixed signal IC specialist, Silicon Laboratories has introduced the Si345x family, which it claims is the industry's most integrated, energy efficient quad PoE power sourcing equipment (PSE) controllers.
Able to support four independent PoE (IEEE 802.3af) and PoE+ (IEEE 802.3at) PSE ports, the Si345x controllers offer real time power measurement capabilities, energy efficient powered device detection and disconnect algorithms, and the low on resistance power field effect transistors and sense resistors.
According to Silicon Labs, these features enable smaller, highly energy efficient and lower cost PoE/PoE+ Ethernet switches and midspans. They are designed to power multi radio wireless access points, industrial automation systems, VoIP phones and building security and surveillance systems.
The recently ratified IEEE 802.3at PoE+ standard supports up to 30W per port, enabling PoE to be deployed across power hungry applications. The Si345x controllers incorporate high precision current and voltage monitoring capability to measure the power consumed by each port in real time, enabling systems to maintain tighter control of power allocation.
This approach enables smaller power supplies and lower supply overhead and gives system administrators visibility into how much power is allocated to and consumed by each port in their network. IEEE's link layer discovery protocol power management is fully supported by the Si3452 and its Power Manager Software Development kit, enabling dynamic power allocation.
