[NEW HARDWARE] Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 (or MGM240P) based Zigbee Coordinator USB adapter?

[Hedda]

I would like to suggest that you look into making and selling a variant of your Zigbee Coordinator USB dongle adapter that would instead be based on the new Silabs EFR32MG24 SoC chip (with highest possible RAM, Flash, and dBM power application possible):

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee/efr32mg24-series-2-socs

Note that they also have various MGM240P (MGM240 radio modules based on EFR32MG24 with + 20 dBm power ampified transmitter):

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee/efr32mg24-series-2-modules

For development they have xG24-RB4188A (EFR32xG24 Pro Kit +20 dBm) and xG24-RB4187C (EFR32xG24 20 dBm Radio Board):

https://www.silabs.com/development-tools/wireless/xg24-rb4188a-efr32xg24-wireless-gecko-radio-board?tab=overview

https://www.silabs.com/development-tools/wireless/xg24-rb4187c-efr32xg24-wireless-gecko-radio-board?tab=overview

Also noticed that RF-Star already has a finished radio module ("RF-BM-MG24B2") that can be used for prototyping:

https://www.rfstariot.com/rf-bm-mg24b2-matter-zigbee-openthread-ble-multiprotocol-efr32mg24-module_p106.html

https://www.rfstariot.com/rf-bm-mg24b1-ble5-3-matter-zigbee-thread-efr32mg24-module_p105.html

As well as the xG24-DK2601B (development kit for prototyping wireless end devices with only 10 dBm radio):

https://www.silabs.com/development-tools/wireless/efr32xg24-dev-kit?tab=overview

FYI, SparkFun Electronics released a similar MGM240P based "SparkFun Thing Plus Matter" (DEV-20270) development board:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/20270

Silicon Labs (sometimes also referred to as "Silabs") has released its new EFR32MG24 radio MCU SoC which is a direct upgrade replacement for its EFR32MG21 with SoC variants with larger flash storage, much more RAM and a faster CPU so those EFR32MG24 SoCs with more resources (especially RAM) than the EFR32MG21 used on most other Silicon Labs based USB dongles should be capable of handling many more Zigbee devices, and it in additional also on paper it offers improved reception and a little less noise sensitivity.

• EFR32MG24 come with much higher RAM memory, with 128 or 256 KB variants, (compared to 64 or 96 KB variants of EFR32MG21).
• EFR32MG24 flash storage has been increased to 1536 KB or 1024 KB, (compared 512, 768, or 1024 KB in the EFR32MG21).
• Interestingly their similar ARM Cortex-M33 core runs at 78 MHz compared the 80 MHz core in the EFR32MG21
• New feature is an integrated AI/ML accelerator NPU for edge interference which can potentially lower devices power consumption, though that AI/ML feature will likely not be useful when the adapter is used as a Zigbee Coordinator.

Note that there are variants of EFR32MG24 that have less RAM and Flash Storage or less dBm in power amplification, so be sure not use use one of those. You want to instead be sure to use one that has 256 kB RAM of data memory and 1536 kB flash program memory, (i.e. EFR32MG24B020F1536IM48 if do not want AI/ML acceleration). Also note that there are as well a few special variants that in addition offer onboard AI/ML acceleration (check out the EFR32MG24B220F1536IM48 variant in 6x6 QFN48 format) for not a lot of extra cost so might be worth getting that if available to offer a premium product.

Keep in mind the board still needs to have good electromagnetic shielding (EMF shield cover) -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_shielding (and some manufacturers are starting to use multiple-layer PCB with thicker copper in the hope it too will reduce EMF interference sensitivity).

PS: Also recommend you consider always shipping any radio USB adapter with at least a 1-meter USB 2.0 extension cable with good shielding with this USB dongle in the same package as it really makes a night and day difference in noise from EMF interference, (which is why the Home Assistant SkyConnect USB dongles ships with a 0.5 meter long USB extension cable, though it has been proven to work better with an even longer extension cable).

[Hedda]

FYI; Silicon Labs has announced xG26 (EFR32xG26) family which includes multiprotocol MG26 SoC/MCU that they call "future-proof":

https://news.silabs.com/2024-04-09-Silicon-Labs-xG26-Sets-New-Standard-in-Multiprotocol-Wireless-Device-Performance

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/efr32xg26

The claim of "future-proof" is because they feature up to a whopping 3200KB of Flash Storage , 512KB of RAM, and 64 GPIO’s.

Now for multiprotocol the interesting SoC/MCU for Zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth is Silicon Labs EFR32MG26 Series 2 (a.k.a. MG26):

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee/efr32mg26-series-2-socs

Once they are made available I think this new EFR32MG26 SoC/MCU model will be particularly interesting as a Zigbee Coordinator targeting gateway applications that allow for a much higher total Zigbee 3.0 device limitation, while also providing headroom to enable Multi-PAN support Matter over Thread Thread Boarder Router if that feature ever become more stable.

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee

Other than having 5x Flash Storage and RAM + double of GPIOs, the specification looks practically identical to the previous EFR32MG24:

No news on FCC/CE precertified MGM260/MGM260P/MGM260L) modules based on EFR32MG26 to replace MGM240 and MGM240.

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee/efr32mg26-series-2-modules

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee/efr32mg24-series-2-modules

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbee/efr32mg21-series-2-modules

PS: At the same time they also announced EFR32BG26 (Silabs EFR32 BG26) which is basically the same chip locked to Bluetooth only:

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/bluetooth/efr32bg26-series-2-socs