Developers of ZigBee, a specification for building large networks of low-power radio transmitters, expect the first set of consumer products incorporating the technology to hit the market as early as spring 2006.

“The great thing with this technology is it’s slowly going to surround you, whether you know it or not,” said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance, which includes more than 175 members, including large multinationals like Motorola, Philips and Samsung.

Upcoming products, including several unveiled at the alliance’s conference in Chicago, are mostly tailored to home security. But backers of the technology expect it will eventually be deployed much more broadly, for uses like landscaping and home lighting systems.

Heile estimates that a single radio node on a golf course irrigation system equipped with ZigBee could operate for seven years on the power equivalent of a single standard battery.