RF&WirelessBlog

RF transceiver offers very low power for ISM, IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee

Atmel has launched a new RF transceiver for consumer devices in the 2.4GHz ISM band, which according to the company offers 50% lower power than the competition. The new Atmel transceiver offers a voltage range of 1.8V to 3.6V, receiver current consumption of 11.8mA and transceiver current consumption of 13.8mA. It also offers -100dBm in sensitivity and an output power of 3dBm for extended battery life in various applications.

LPRS wireless modules used to protect museum art and collections from environmental damage

Meaco has designed LPRS’s wireless modules into its environmental monitoring systems for protecting antiquities in museums, art galleries, castles, libraries and stately homes around the UK. These devices monitor temperature and humidity as well as lux and UV and are used in a variety of applications. LPRS is supplying Meaco with the Circuit Design CDP-TX05M-R transmitter and CDP-RX03BS-R receiver modules for Meaco’s monitoring systems, which are used as far afield as Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and Edinburgh Castle.

Microchip expands MiWi wireless development environment for IEEE 802.15.4, 2.4 GHz and unlicensed sub-GHz networks

Microchip has expanded its MiWi development environment for designing star and mesh wireless networking products. The MiWi  development environment (DE) comprises Microchip’s free, proprietary MiWi P2P, MiWi and MiWi PRO star and mesh networking protocol stacks; the 8-bit Wireless Development Kit (WDK) and 2.4 GHz, 868 MHz and 915 MHz ZENA Wireless Adapters; as well as the multi-purpose Wireless Development Studio (WDS) with cross-platform support for Linux, Mac OS and Windows operating systems.  The MiWi DE simplifies the development of ISM-band wireless networking applications for the home and industrial automation, wireless sensor monitoring and control, and smart energy markets.

Silicon Labs launches single-chip wireless remote control with 27MHz to 960MHz operating frequency range

Silicon Laboratories has introduced a wireless IC designed to reduce the cost and complexity of one-way wireless links used in applications such as remote keyless entry (RKE), garage door openers, building automation and security devices, while still ensuring one-way link integrity.

Energy Micro takes on challenge of RF power reduction

It is an often-repeated mantra that the pressures on RF products are for smaller size, lower cost and reduced power consumption. But while the first two of these seem to broadly move in the required direction over time, following the RF version of Moore's Law, the truth is that although RF transceiver subsystems have become more sophisticated and more highly integrated over the past 5 years, no real improvement in power consumption has been achieved.

Now Energy Micro, founded in 2007 by former Chipcon CEO and co-founder Geir Førre, has pledged to disrupt this trend in 2011 by launching devices that equal present standards of integration while offering energy consumption figures four times lower than those available today. This is a feat that the young company has already achieved with its range of low-energy ARM Cortex-M3 based microcontrollers, and Førre sees no obstacle to repeating this in the RF domain.