Atmel has become one of the first companies to achieve ZigBee Certified product status using ZigBee Light Link Certification. Atmel’s reference design for ZigBee Light Link has achieved ‘golden unit’ status. The design is based on the ATmega128RFA1 wireless MCU. ZigBee Light Link is a new industry standard for consumer lighting and control products that will give consumers the ability to wirelessly control their LED fixtures, light bulbs, timers, remotes and switches within their homes.
Atmel says its latest RF transceiver for battery-operated 2.4GHz applications, the AT86RF233, offers 60% lower power consumption than its closest competitors, while also improving its RF performance. The device is optimised for ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4, IPv6 over low-power wireless personal area networks (6LoWPAN) and high data rate 2.4GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band applications and is targeting gas and water meters, monitoring and control systems, and energy-harvesting equipment.
RF Micro Devices has released the RFFM6201, a 2.4GHz band single-chip Zigbee front-end module (FEM) featuring an integrated power amplifier, low noise amplifier, and diversity switch. RFMD's 2.4GHz RFFM6201 delivers low current consumption (170mA at rated power) and high-power performance (+23dBm) for Home Area Networking (HAN)/Smart Energy applications. The energy efficient device is pin-for-pin compatible with RFMD's popular RF6555 and offers 5dB higher output power, enabling customers to increase power output and range without requiring changes in product layout.
A new chip that is set to allow the development of low cost motion-enabled remote controls has been launched by GreenPeak Technologies, addressing the growing demand for smarter and intuitive navigation of interactive entertainment services offered by operators. The company says its GP570 single chip SoC enables cost-effective motion-enabled remote controls, which will allow mass market adoption of the new generation remote controls to become a reality.
Linear Technology has acquired low-power wireless sensor network company Dust Networks. Dust Networks’ low power wireless sensor network technology extends Linear’s product portfolio into key growth areas in industrial process control, data acquisition and energy harvesting. Dust Networks’ ultralow power wireless systems complements Linear’s analogue and digital sensor interface ICs, and energy harvesting power management products in applications where measurement of physical parameters has traditionally been impractical or impossible.
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.
European test house TRaC has announced that within days of the release of the latest version of the ZigBee wireless data standard for Smart Energy products, it has already concluded a comprehensive product test programme for a leading European manufacturer. TRaC says it is currently the only test house in Europe ready and able to carry out this test programme – and one of only a select few sites world-wide.
TI has achieved ZigBee Certified status for its ZigBee Smart Energy™ 1.1 standard implementation, recently introduced by the ZigBee Alliance. Z-Stack 2.5.0 is now available with support for ZigBee Smart Energy 1.1, geared towards home area networks (HAN). TI's ZigBee Smart Energy 1.1 profile gives developers the confidence and means necessary to interoperate with various implementations. TI’s Z-Stack 2.5.0 with ZigBee Smart Energy 1.1 is available royalty-free to all using TI’s ZigBee-compliant hardware platforms.
Aeroflex has launched the AX-Series, a completely new product line for characterisation and product testing of consumer RF and mixed signal semiconductors, at Semicon West last week. The AX-Series is designed for consumer IDMs and fabless semiconductor manufacturers who need less expensive test systems to perform critical characterisation and production testing.
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.
