ZigBee transceivers take MCUs onboard

Freescale Semiconductor has extended its product offerings for wireless monitoring and control applications by delivering a cost-effective system in a package (SiP) ZigBee solution.

Freescale Semiconductor has extended its product offerings for wireless monitoring and control applications by delivering a cost-effective system in a package (SiP) ZigBee solution.

Customers can take advantage of the SiP and integrated transceiver/receiver (Tx/Rx) switch to reduce board size and bill of materials.

These comprehensive solutions support Freescale's simple MAC (SMAC), the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC and the ZigBee protocol stack.

Freescale will be first in the world to demonstrate a ZigBee-compliant SiP solution at Wireless Connectivity World in London, on 24th and 25th May 2005.

The demonstration will showcase a mesh network of ZigBee-enabled home interior lights, security and emergency sensors.

"Freescale's new solutions reflect growing industry support for a standard ZigBee solution that optimises the use of resources and reduces costs", said Jay Sparling, Director of Market Development/Emerging Markets for Invensys.

"Extension of our ZigBee product will give OEMs an integrated solution that is cost effective, flexible to design with, and low power", said Brett Black, Commercial Wireless Operations Manager, Freescale.

"We expect it to drastically accelerate the development of wireless applications in industries such as monitoring, automation and control applications for home, industrial and healthcare environments".

The MC1320X family includes three pin-compatible stand-alone 2.4GHz RF transceivers with an integrated Tx/Rx switch on the silicon which provides a smaller board footprint.

The MC1320X also provides customer flexibility by allowing the use of differential or single-ended antennas and easy integration of external LNAs and PAs for increased performance.

The MC1320X devices are compatible with Freescale's processors such as HCS08, HC12, Coldfire and digital signal controllers.

The MC1321X family is designed to provide a high level of integration by combining the GT family HCS08 MCU and 2.4GHz transceiver into a single 64-pin QFN package.

This reduces the number of external components by 47% compared with previous Freescale product generations.

Three devices expected to be offered in this family - the MC13211, MC13212 and MC13213 - will vary by different memory configurations.

Each planned device contains Freescale's low-voltage, low-power HCS08 core with features such as embedded FLASH, 10bit analogue-to-digital convertor, and low-voltage and keyboard interrupts.

Both the MC1320X and MC1321X families support proprietary point-to-point and simple star networking as well as ZigBee-compliant networking using the Figure 8 Wireless Z-stack.

The devices in the MC1321X family are pin-compatible to allow customers to choose the devices that best fit their applications.

The MC1320X and MC1321X families are scheduled to sample in Q4 of 2005.

Suggested resale pricing will start at $2.35 and $3.64 (in 10,000-unit quantities), respectively.

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