Atmel Launches Low-Power RF Transceiver for Cost-Sensitive Consumer Applications

Atmel® Corporation, a leading manufacturer of microcontrollers and touch solutions, has announced a new RF transceiver to support the high-volume consumer market in the 2.4GHz ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) frequency band. The Atmel AT86RF232 transceiver has all the necessary features to support the latest wireless applications in the consumer market segment, including excellent radio frequency (RF) performance, lower power, high link budget and antenna diversity. The new device also supports the ZigBee® RF4CE specification for controlling a variety of wireless consumer products, including remote controls for home entertainment equipment, mice, keyboards and human interface devices such as 3D glasses.

Applications in the high-volume portable consumer product segment include keys, toy remote controls and game consoles, which require very low-power transceivers to extend the overall battery life of these products. The Atmel AT86RF232 transceiver consumes 50% less power than competing products and supports automatic antenna diversity to improve RF performance and link reliability. In addition, the transceiver includes on-board AES encryption for secure wireless end-to-end communications.

"As the high-volume consumer market segment continues to grow, manufacturers are looking for attractively priced transceivers that offer low power, high RF performance and enhanced security to ensure an unmatched user experience," said Magnus Pedersen, director of marketing for Atmel's microcontroller wireless solutions. "The Atmel AT86RF232 transceiver addresses these issues by delivering the lowest power, antenna diversity, higher link budget and robust RF performance for this cost-sensitive market. The new device enables consumers to have a richer wireless experience across all the latest consumer applications."

Atmel's new transceiver has a voltage range of 1.8V - 3.6V, a sensitivity of -100dBm, and an output power of 3dBm, which can extend battery life in a variety of applications. The transceiver has a current consumption of 13.8mA and also features a receiver current consumption of 11.8mA, antenna diversity and AES encryption, all of which play an important role in providing a powerful wireless transceiver for high-volume consumer applications.

The Atmel AT86RF232 transceiver is available with the REB232ED-EK evaluation kit, which includes two AT86RF232 wireless evaluation boards and the Atmel ATXmega256A3 microcontroller. Evaluation software for these evaluation boards can be downloaded free of charge from the Atmel website www.atmel.com/AT86RF232 . These evaluation boards and transceivers are suitable for designers moving to the ZigBee RF4CE and ZigBee Remote Control specifications.

Pricing and Availability

The Atmel AT86RF232 transceiver is available now, with prices starting at $1.60 each in quantities of 10,000. To purchase the REB232ED-EK evaluation kit, which includes two AT86RF232 wireless evaluation boards and an Atmel ATXmega256A3 microcontroller, visit Atmel's website at http://store.atmel.com .

information

For information on the AT86RF232 transceiver, visit: www.atmel.com/AT86RF232