MCUs feature integrated wireless interface

Atmel
Corporation has released a new family of AVR wireless microcontroller
(MCU) devices targeting wireless applications such as ZigBee and
IPv6/6LoWPAN. The ATmega128RFA1 is IEEE 802.15.4 compliant and combines
Atmel"s picoPower AVR MCU with a 2.4 GHz RF transceiver.

 

Atmel"s
picoPower technology offers ultra-low power consumption to enable
longer battery life for wireless ZigBee applications, including smart
energy, building automation, telecom and health care. The ATmega128RFA1
is supported by Atmel"s QTouch Library, making it easy to combine
capacitive touch functionality with RF in a single chip.

 

The
ATmega128RFA1 combines Atmel"s IEEE802.15.4 2.4-GHz transceiver with an
AVR MCU on a single chip. The single-chip design enables designers to
save board space and reduce the overall system component count so
savings can be passed on to customers. In addition, these devices
include a low-power, high performance AVR MCU with embedded flash
memory.

 

Other key features include a long-range, high
performance RF transceiver to ensure a reliable wireless link and low
current consumption for extended battery life. The MCUs in these
devices can operate at low supply voltages without compromising
performance. Finally, a wake-on-radio function enables autonomous RF
transmission and reception, further reducing power consumption by
keeping Trx RF active while the microcontroller remains in sleep mode.