SoC solution cuts time-to-market of wireless networking products

Chipcon AS, a supplier of low system cost, low power RF chipsets and networking software, released a true SoC IEEE 802.15.4 low power wireless sensor networking solution that also targets ZigBee solutions.

Based on the CC2430 SoC, which was released last September, the new CC2431 SoC solution includes a licensed location detection hardware core from Motorola, 128KB of flash memory, and a high performance 8051 microcontroller core. The part comes in a 7-by-7mm package, is fully pin to pin compatible with the existing CC2430 SoC and is available with the Z-Stack ZigBee protocol software from Figure 8 Wireless, a Chipcon company.

According to Chipcon, the CC2431 will enable OEMs to seamlessly develop compact, high performance and reliable wireless networking products using the chip as the only active device in the system; thus reducing time-to-market, and keeping production and test costs to a minimum.

Motorola's hardware core
Motorola's radiolocation hardware core enables a CC2431-based network node to determine its own physical position in a IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee network deployment. The core applies a proprietary algorithm based on maximum likelihood estimation, using information from infrastructure nodes to perform a location estimation. Since the algorithm is executed in a hardware core, the process of location estimation completes in less than 1/10,000 second, consumes very little power and keeps the CC2431's integrated microcontroller free to perform other operations, said the press release.

The CC2431 will be priced at $4.55, with full development kits (including training and support) and samples to be made available in Q1 2006. The CC2431 will be demonstrated at the ZigBee Alliance Open House at the Langham Palace Hotel, Hong Kong, on Dec. 8, 2005.