Wireless MCUs suit Zigbee, IPv6/6LoWPAN apps

Atmel Corp. debuts a new family of AVR wireless microcontroller devices designed for wireless applications such as Zigbee and IPv6/6LoWPAN.

The ATmega128RFA1 is IEEE 802.15.4 compliant and combines Atmel's picoPower AVR MCU and a 2.4GHz RF transceiver. Atmel's picoPower technology offers ultralow-power consumption to enable longer battery life for wireless Zigbee applications such as smart energy, building automation, telecom and healthcare. 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 2.4GHz transceiver with an AVR MCU on a single chip. The single-chip design enables designers to save board space and to bring down the overall system BOM so savings can be passed onto their customers. The devices also 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 a low current consumption for extended battery life. The MCUs in these devices run at a very low voltage operation without compromising performance. Finally, the wake-on-radio feature enables autonomous RF transmission and reception, further reducing power consumption keeping TRX RF active while the MCU is still in sleep mode.

"The introduction of Atmel's new wireless MCU family further demonstrates its commitment to the Zigbee market," said Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst, wireless communications, iSuppli Corp.. "As local governments, such as the state of California, pass Smart Grid legislation, local communities will begin to launch smart meters and other 'energy friendly' devices into their infrastructure. Many of these applications will require chips such as Atmel's new ATmega128RFA1. iSuppli forecasts that the Zigbee semiconductor market will grow to $636 million in 2013."

"As the Zigbee and smart metering markets continue to grow, our customers will demand lower-power devices, lower BOM and higher performance, all combined in an integrated single chip solution," said Magnus Pedersen, product marketing director of MCU wireless solutions at Atmel Corp. "Atmel's ATmega128RFA1 solution addresses all these requirements for the low-power, cost-sensitive Zigbee market. By combining our proprietary AVR technology, wireless know-how and integration expertise, we can now address all our customer needs in this market."

The Atmel Atmega128RFA1 is available now with a suggested price of $4.78 for 10K quantities.

For application notes on microcontrollers click here.