Plug-and-Play RF Development Module Speeds Low-Power Wireless Designs

Plug-and-Play RF Development Module Speeds Low-Power Wireless Designs

Semtech’s Latest Low Power Transceiver complements Microchip PIC® Microcontrollers.

Designers of low power wireless alarm, security, sensor network and automatic meter reading, monitoring & control products should check out how well Semtech’s  SX1211 wireless transceiver interfaces with Microchip’s PIC microcontrollers. The simplest and most efficient way to do this is with Semtech’s recently released SX1211 Development Module.

Semtech’s SX1211 wireless ISM-band transceiver IC  consumes a mere 3mA in receiver mode and is optimized for asynchronous sensor network designs in the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) frequency bands (868-870 MHz and 902-928 MHz). These applications are typically portable and require frequent wake-ups to ‘sniff’ for signals, so low RX power consumption is vital to maximize battery life.

The SX1211 Development Module is a plug-and-play RF daughter board that contains all of the hardware required to connect to Microchip’s PIC18 Explorer board - used for development with PIC18 high-end 8-bit MCUs - and the Explorer 16 board - used for development with Microchip’s16-bit PIC24 MCUs, 32-bit PIC32 MCUs and dsPIC® Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). To maintain full compatibility with Microchip MCUs the SX1211 Development Module also provides connectors for Microchip’s standard PICtail™ and PICtail Plus daughter board interfaces

The plug-and-play RF daughter board module includes the SX1211 RF transceiver, an antenna, a 28-pin PICtail connector for the PIC18 Explorer board and a 100-pin PICtail Plus connector for the Explorer 16 board.  The module also includes jumpers to help in configuring MCU-to-RF connection options and is further complemented  by Semtech’s Wireless Star Network software (available for download on Semtech’s website), which runs on the PIC MCUs (drivers available).

Many SX1211 designs use Microchip PIC MCUs because they offer great performance and very low power consumption, some with sleep currents as low as 20 nA: “The SX1211 and PIC MCUs are increasingly being used together in designs that need great RF performance and low power consumption,” said Marc Pegulu, Industrial Analog Product Line Manager for Semtech. “We are committed to working with Microchip to deliver tools that help our customers make the most of their development resources.”

For his part Stephen Caldwell, director of Microchip’s RF Products Division said designers developing wireless applications with PIC MCUs and Semtech’s transceivers can now seamlessly integrate both solutions using Microchip’s established tool chain: “This integration of Semtech’s low-power transceivers with our low-power PIC MCUs enables designers to lower development costs and speed time to market while increasing the battery life of their applications.”

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