25 November 2008

CEL Ships ARM7 ZigBee Radio Module & Development Kit

California Eastern Laboratories (CEL) is shipping FreeStar Pro, a 32-bit ARM7 ZigBee radio module along with an enabling development kit.

Based on the Freescale MC13224V 802.15.4 Platform-in-Package (PiP), the FreeStar Pro combines extensive processing capability with expansive on-chip memory and extremely low power consumption. The FreeStar Pro module enables designers to eliminate the external host processors typically required by 8 and 16-bit solutions, which helps simplify board designs, reduce component count, and lower overall system costs, the company explained.

The kit includes three individual evaluation boards with mounted FreeStar Pro modules, plus all the peripheral accessories necessary to simulate a point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, or mesh network. Also included is Freescale’s BeeKit wireless connectivity software. BeeKit provides developers an easy-to-use graphical user interface, plus a comprehensive code base of networking libraries, application samples, and templates. These code libraries enable development of applications in ZigBee and ZigBee PRO, as well as Simple MAC (SMAC) and IEEE 802.15.4.