20 June 2008

Freescale Next-Gen Single-Chip IEEE 02.15.4/ZigBee

Freescale Semiconductor, a member of the ARM Connected Community, has confirmed it is now sampling the next-generation MC13224 device in its single-chip IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee Platform-in-Package (PiP) family.

The MC13224 contains a 32-bit ARM7 microcontroller (MCU), a fully compliant IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver, flash, RAM and ROM, peripherals, balun and RF matching components. This is all integrated into a small-footprint land-grid array (LGA) package.

The latest addition to the MC1322x family is designed for a range of wireless applications, including energy management, commercial building automation, industrial control and monitoring and home entertainment control.

The family supports existing protocols, such as SMAC, IEEE 802.15.4 MAC, ZigBee stack and Synkro network protocol stack, with the ability to support the WirelessHARTTM specification, ISA100 and 6LoWPAN.

The MC13224 device is based on the IEEE 802.15.4 specification and designed to provide a highly integrated, total solution with premier processing capabilities and very low power consumption. Freescale has done this by integrating the essential components of an IEEE 802.15.4 based application within a single package, requiring designers to add only an antenna and crystal, the company explained.

 “The MC13224 device is a very powerful solution for ZigBee and ZigBee PRO applications,” said Heino Kähler, development manager for Wireless Modules at Panasonic Electronic Devices Europe GmbH. “We have selected it for our next generation module family PAN456x, a flexible, turnkey module that accelerates the development of ZigBee-compliant applications. PAN456x engineering samples with the MC13224 device will be available in August this year.”

“We’ve seen high demand for our IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee Platform-in-Package family as wireless applications such as home entertainment control, smart energy, industrial and process control and monitoring continue their rapid growth,” said Brett Black, manager of Freescale’s Wireless Connectivity Operation. “Our customers need a platform solution that helps them get to market quickly so they can keep pace with this growth and be ready to develop the applications that could be next. With the designer’s needs in mind, we developed the MC13224 as a solution that provides high-performance functionality and industry-leading integration at a cost-effective price point.”

The MC13224 has best-in-class operating currents and RF performance. Typical transmit currents of 28 mA and receive currents of 21 mA can even be lower with MCU bus stealing enabled. It boasts a receive sensitivity of up to -100 dBm and maximum output power of + 5 dBm. Onboard power supply regulation is provided for source voltages from 1.8 Vdc to 3.6 Vdc, and can operate over an extended temperature range up to +105C.

The MC1322x family, is engineered to double the expected battery life for current IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee protocol solutions. It does this by providing numerous low current modes to maximize battery life with sleep or restricted performance operation and also contains an on-board buck converter that takes advantage of the operating characteristics of Lithium-ion or NiCad batteries, Freescale explained.

MC1322x development kits are orderable now. Freescale expects production quantities to be available in September this year.