25 January 2010

Atmel ARM Based MCU Selected by Xirgo Asset Tracking

Atmel Corporation has confirmed that Xirgo Technologies, LLC has selected its ARM Cortex-M3 based product family for  its next-generation enhanced-battery-life asset tracking platform.

Xirgo Technologies' existing machine-to-machine communications devices are used by companies in automotive insurance, fleet tracking, vehicle financing, and dealer lot inventory verticals. Xirgo is targeting its next-generation platform, designed to address the long battery life requirements of portable tracking solutions, for the emerging cargo and package tracking verticals.

"The Atmel Cortex-M3 family's broad on-chip peripheral support and hardware and software compatibility with older Atmel ARM7TDMI-based microcontrollers provides an easy migration path for next-generation devices that have more demanding power optimization and processing power requirements," said Kris Kelkar, Chief Executive Officer at Xirgo.

Atmel’s SAM3S, a Cortex-M3 Flash MCU series that integrates features to simplify PCB design and reduce power consumption down to 2.3 mW at 1 MHz operation. Inspired by the the ARM7TDMI-based SAM7S series, Atmel's SAM3S-series enable an easy migration path for SAM7S customers to a 50 percent more powerful, lower power and feature-rich Flash MCU, while preserving hardware and software investments, the company explained.  At maximum operating frequency of 64 MHz, the device consumes only 1.45 mW / MHz.