Freescale unveils smart radio for wirelessly connected metering apps

 

Freescale Semiconductor announced that it is expanding
its broad portfolio of wireless connectivity solutions with the new
ultra-low-power, sub-1 gigahertz (GHz) MC12311 smart radio.

 

The feature-rich, cost-effective MC12311 includes
software and development tool support, making it a ready-to-go wireless
networking solution ideal for smart metering, medical, building and home
automation applications.

 

The Freescale
wireless portfolio includes off-the-shelf and application-specific standard
products for sub-1 GHz, 802.15.4 and ZigBee connectivity.

 

With the introduction of the new MC12311 radio, Freescale
is expanding its wireless portfolio beyond its successful 2.4 GHz devices to
include an integrated sub-1 GHz solution.

 

Our new MC12311 smart radio offers consistent and robust
RF performance as well as feature-rich flexibility to help simplify and speed
our customers’ path to market,” said Bruno Baylac, director of Freescale’s
Metering, Medical and Connectivity Solutions business.

 

The MC12311 platform combines a sub-1 GHz RF transceiver
featuring high link budget and strong blocking immunity and a low-power,
high-speed 8-bit HCS08 microcontroller (MCU) in a single land grid array (LGA)
package, along with outstanding support in the form of multiple protocol
stacks, development tools and reference designs to decrease design effort and
time to market.

 

The MC12311 helps designers quickly connect to the smart
grid by making it easier to add wireless connectivity to many types of
equipment. The device provides improved propagation and increased range for
home area network (HAN) RF communication to perform the wireless last mile
connection for utility meter reading.

 

It can connect smart meters to remote displays that show
consumption data and thermostats that help control energy use.

 

For medical applications, the MC12311 can replace cables
to eliminate problems associated with wired connectivity, including cable or
connector damage, as well as the potential spread of infection.

 

Freescale’s MC12311 platform solution offers an
integrated, sub-1 GHz RF transceiver that supports 290-340 MHz, 424-510 MHz and
862-1020 MHz frequencies while complying with global and local regulations.

 

The MC12311 also includes the HCS08QE 8-bit MCU with up
to 50 MHz bus clock, embedded 32 Kb flash memory and 2 Kb of RAM to support
wireless communication protocol and application software in a single chip.

 

The MCU offers multiple 16-bit timers, up to 33 GPIO,
13-bit port keyboard interrupt, 10-channel 12-bit ADC, SCI, I2C and
dual analog comparators.

 

Recently, Freescale Semiconductor introduced an
RF power LDMOS transistor that combines the industry’s highest output power and
efficiency with the greatest ruggedness of any competitive device in its class
designed for UHF broadcast television applications.

 

The latest addition to Freescale’s family of RF power
LDMOS transistors, the MRFE6VP8600H, delivers 39 percent greater output power
than its predecessor and is designed to deliver maximum performance for many
key digital transmission standards including ATSC, DVB-T and ISDB-T.

 

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]