The MM2-HS-T measures 50.8 by 36 by 9.6 mm and weighs 14 g (Fig. 1). The MM2-HS-P shares a similarly small footprint. Both radios offer RISC-based signal demodulation with a matched filter and a gallium-arsenide (GaAs) FET RF front end incorporating multi-stage surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) filters. The combination delivers unmatched overload immunity and sensitivity.
The MM2-HS-P includes industrialgrade high-speed Ethernet that supports TCP, industrial-grade wireless security, and serial communications. Each unit can be used in a security network as a master, slave, repeater, or master/slave unit, depending on its programming. Free- Wave’s proprietary spread-spectrum technology prevents detection and unauthorized access, and 256-bit AES encryption is available.
The ADF7022 and ADF7023 lowpower transceivers from Analog Devices fit well in smart-grid and other applications operating on the short-range ISM band for remote data measurement. Smart-grid technology not only measures how much power is consumed, it also determines what time and price are best to save energy, reduce costs, and increase reliability for the delivery of electricity from utility companies to consumers. RF transceivers are needed for the secure and robust transmission of this information over short distances, for storing measurement data, and for communicating with utility computers over wireless networks.
Applications for the ADF7022 and ADF7023 include industrial monitoring and control, wireless networks and telemetry systems, security systems, medical devices, and remote controls. Analog Devices’ free, dowloadable ADIsimSRD Design Studio supports both devices.
One particular hot area for RF transceivers involves utilities that are building advanced metering infrastructures, including automatic meter reading, to monitor and control energy usage. Analysts expect more than 150 million smart meters to be installed worldwide. The ADF7022 and ADF7023 target these smart-grid and home/building automation applications.
The ADF7022 is a highly integrated frequency-shift-keying/Gaussian frequency- shift-keying (FSK/GFSK) transceiver designed for operation at the three iohomecontrol channels of 868.25, 868.95, and 869.85 MHz in the license-free ISM band. It fully complies with ETSI-300-200 and has enhanced digital baseband features specifically designed for the io-homecontrol wireless communications protocol.
As a result, the device can assume complex tasks typically performed by a microprocessor, such as media access, packet management/validation, and packet retrieval to and from data buffer memory. This allows the host microprocessor to remain in power-down mode. Also, it significantly lowers power consumption and eases both the computational and memory requirements of the host microprocessor.
The ADF7023 low-IF transceiver operates in the license-free ISM bands at 433, 868, and 915 MHz. It offers a low transmit- and-receive current, as well as data rates in 2FSK/GFSK up to 250 kbits/s. Its power-supply range is 1.8 to 3.6 V, and it consumes less power in both transmit and receive modes, enabling longer battery life.
Other on-chip features include an extremely low-power, 8-bit RISC communications processor; patent-pending, fully integrated image rejection scheme; a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO); a fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL); a 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC); digital received signal-strength indication (RSSI); temperature sensors; an automatic frequency control (AFC) loop; and a battery- voltage monitor.
The CC2530 from Texas Instruments is a true system-on-a-chip solution (SoC) tailored for IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, Zig- Bee RF4CE, and Smart Energy applications. (RF4CE is the forthcoming wireless remote-control standard for consumer electronics equipment.) Its 64-kbyte and up versions support the new RemoTI stack for ZigBee RF4CE, which is the industry’s first ZigBee RF4CE-compliant protocol stack.
Larger memory sizes will allow for on-chip, over-the-air download to support in-system reprogramming. In addition, the CC2530 combines a fully integrated, high-performance RF transceiver with an 8051 MCU, 8 kbytes of RAM, 32/64/128/256 kbytes of flash memory, and other powerful supporting features and peripherals (Fig. 3).
The TI CC430 wireless platform consists of TI radio chips. Also, the company’s MSP430 16-bit embedded controller can implement the IETF standard 6LoWPAN, which is the software that enables 802.15.4 radios to carry IPv6 packets. Thus, low-power wireless devices and networks can access the Internet. Furthermore, the platform can implement Europe’s Wireless MBus technology for the remote reading of gas and electric meters.
See figure 2