Atmel's AVR Microcontrollers Now Integrate RF Transmitter Functionality to Address Industrial Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel(R) Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) today announced the first ATA874x single-chip UHF ASK/FSK RF transmitter family targeting a broad range of proprietary wireless industrial and consumer applications such as metering, alarm systems and home control applications. This new AVR(R) product family offers industry-leading RF performance operating in the license-free ISM frequency bands (868 to 928 MHz, 433 MHz, and 315 MHz).

As a well-known market player in smart metering and home automation with its wireless IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee(R) products, Atmel now takes the additional step to address the requirements in the diversified proprietary wireless market segments.

With a low-power AVR CPU, a highly effective RF transmitter, and a sleep-mode power consumption of only 160 nA, the ATA874x family members are uniquely optimized to address battery-driven applications such as remote controls or garage door openers. The tiny QFN24 packages, measuring only 5 mm x 5 mm, allow the creation of extremely small designs at highly competitive costs. Customers can benefit from a bill of material (BOM) cost savings of up to 30 percent and board-area savings of up to 50 percent, when compared with conventional solutions.

These new ATA874x devices are highly integrated, and incorporate Atmel's well-accepted RF transmitter technology that have sold over 50 million units to date.

The ATA874x devices offer maximum flexibility using the ATtiny44V CPU, allowing in-system flash memory re-programming. By executing powerful instructions in a single-clock cycle, the ATtiny44V achieves throughputs approaching 1 MIPS per MHz that enable system designers to optimize power consumption versus processing speed. The powerful AVR controller simplifies hardware and software designs.

The key features of Atmel's new highly-integrated, microcontroller-based RF solution include proven technologies shipped in various products since 2001. The market-leading 8-bit microcontroller AVR CPU has been incorporated into countless products and Atmel has shipped more than a billion units. Atmel's RF technology has satisfied even the strictest quality and reliability demands of the automotive market. Customers that have worked with AVR or earlier RF products can reuse existing RF transmitter or AVR designs and software, thus reducing both development costs and time-to-market.

The ATA874x single-chip narrow band transmitter family complements the well-established Atmel ISM band receivers, such as ATA8201 and ATA8202 or ATA8203/4/5, providing a total end-to-end solution to its customers.

Availability and Pricing

Samples of the ATA874x family are now available in small-outline QFN24 packages. Pricing starts at USD $1 for quantities of 200k. To simplify and accelerate product design, a complete design kit for uni-directional RF applications, as well as Atmel's well-known AVR Studio(R) for new software development (STK512-EKx-IND), are available for customer lab measurements and performance evaluations.

Additional Information:

More information on Atmel's AVR microcontroller family ATA874x with RF transmitter functionality is available at:

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=4634 (ATA8741)

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=4635 (ATA8742)

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=4636 (ATA8743)

    Footnote
    ASK = Amplitude Shift Keying
    BOM = Bill of Materials
    FSK = Frequency Shift Keying
    ISP = In-System Programming
    MIPS = Million Instructions Per Second
    QFN = Quad Flat No leads
    UHF = Ultra High Frequency
    SPI = Serial Peripheral Interface

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

(C) 2009 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), Atmel logo and combinations thereof, AVR(R), AVR Studio(R), and others are registered trademarks or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

    Press Contacts:
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    Phone: +49 7131 67-2081, Email: susanne.van-clewe@atmel.com
    Clive Over, Director of Public Relations
    Phone: +1 408 436-4305, Email: clive.over@atmel.com

SOURCE Atmel Corporation

Web site: http://www.atmel.com/