Freescale Semiconductor is extending wireless capabilities to many of its popular Kinetis MCUs with a new 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver for home automation and industrial control applications.
Freescale’s MCR20AVHM transceiver can be paired with Kinetis MCUs based on ARM Cortex-M0+ and Cortex-M4 technology to implement low-power wireless protocols and applications including Thread, ZigBee® and multiple proprietary solutions. It also supports multiple wireless mesh networks. The MCR20AVHM wireless transceiver features outstanding RF performance, low-power operation, small footprint size and simple integration with Freescale’s Kinetis MCUs, thereby exposing a host of existing end-products to the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) market.
This new transceiver also features a dual PAN functionality which enables communication with multiple networks via a single radio, as well as antenna diversity for robust RF performance in harsh environments. It allows customers to seamlessly add wireless connectivity to their products, with the flexibility to pair with multiple MCUs to better suit their application needs.
Development Tools and Support
Customers can leverage Freescale’s Freedom development kit for the MCR20AVHM and connect it to the Kinetis KL46 and K64F Freedom boards for a full development system. Enablement support for the MCR20AVHM includes a compliant IEEE 802.15.4-2011 PHY-MAC implementation based on the existing Kinetis Software Development Kit (SDK), which enables portability to other Kinetis devices beyond the initially targeted KL46 and K64F microcontrollers.
Availability
Production availability for the MCR20AVHM transceiver and associated enablement technologies is planned for early June 2015. For more information please visit: Freescale.com/MCR20A.
