Chip-Scale Devices Are BasisFor One-Wire Weather Station

Through use of the firm's 1-Wire chip-scale packaging (CSP) technology, a weather station has been designed that communicates with a PC using just one signal. The weather station, available in a special-edition experimenter's kit, digitizes wind direction, wind speed and temperature and sends data directly to the PC for display and charting.The basis for the station is the firm's 1-Wire CSPs. The package, which is no larger than the chip itself, is hermetically sealed to protect the ICs from the elements. Two 0.1-mm solder bumps connect the silicon in flip-chip fashion to pc board traces. Using a communication link called a1-Wire microLAN, the chips transmit/receive data and are powered with one signal, typically using an unshielded twisted pair of up to 300 meters.