ZigBee Transceiver Includes Processor, Software Stack

The SN250 is a one-chip ZigBee wireless networking solution that integrates a 2.4-GHz IEEE-802.15.4-compliant radio transceiver and a 16-bit microprocessor with the EmberZNet software stack. To simplify application development, the STMicroelectronics chip includes comprehensive, hardware-supported, network-level debugging features. The EmberZNet software stack, developed by ST's strategic partner Ember Corp., is field-upgradeable and optimized for long battery life and a low external component count. The on-board transceiver offers a transmission boost mode that increases output power up to 5 dBm to increase communication range. Receiver sensitivity in boost mode is -98 dBm. A flexible antenna interface allows easy antenna connection, with or without an external power amplifier. The power-efficient RISC-core processor includes 128 kbytes of embedded flash and 5 kbytes of SRAM, plus a hardware encryption engine (AES 128) with a true random-number generator. The SN250 comes in a 7- by 7-mm QFN48 package. It's sampling now with volume production scheduled for this month. The device costs $5.00 in lots of 5000. For further information, go to www.st.com/stonline/stappl/press/news/year2006/p2071.htm.