The MC33696 PLL-tuned UHF transceiver and the MC33596 low-voltage receiver are designed to streamline existing RF solutions and allow designers to add wireless control to their products. The devices, from Freescale Semiconductor, target remote keyless entry, garage-door control, RFID products, alarm monitoring, wireless alarm and security systems, home automation, and automatic meter reading. The company offers a free reference design to help designers evaluate the devices in a broad range of applications.
A context switching feature enables the MC33696 and the MC33596 to be optimized for remote keyless entry, tire-pressure monitoring, or passive-entry receivers in cars. The devices, which run on a voltage ranging from 2.1 to 5.5 V, operate in the 304-, 315-, 426-, 434-, 868-, and 915-MHz ISM bands. Receiver sensitivity is up to −108 dBm. Features include a 380-kHz IF filter bandwidth, a digital and analog received signal strength indicator, automatic wake-up function with a fast wake-up time, an embedded data processor with programmable word recognition, and an image-canceling mixer. The MC33696’s transmitter is programmable in four steps from −19 to +7 dBm and handles a data rate up to 20 kbits/s. It offers software-selectable OOK or FSK modulation.