SAN JOSE, California, February 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Atmel's RF transceiver and microcontrollers enable Wireless Personal Area Networks including 6LoWPAN in China, compliant to IEEE 802.15.4 and the respective P802.15.4c Draft Amendment

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today the release of the first IEEE P802.15.4c compliant RF transceiver, the AT86RF212, for the Chinese wireless market. The fully integrated transceiver offers a very flexible combination of frequency bands and data rates. Customers can choose operation for Chinese WPAN band from 779 to 787 MHz, European SRD band from 863 to 870 MHz, and North American ISM band from 902 to 928 MHz. Direct sequence spread spectrum techniques support different modulation and data rates: BPSK with 20 and 40 kbit/s, compliant to IEEE 802.15.4-2006, O-QPSK with 100 and 250 kbit/s, compliant to IEEE 802.15.4-2006, and O-QPSK with 250 kbit/s, compliant to IEEE P802.15.4c (Chinese band). There is also an option to select a set of proprietary high speed modes: O-QPSK with 200, 400, 500, and 1000 kbit/s PSDU data rate. All of the above bands and data rates are available in one chip!

AT86RF212 is an ideal device for designing long range and robust wireless applications. With receiver sensitivity up to -110 dBm and a programmable transmit output power up to +10 dBm, AT86RF212 offers industry's best link budget of 120 dB.

AT86RF212 offers industry's lowest power consumption. Sleep currents are down to 0.2 uA, while active power consumptions are 9 mA in receive and 18 mA in transmit mode (@ 5 dBm output power). Security is supported by on-chip AES hardware acceleration.

The AT86RF212 represents an extremely flexible wireless platform where customers can select regional support for China, Europe, and US all in one device. Data rates from 20 kbit/s up to 1000 kbit/s ensure maximum flexibility on the application side, said Magnus Pedersen, Atmel's Product Marketing Director Wireless Solutions. AT86RF212 is a perfect match for AVR(R) picoPower(TM) microcontrollers when designing wireless solutions with ultra low power consumption and years of battery lifetime in mind. With the release of our new device our Chinese customers can enjoy the benefits of Sub-GHz IEEE 802.15.4 compliant technology in their region, he added.

The MCU wireless technology roadmap also includes firmware support for AVR XMEGATM, AVR32, and ARM(R) family of microcontrollers.

Availability and Pricing

The AT86RF212-ZU is available now for sampling. Pricing starts at US$2.44 in volumes of 10,000 units.

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, and AVR(R), and others are registered trademarks, picoPower(TM), XMEGA(TM) and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:

Detailed information on AT86RF212-ZU including datasheets are available at: www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=4349

For further information on MCU Wireless Solutions, go to www.atmel.com/wireless

Video podcast can be seen on www.avrtv.com

Support

Worldwide support for Atmel's wireless solutions including IEEE 802.15.4 chipset and modules, IEEE 802.15.4 MAC, ZigBee, and 6LoWPAN stacks is provided by the AVR support center at: avr@atmel.com.

Atmel Press Contact: Helen Perlegos, Public Relations, Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: helen.perlegos@atmel.com

Helen Perlegos, Public Relations of Atmel Corporation, +1-408-487-2963, helen.perlegos@atmel.com