Targeted towards European LPWAN and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the devices incorporate radio frequency (RF) termination, a digital baseband and a low-power 8-bit AVR microcontroller on a single chip.
The Atmel ATA8520 transmitter and ATA8520D transceiver, available from Mouser Electronics, reduce the number of external components, offering a high level of integration that combines exceptional RF performance with sophisticated baseband signal processing for robust wireless communication. The firmware stored in the internal memory supports chip operations, including the SIGFOX protocol. The transmission channel uses a closed-loop fractional-N modulator, while a serial peripheral interface (SPI) provides external control and configuration. The single-chip solutions offer extremely low power consumption, requiring only 32.7mA of current with an output power of +14.5dBm and 5NA in off mode. Both ICs provide uplink data rates of 100 bits per second with differential BPSK modulation, with the ATA8520D transceiver offering 600 bits per second with GFSK modulation for the downlink.
Mouser supports ATA8520/D design activities through three evaluation kits. The ATA8520-EK1-E standalone evaluation kit comes with a fully pre-programmed ATA8520D transceiver, an Atmel ATmega328P microcontroller, a temperature sensor, and an external 868MHz antenna. The kit also includes a SIGFOX ID and PAC code for registration with the cloud-based SIGFOX backend. Mouser also offers the ATA8520-EK2-E and ATA8520-EK3-E expansion boards. The ATA8520-EK2-E board is designed for use with an Atmel Xplained Mini development kit or an Arduino Uno R3, while the ATA8520-EK3-E board is designed for use with an Atmel Xplained Pro development kit. Both boards include an ATA8520D transceiver, temperature sensor, and 868 MHz antenna, as well as a SIGFOX ID and PAC code.
Engineers can use the 32-pin ATA8520 QFN transmitter and ATA8520D transceiver to provide IoT and other machine-to-machine connectivity, via an air interface to the proprietary SIGFOX network in industrial and consumer applications such as environmental sensors, smart meters, patient monitoring, home automation, and building security systems.
