SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Atmel® Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) , a leader in touch- and microcontroller-based solutions, today announced it is collaborating with H&D Wireless to deliver an IEEE802.11b+g Wi-Fi solution for Atmel’s 32-bit AVR® microcontrollers. In this collaboration, H&D Wireless will provide the SPB104 Wi-Fi extension board which is easily connected to the AVR32 UC3 evaluation kits through the SD card socket. This collaboration results in the industry’s most power efficient Wi-Fi solution, with an overall power consumption five times lower than any other similar solution on the market.

“Many customers are demanding embedded Wi-Fi solutions in their 32-bit MCU applications,” said Haakon Skar, product marketing director for AVR32 at Atmel Corporation. “To address these needs, Atmel has partnered with H&D Wireless to enable Wi-Fi capability in Atmel’s 32-bit AVR MCUs. To enable Wi-Fi capabilities of the AVR32 UC3 microcontroller, a customer only needs an ATEXTWIFI evaluation board, an AVR32 EVK1104 or EVK1105 evaluation kit, and to download a free AVR32 Software Framework 1.5 version which includes all Wi-Fi drivers and the full TCP/IP stacks. With picoPower® technology, AVR32 is the world’s most energy efficient microcontroller on the market, using less energy in all active and standby modes than other competing products.”

Atmel’s picoPower technology meets the toughest requirements in modern microcontrollers. By combining ten years of low-power research and development into picoPower technology for AVR microcontrollers, AVR32 MCUs can achieve the industry’s lowest power consumption with 0.48 mW /MHz in active mode, 1.5 uA with RTC running and below 100 nA in shutdown mode.

“As a wireless solutions leader, we are thrilled to provide a Wi-Fi solution to a leading microcontroller provider,” said Par Bergsten, CEO of H&D Wireless. “We have developed a best-in-class Wi-Fi solution with a focus on low power consumption and a small form factor. The solution we are announcing today will enable a faster time-to-market for Atmel’s customers.”

H&D Wireless’ modules offer Wi-Fi capability for the 802.11b+g spectrums with a throughput of 1 to 54 Mbps. The device offers a 150 uW sleep power consumption, 2.4 years of battery life, 220 mW RX power and an interface compatible to SDIO and SPI. In addition, the RF power output is 7-8 dB higher than the average on the market at +17.5 dBm.

Information, Availability and Pricing

For more information about Atmel’s Wi-Fi solution, please click the following link:

http://www.atmel.com/wifi.

To ensure Atmel’s distributors can provide the SPB104 Wi-Fi starter kit, Atmel will provide the kits through its sales channel. From Atmel, the order code will be ATEXTWIFI with a suggested retail price of USD $199 for the evaluation board. Atmel’s ATEXTWIFI evaluation kit is also available now with a suggested retail price of $199 USD. The AVR32 UC3 evaluation board is sold separate.

To download a free version of Atmel’s AVR32 Software Framework, please click the following link:http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=4192.

To download a high-resolution photo of the ATEXTWIFI, click the following link:http://www.atmel.com/pressroom/photos/atextwifi.jpg.

About H&D Wireless AB

H&D Wireless AB enable wireless sensor and multimedia data access to the Internet in an environmental friendly and cost effective way. H&D Wireless solutions are used in a wide range of applications ranging from smart energy meters for CleanTech to streaming data for Digital Media. The technology is a world class Wi-Fi system solution that offers Ultra low power, small size and low cost. Supported on leading Micro-controller platforms it allows for quick design turnaround. “What do you want to connect?” www.hd-wireless.se

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of capacitive touch solutions, 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.

• Channel Summation Across Multiple Boards
• Programmable Phase and Gain Adjustments
• Built-In Power Monitors and Power Threshold Detectors
• Multi-Channel Turnkey Subsystem for PCs or Blade Servers

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ–December 15, 2009–Pentek is introducing two beamformer PCIe modules to its expansive product line. Each is a high-speed software radio board for processing baseband RF or IF signals and incorporates unique and powerful beamforming functions. Created to accelerate system level design and lower system cost, the boards bring high-performance built-in features and connectivity to PC platforms.

The Pentek Models 7753 and 7853 differ in the number of channels and PCIe lanes; eight channels and x16 wide PCIe interface in the former, four channels and x8 wide PCIe interface in the latter. Each module houses up to four or eight 200 MHz, 16-bit A/Ds, each equipped with its own wideband digital down converter (DDC). 

“Because of the many built-in beamforming features, this is the first time we’ve chosen to include a specific application in the product name,” said Rodger Hosking, vice president of Pentek. “Key features include programmable gain and phase for each channel, on-board power meters, multi-channel summation, and gigabit serial connectors for daisy chaining the summation across boards. These boards deliver a powerful, highly-scalable solution targeted for a wide range of beamforming applications in communications and radar.” 

“While each of our customer’s requirements is different, much of the technology to solve these requirements is similar,” said Bob Sgandurra, product manager, Pentek. He added,

”These boards represent a unique balance of built-in, high-level functions common to all beamforming systems, while still maintaining an open architecture for our customers to address the specifics of their application. This approach saves development time and still provides the flexibility system engineers need.” 

Daisy Chaining Multiple Boards

By daisy chaining two or more boards through a pair of high-speed connectors mounted on the edge of each module, the beamforming chain can extend beyond the four or eight channels on each board. Xilinx’s Aurora protocol provides an efficient x4 point-to-point data path between boards at 1.25 GB/sec. This connectivity supports large systems with numerous antennas. 

In addition to the high speed x4 daisy chain, intermediate or final summation results are also available through the PCIe interface of each board for monitoring, recording or further analysis. 

Beamforming and Summation

For antennas in an array, signals from a single source arrive at slightly different times, based on the distance between the source and each antenna. Beamforming involves compensating the gain and phase of each antenna signal before summation to line up the arrival phase for a particular angle of arrival from the source.  

In other words, the gain and the phase of each channel can be adjusted so the antenna array is effectively ‘steered’ electronically. This provides a highly-agile directional sensitivity for the overall antenna array, and greatly enhances signal strength and signal/noise ratio for sources along the specified direction. 

All of these essential beamforming functions are resident as factory-installed IP algorithms in the FPGAs of the 7753 and 7853. 

Threshold Detectors and Power Meters

These boards include power meters for each of the DDC channels that calculate the signal strength for each antenna. These measured values are extremely useful in calibrating the gain matching from channel to channel to optimize the beamforming result.  

In addition, power threshold detectors for each channel can be set to generate an interrupt to the host processor if the energy level exceeds or falls below a programmed level. This dramatically offloads the processor for the signal monitoring and scanning requirements that are often part of beamforming systems. 

Demo Available

To view the product features above, an easy-to-follow 10-minute beamforming subsystem presentation is available to download at: http://www.pentek.com/go/beamforming 

Price and Delivery

Software support packages are available for Linux, Windows and VxWorks operating systems. Larger FPGAs are available enabling customers to do their own programming with GateFlow. Starting price for the 7753 and the 7853 begins at $15,795 and $14,195 ($USD), respectively. Delivery is 8 to 10 weeks ARO.  

About Pentek

Pentek develops, manufactures and markets innovative DSP systems to original equipment manufacturers, distributors and value-added resellers. Pentek offers powerful VME, VXS, PMC, XMC, cPCI, PCI, PCIe boards for data acquisition, software radio and digital signal processing featuring Texas Instruments C6000 DSPs, Freescale G4 PowerPCs and Xilinx FPGAs. Pentek’s I/O includes A/Ds, D/As, FPGAs, digital up/downconverters and more. Pentek equips all products with high-performance I/O including Gigabit serial interfaces and offers strong DSP software support.