Detroit, Mich., SAE Convergence Conference–October 19, 2010–Atmel® Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today introduced the next generation of smart RF devices for the automotive and consumer markets, enabling RF systems with high performance and application simplification. Committed to the automotive market, the Atmel ATA5830 and ATA5780 are the next generation of monolithic RF transceiver and RF receiver devices with worldwide leading RF performance like sensitivity and power consumption. The multiband devices are designed for the ISM frequency bands in the ranges of 310 to 318 MHz, 418 to 477 MHz and 836 to 928MHz, and are the ideal solutions for today’s demanding automotive remote keyless entry (RKE), remote start, passive entry go (PEG), and tire pressure monitoring (TPMS) systems.
The monolithic devices combine a highly advanced RF receiver or transceiver block with a proven Atmel AVR® microcontroller core. This enables the devices to poll multiple application channels to support, for example, the RKE/PEG, Remote Start and TPMS system with a single IC instead of having multiple ICs, which results in a very cost efficient solution.
“Atmel is an automotive expert and has over 25 years of automotive design expertise. The introduction of these new products continues demonstrating Atmel’s commitment to the automotive industry,” said Klaus Herhoffer, Car Access Marketing Manager, Atmel Corporation. “In addition, these new products provide designers the flexibility to optimize their RF solutions for TPMS, RKE, and PEG without system performance sacrifices. These new RF devices further solidify Atmel’s leadership in the automotive RF market.”
The ATA5830 and ATA5780 are pin-compatible devices to ensure maximum reuse of development effort for 1-way and 2-way systems. Based on this pin-compatibility feature, the printed circuit board design can be the same for both the unidirectional and bidirectional car access system, which is a unique selling point in regards to variants, stock of replacement parts and cost savings.
These products are ideal for all car access applications due to their excellent RF performance, high flexibility and modular concept. These benefits, combined with a very high integration level, result in the requirement for less than half of the external components of previous products on the market. “Use of the devices will enable the most cost efficient car access system solution possible,” said Klaus Herhoffer.
The highly sensitive devices (typical -109dBm, 10kBps Manchester data rate, FSK modulation with +/-10kHz frequency deviation, IF bandwidth 165kHz) provide a high image rejection and excellent blocking performance (typical 64dBc at 1MHz, IF bandwidth of 165kHz) for the customer application. The transceiver’s maximum power-down current of 600nA ensures that customers enjoy maximum battery life and battery size is kept to a minimum.
Pricing and Availability
Atmel offers the ATA5830 and ATA5780 in a small 5×5 mm QFN32 package priced at US $2.70 (ATA5830) and US $ 1.50 (ATA5780) in quantities of 50k units. Samples of both ICs are available now.
Footnote
FSK = Frequency Shift Keying
IF = Intermediate Frequency
ISM = Industrial, Scientific, Medical
PEG = Passive Entry Go
QFN = Quad Flat No leads
RKE = Remote Keyless Entry
TPMS = Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems
About Atmel
Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, 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 industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets.
