austriamicrosystems intros low power FSK transceiver with simplest star network management

UNTERPREMSTAETTEN, AUSTRIA: austriamicrosystems has introduced the AS3900 27 MHz FSK (frequency shift keying) low power transceiver. The AS3900 features built-in star network management protocol, and is the only such transceiver operating in the 27 MHz worldwide ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) band.

Operation in this band avoids the interference found in the popular but cluttered 2.4 GHz band and results in a lower amount of energy being absorbed by the human body (SAR or specific absorption rate). This is a key consideration for transmitters operated close to the human body such as a BAN (body area network) or MBAN (medical body area network).

The AS3900 low power transceiver features austriamicrosystems’ built-in star network management protocol which offers a hardwired, royalty-free easy to use protocol for self-management of all network functions.

The hardwired star network protocol simplifies product design and significantly reduces system power compared to alternative approaches requiring protocols that run full-time on an external or internal microcontroller. The low powered transceiver requires only 2.5 µA in polling mode, and typically 3.8 and 4.9 mA in receive and transmit modes respectively, and include the power required to manage the star network.

Bruce Ulrich, Director of Marketing Consumer and Communications at austriamicrosystems, stated: “With the AS3900 FSK transceiver, austriamicrosystems ushers in a new era of simplicity into the low powered transceiver market space. No longer do systems design engineers need to consult RF and network protocol experts when integrating low powered networked transceivers into their designs, and time to market for their products is greatly reduced.”

The performance and capabilities of the AS3900 make it well suited for a number of applications where low power short-range data exchange is required. Such applications include data transfer among devices close to a human body, such as medical and intelligent sporting goods, industrial automation, body area networks and any short range sensor network.

An integrated wakeup receiver allows an ultra-low current consumption of only 2.5 µA while in polling mode. The AS3900 operates with a small PCB antenna that resonates at 27 MHz. Properties of 27MHz transmissions enable better penetration of fluids than 2.4GHz, and prevent reflections from giving errant range estimations using RSSI (received signal strength indication).

The AS3900 transmits data at up to 212 Kbit/s and integrates a number of key features, resulting in a low bill of materials. Integrated functions include the power amplifier, clock, 24 bits of one-time programmable memory, battery level detection, power on reset (POR) and system timers. Digital RSSI, onboard CRC (cyclic redundancy check) and a bi-directional SDI bus (serial digital interface) allows for easy system integration.

The AS3900 low power transceiver is available in a 5x5 mm 28-pin QFN package, operates from a 2.2 Volt power supply, and has an ambient operating temperature range of -40 to +85°C.

Samples are available now at austriamicrosystems’ webshop ICdirect. Pricing in 1,000-piece quantities is $2.25.