News
Microsemi and Virtual Extension Team to Enable Lowest Power Sub-GHz Mesh Network for Coin Cell Powered and Energy Harvest Applications
April 2013 by Marc Jacob
Microsemi Corporation announced a two-chip wireless mesh network chipset and reference design that brings a new level of performance and signal robustness to applications requiring networks with high performance and ultra-low power consumption. The reference design features Microsemi’s ZL70250 chip scale package (CSP) radio frequency (RF) transceiver for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band applications and Virtual Extension’s VE209M wireless mesh controller. The combination provides system engineers with an ultra-low power, high-performance solution to build wireless sensing networks with no single point-of-failure and extremely robust operation. This chipset is designed to be the ultimate choice for energy-harvesting powered or battery-operated wireless mesh applications.
The ZL70250 CSP is an ultra low power RF transceiver operating in the unlicensed frequency bands between 795 and 965 megahertz (MHz) and delivers a data rate of 186 kilobits per second (kbps) at 2 milliamps (mA) of current required to transmit and receive data, enabling extremely long battery life and miniaturization. These two features are particularly important for applications using energy harvesting and battery-powered wireless sensor networks.
VEmesh networks provide highly reliable bi-directional communication and best-in-class range and coverage for distributed monitoring and data collection of smart metering, smart lighting and wireless sensor networks. The modern synchronized-flooding principle that is used allows for wireless mesh networks with space diversity and eliminates the need for self-forming, self-healing and human involvement. All VEmesh nodes act as end-nodes and as relays, to retransmit data in order to create a mesh modular solution, precluding also the need for dedicated routers. The VE209 family of high-performance mesh controllers serves as the main building blocks of a VEmesh node or gateway.
Key Features of Microsemi-Virtual Extension Ultra-Low-Power Wireless Mesh Solution:
– Ultra-low-power peak power consumption, ideal for energy harvesting or battery-operation
– Fully bi-directional
– Unlimited number of nodes/hops: (practically 1000s/20)
– Fast response with low and predictable latency
– Very high robustness, resiliency to interference (no dead spots)
– Requires little to no maintenance, as nodes can be added and removed without any centralized changes to the network
– Built-in unicast and broadcast capabilities
Availability
Evaluation kits (order code: EVK-ULP), are available immediately from Microsemi and Virtual Extension. Microsemi offers comprehensive design assistance, including field- and factory-based support.
