7 x 7-mm chip provides complete ZigBee functionality

Providing engineers complete ZigBee functionality without having to deal with the complexities of a the ZigBee stack, the CC2480 wireless network processor makes it easy to integrate 2.4-GHz wireless communication into a wide variety of applications. The ZigBee-2006 stack software runs on the processor, while the application runs on an external MCU.

The chip handles all the timing-critical protocol tasks, leaving the application MCU free, and features an automatic low-power mode in idle periods. It communicates with any MCU via an SPI or UART interface and supports SimpleAPI, which has only 10 API calls to learn. The 7 x 7-mm QFN-48 packaged IC needs only a balun, antenna, and power supply for a full ZigBee function. A demo kit (eZ430-RF2480) is available for $99. (From $8.10 ea/1,000available now.)