The world around us is getting more intelligent, seemingly by the second. The Internet of Things makes it increasingly possible to stay connected to things, people and innovation. Recent developments have added similar communications abilities to the spaces in which we live and work. In this article, learn how Wi-Fi®, Zigbee®, LoRa® and MiWi™ solutions from Microchip enable buildings to make intelligent decisions to save energy and increase comfort.
Microchip Wireless Connectivity Solutions for Home, Industrial and Building Automation
Automation makes life easier, which is why so many companies are creating product portfolios that do just that. In recent times many of these companies have adopted wireless standards, such as Wi-Fi®, Zigbee®, LoRa® and even proprietary wireless technologies such as our MiWi™ protocol as the basis for their products. Since then the market has grown exponentially.
Building automation lets systems monitor building environments to make intelligent decisions regarding how resources are used. HVAC systems can be shut down automatically during certain hours of the day or lights can be dimmed in vacant offices, all with an eye to efficiency and decreased energy consumption. Smartphones can be used to control systems from anywhere in the world to adjust temperature settings, and security alerts can be sent from sensors to smartphones to report unauthorized activity. Microchip’s wireless solutions offer superior advantages over competitive solutions. They feature extremely low-power modes, using less than 1 uA in sleep mode, yet deliver super-fast response times to enable wakeup, association, and a full data transfer in less than 15 ms.
WFI32E01PC
WFI32E01PC is a standalone and fully certified Wi-Fi module supporting 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n radio modes. Specially designed for industrial IoT applications, WFI32E01PC contains the PIC32MZW1 series Wi-Fi SoC, which is a 200 MHz high-performance MCU with industrial leading Wi-Fi connectivity and rich peripheral options.
Matter Protocol (formerly CHIP) PIC32MZW1 Lighting Example
The Matter protocol creates more connections between more objects, simplifying development for manufacturers and increasing compatibility for consumers, guided by the Connectivity Standards Alliance. Matter protocol over Microchip's PIC32MZW1 platform to control the Yellow LED on the WFI32-IoT board using Android CHIPTool app (Matter Controller).
SAM W25 XPlained Pro Evaluation Kit
The SAMW25 Xplained Pro evaluation kit is a wireless hardware platform to evaluate the ATSAMW25H18-MR510PB Wi-Fi module based on the industry-leading low-power 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi ATWINC1500 SoC (System on Chip) combined with the ARM® Cortex® - M0+ ATSAMD21G18A microcontroller. Supported by the Studio integrated development platform, the kit provides easy access to the features of the ATSAMW25H18-MR510PB Wi-Fi module and explains how to integrate the device in a custom design.
LoRa® Technology Evaluation Kit
The LoRa® Network Evaluation Kit makes it easy for customers to test LoRa® technology, range, and data rate. The full-featured gateway board includes an LCD screen, SD Card for Config Data, Ethernet connection, 915 MHz antenna, and full-band capture radios. The Gateway evaluation kit also includes two RN2903 Mote boards (Part # DM164139). The gateway uses a local version of the LoRaWAN network server running under Windows so it does not need an external network connection. This creates a self-contained demo network that makes testing the LoRa® network quick and easy.
AT86RF212B
The AT86RF212B is a low-power, low-voltage 700/800/900 MHz transceiver designed for low-cost IEEE 802.15.4-2011, ZigBee Pro, 6LoWPAN, and high data rate ISM applications. It offers an extreme 120 dB link budget (-110 dBm receiver sensitivity/+10 dBm transmit power). It is a true SPI-to-antenna solution providing a complete radio transceiver interface between the antenna and the microcontroller. MAC and AES hardware accelerators improve overall system power efficiency and timing.
The AT86RF212B combines: the analog radio transceiver, digital demodulation, time and frequency synchronization, and data buffering.
ATA8510/ATA8515 - Sub-GHz RF Transceiver
The ATA8510/15 is a Monolithic RF Transceiver IC with an integrated AVR® microcontroller for the sub-1 GHz smart RF markets. It provides high sensitivity, blocking and transmit at extremely low-power consumption levels- making this device an excellent candidate for battery powered applications. The RF Transceiver IC provides high sensitivity down to -123 dBm FSK and -109 dBm ASK at 433.92 MHz. The high output power of -12 dBm to +14.5 dBm is programmable in 0.4-dB steps. With market leading RF performance, applications requiring a robust RF wireless link spanning large distances are made possible. The ATA8510/15 combines RF functionality with a proven Microchip AVR® microcontroller core.
Agricultural IoT with the AVR64DD32 and the RN2xx3 LoRa® Module
The AVR64DD32 can create a LoRaWAN end node that monitors temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and soil moisture then transmits that data every three minutes to an application via The Things Network (TTN). The node can be placed anywhere between ten meters and five kilometers from a LoRaWAN gateway in urban environments, but the range is wider for suburban locations.
This design can be scaled easily to enable the capture of soil variability data by placing additional nodes throughout an agricultural plot without the need to add additional gateways or infrastructure. The AVR64DD32 product supports four Multi-Voltage I/O channels capable of bi-directional communication with external devices running at a higher or lower voltage than the MCU itself.
Smart Metering Platform Available on 32-bit MCU Product Family Equipped with an MPL460 PLC Modem
The PIC32CXMT family is offered in three variants based on a single Arm® Cortex®-M4F core, a dual Arm® Cortex®-M4 core and a system-on-chip (SoC) device. The MPL460 PLC modem integrates the line driver for signal amplification, which reduces the bill of materials and maintains a top-performing signal injection efficiency above 40% due to its class-D topology. The PLC modem helps to increase efficiency and reliability based on power delivered to the load and power taken from the supply, resulting in an overall reduction in consumption from the source during transmission.
The new PIC32CXMT MCUs, combined with an MPL460 PLC modem, deliver an unmatched level of scalability and performance to support the architecture of a wide range of meters.
Microchip’s PIC32CXMT provides maximum flexibility with three-tiered devices including a single-core, dual-core and system-on-chip (SoC) to streamline smart meter and communications infrastructure development.
AVR-IoT Cellular Mini
The AVR-IoT Cellular Mini development board is a hardware platform to evaluate and develop IoT solutions with the Microchip AVR128DB48 AVR® microcontroller, ATECC608B secure element, and the Sequans Monarch 2 GM02S cellular module. Included with the development board is a SIM card from Truphone with 150 MB of data ready for activation.
The MCU comes preloaded with a firmware image that enables you to quickly connect and send data to the Microchip Sandbox in AWS using the onboard temperature and color sensors. The AVR-IoT Cellular Mini has full Arduino support through a library built on top of the open-source DxCore.
RNBD451PE Plug-and-Play Bluetooth® Low Energy Module
The RNBD451 module is based on Microchip’s PIC32CX-BZ2 Bluetooth® Low Energy system-on-chip (SoC) that provides a complete solution to implement Bluetooth® 5.2 Low Energy connectivity. These modules are interfaced via a Two-Wire or Four-Wire UART interface with Microchip’s simple ASCII command set for easy integration into most of the applications.
The RNBD451 module combined with Microchip’s Bluetooth® Low Energy silicon with necessary GPIO and an on-board PCB antenna creates an easy-touse drop-in solution.
PIC32CX-BZ2 and WBZ45 Family of MultiProtocol SoCs and Modules
PIC32CX-BZ2 wireless microcontrollers (MCUs) are Bluetooth® Low Energy 5.2 and Zigbee® 3.0 certified. These MCUs make adding wireless capabilities to an application easy. The PIC32CX-BZ2’s Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) and Zigbee® software stacks have been built on the robust MPLAB® Harmony v3 framework to ensure seamless multi-protocol implementation. The PIC32CX-BZ2 family, which features Bluetooth® LE, Zigbee® and strong security, is an excellent solution for smart home and industrial automation applications.
The PIC32CX-BZ2 family of MCUs comes in two forms — modules and SoCs — to make multi-protocol wireless accessible for everyone. WBZ451 module for fastest time-to-market and PIC32CX-BZ2 ICs for Optimized Software and Hardware Design.
