Microchip | MICRF506YML-TR

Micrel's RadioWire™ products are a family of FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) highly integrated transceiver radio chips. The family targets Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) license-free band applications. They also can be programmed to operate at different frequencies.

The RadioWire™ products have very low standby current and are perfect for battery operated applications like remote meter reading, remote keyless entry and wireless earphone. The family of products have low cost and high data rate. These make them a good alternative to Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g solutions.

RadioWire™ transceivers are ideal for long-range (1000m to 2 miles) and higher data-rate (128kbps) applications where bidirectional data exchange is required.  For low data-rate, short-range applications, use Micrel’s QwikRadio ® receivers and transmitters.

The MICRF506 is a true single chip, frequency shift keying (FSK) transceivers intended for use in half-duplex, bidirectional RF links. The multi-channeled FSK transceivers are intended for UHF radio equipment in compliance with the North American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) part 15.247 and 249, as well as the European Telecommunication Standard Institute (ETSI) specification, EN300 220. The MICRF506 is designed for us in the 410-450MHz frequency range.

The transmitters consist of a PLL frequency synthesizer and a power amplifier. The frequency synthesizer consists of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), a crystal oscillator, dual modulus prescaler, programmable frequency dividers, and a phase-detector. The loop-filter is external for flexibility and can be a simple passive circuit. The output power of the power amplifier can be programmed to seven levels. A lockdetect circuit detects when the PLL is in lock. In receive mode, the PLL synthesizer generates the local oscillator (LO) signal.

The receivers are zero intermediate frequency (IF) type which makes channel filtering possible with low power, integrated low-pass filters. The receivers consist of a low noise amplifier (LNA) that drives a quadrature mixer pair. The output of the receivers are available on the DataIXO pin. A receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) circuit indicates the received signal level.