Atmel Introduces an AVR-based 2.4 GHz Wireless Evaluation and Development Platform at US$99

SAN JOSE, California, February 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- The kit allows an easy evaluation of short range wireless connectivity 
with IEEE802.15.4, ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, etc.

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today the availability of
the AVR(R) RZ Raven evaluation kit that provides designers a unique
ready-to-use development platform in the rapidly growing low power wireless
market for the 2.4GHz ISM frequency band available worldwide.

The kit utilizes the AVR picoPower(TM) technology in combination with the
superior RF performance offered by the AT86RF230 2.4 GHz ISM transceiver.

The RZ Raven kit comprises two Raven boards, one USB Stick and a
selection of firmware application and software that will dramatically reduce
time to market for designers considering short range wireless ISM band
applications based on IEEE802.15.4(TM), ZigBee(R) or 6LoWPAN.

The Raven board can be used as a multi application wireless node with a
LCD graphical user interface. It has two AVR picoPower microcontrollers: an
ATmega1284P that can be used to control RF application stacks, and an
ATmega3290P that controls the display and user interfaces. The Raven contains
a custom LCD display, a 5 position joystick, a microphone and a speaker
allowing the evaluation of a variety of user interactions that are
appropriate in the target wireless applications.

To support application development the following functionalities are
available: graphical user interface, communication ports, ATmega1284P port
pins available on headers, on-board temperature sensor, voltage sensor, relay
driver, boot loader and ISP support for programming.

The USB stick can serve as a PC gateway to the wireless network, or as
the hardware platform for wireless protocol analyzer. It is based on the
AT90USB1287 AVR microcontroller and the AT86RF230 transceiver.

The firmware provided includes low level drivers and application stacks
enabling simple point to point communication, IEEE 802.15.4 compliant
solutions, and more complex applications based on ZigBee and 6LoWPAN. Updated
source code, libraries and documentation for the applications are available
from the Atmel web site. PC software is also provided, including a demo and a
management suite for setup, configuration and management of wireless
networks. Key features include wireless protocol analyzer and Over-The-Air
upgrade (OTA).

"Customers selecting the AVR Wireless platform get a flexible solution
with a wide selection of microcontrollers tailored for any wireless
application," said Magnus Pedersen, Director of AVR Product Marketing.
"Combining the superior RF performance and the extremely low power
consumption of picoPower technology, Atmel provides an ideal platform for the
rapidly growing market of low power wireless devices demanding years of life
on a single battery."

The AT86RF230 offers industry best RF performance with a link budget of
104 dB and gives up to 3 times the range of competitor radios. This results
in an outdoor range of up to 700 m with the high gain PCB antenna used on the
Raven board. Current consumption in active mode is only 15 mA and down to 20
nA in sleep mode.

AVR picoPower devices consume as little as 340 uA in active mode at 1.8V
running from the internal RC oscillator at 1 MHz. In power-save mode it is
500 nA with a real time counter running, and 100 nA in power-down mode.
picoPower AVRs are pin-, performance-, and code-compatible with existing AVR
microcontrollers giving designers flexible hardware options for small, medium
sized and complex wireless networks.

The Raven board and the USB Stick holds FCC and ETSI certification.

Availability and Pricing

The new kit is available now at a resale price of US$99. Ordering code
is: ATAVRRZRAVEN.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio
frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest
intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide
the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer,
industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

(C) 2008 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), logo and
combinations thereof, AVR(R) and others, are registered trademarks,
picoPower(TM) and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its
subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information: AVR RZ Raven information can be retrieved at:
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=4291

Product information on Atmel's AVR can be retrieved at
http://www.atmel.com/avr

Press Contacts:
    Philippe Faure, Marketing Communications Director -- Microcontrollers
    Tel: +33-2-40-18-18-87, Email: philippe.faure@atmel.com

    Helen Perlegos, Public Relations
    Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com



Web site: http://www.atmel.com