49 MIP Edition 2/2003

A
T
M
E
L
The AT86RF401 is a highly
integrated low-cost RF
transmitter plus AVR
microcontroller. With
this device, Atmel offers
the best solution in terms
of integration, power
consumption, reduced
number of external compo-
nents and price. The
AT86RF401 transmitter has
an internal crystal oscillator
circuit designed to work with
fundamental frequencies
between 11 and 19 MHz. This
circuit has 40 pF capacitors
connected between the crys-
tal inputs pins and ground.
The oscillator circuit also
provides the clock signal
to the AVR. The frequency
synthesizer uses a PLL, which
consists of a phase detector,
a divided-by-24-prescaler,
on-chip loop lter and an
integrated VCO. The VCO
can be calibrated in the eld
AT86RF401
Smart RF Wireless Data Transmitter
from Atmel
by the AVR thanks to the
internal 32-step capacitor
array controller. The RF
power amplier generates a
differential output suitable
for driving an off-chip tuned
loop antenna from the PLL
output. The amplier can be
congured via software
to reduce the power output
by up to 36 db (with 1 dB
resolution).
The AVR is an 8-bit RISC
microcontroller with ash
program memory, E
2
PROM
for data and SRAM.
The AVR has a powerful
architecture for program-
ming in C with the possibility
of in-circuit programming
and code protection. The AVR
inside the AT86RF401 has
an 8-bit timer, watchdog and
SPI interface. An evaluation
kit with a complete set of
transmitter and receiver
boards based on the
AT86RF401 is offered. The
kit also includes all
the schematics, printed
circuit boards and software
needed to evaluate the
features of radio transmitter
and the AVR.
Features

264465 MHz RF
frequency range

6 dBm RF output into
matched antenna

Support for OOK modulation

Data bandwidth up to
10 kbits/s (Manchester)

+2+5 V operating voltage

2 Kbytes of ash
program memory

128 bytes of E
2
PROM and
128 bytes of SRAM

Low battery detect, brown-
out protection and 6 I/O

Standby current:
0.5 A (max.)

Package: TSSOP-20

Operating temperature
range: -40...+85 C
Applications

Remote keyless entry (RKE)

Wireless security systems

Home appliance control

Radio remote control

Telemetry (tire pressure,
utility meter, asset tracking)

Wireless PC peripherals
Jesus Teijeiro, EBV Madrid


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