Boosting the link budget

Called EZRadioPro, the chip boasts an output power of up to 20dBm and a sensitivity of -118dBm. This, says the company’s product manager Nick Dutton, represents the best link budget of devices in the same class. “It’s now easier to do radio,” he claimed. Target markets for the part include remote key entry (RKE) and set top boxes. “The market for such devices is much bigger than you might think,” Dutton noted, claiming annual demand for RKE parts alone is 150million devices. Automated meter reading is another potential application and one which Dutton claims is likely to be the largest market within the next couple of years,. Covering frequencies ranging from 240 to 960MHz and featuring antenna diversity capabilities on chip, the device has a range of around 2km. Sleep mode power consumption is said to be 50nA, providing extended battery operating life.