Texas Instruments Inc. has readied an ultra-low power MSP430 MCU-based reference design for ZigBee and 802.15.4-ready systems that will allow the incorporation of Airbee Wireless’s free, 4-node ZigBee-ready protocol stack for rapid prototyping and development. A hardware evaluation board from SoftBaugh will also be available and includes Chipcon’s 802.15.4 radio, transceiver and PCB antenna. TI’s MSP430 MCU offers low current consumption at 1.1 micro amps standby and 300 micro amps active. The device’s total power consumption is 10 times lower than that of competing devices, making it suitable for energy-efficient, low-power RF networks based on standards such as IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee.

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Based on the MSP430F161x MCU with a Chipcon 802.15.4 radio for receiving and transceiving, TI’s reference design will also include an example application note and PCB layout files. The free 4-node ZNS-Lite software for MSP430 devices will be available via the Airbee The software stack includes a “getting started” guide and a programmer’s reference manual. A full version of the Airbee ZNS (protocol stack) software can be purchased directly from Airbee.

A hardware evaluation board (DZ1612) is also available from SoftBaugh Inc. with Airbee’s ZNS-Lite Zigbee software pre-programmed on an MSP430F1612 MCU. It also includes a Chipcon CC2420 transceiver and PCB antenna. DZ1612 evaluation boards can be purchased for $199.