ZMD, a supplier of application-specific standard products (ASSPs) for sensor and wireless applications, has developed a sub-1GHz, IEEE 802.15.4 development kit for ZigBee applications. This development kit, the ZMD44101DK, lets developers perform detailed evaluations of ZMD's low-power ZMD44101 RF transceiver using a simple graphical interface,. It also includes a software framework for application development. The fully integrated CMOS transceiver enables reliable wireless networks for monitoring and control in industrial, commercial and residential applications. The ZMD44101DK was unveiled at Electronica 2004 trade fair.

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"Developers of wireless industrial applications are demanding better range and reliability in harsh environments," said Kory Brown, vice president, Wireless for ZMD America. "We are pleased to make the first sub-1GHz development kit available to companies building cost-effective, wirelessly networked products based on the open ZigBee standard."

The ZMD44101DK development kit provides test functionality at the Physical Layer and Media Access Control (MAC) Layer. It contains two wireless transceivers, quick-start hardware, compiled MAC libraries, and examples for application development. The evaluator tool gives designers the ability to measure and control packet error rate, channel characteristics, range and spectral performance. It provides direct access to more than 100 internal registers and lets developers configure both peer-to-peer and star network demonstrations. Using the MAC software framework delivered in object format, developers gain an expanding library of sample application code to interface directly to the ZMD44101 MAC. The kit also includes a quick start guide and boot CD.