Silicon Labs are recently introduced their Wireless Gecko Series 2 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU family that offers Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Thread connectivity for smart home, commercial and industrial IoT applications.
The new family includes a dedicated security core as well as an on-chip radio which according to the company delivers 2.5 times the wireless range of competing solutions.
Some of the highlights of the new wireless microcontroller includes:
- 80 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with TrustZone technology
- High RF performance with +20 dBm output power and up to +124.5 dB link budget
- Low active current (50.9 µA/MHz)
- Security
- Dedicated security core for faster, lower-power encryption
- Built-in true random number generator (TRNG)
- Secure boot loading
- Secure debug access control
- Tiny 4×4 mm QFN package
- Lower BOM count and system cost with fewer matching components and no need for external inductors or power amplifiers
- Flexible pre-certified modules based on EFR32xG21 SoCs planned for Q3
Silicon Labs will start by launching two Wireless Gecko Series 2 MCU sub-families best suited for line-powered IoT products including gateways, hubs, lights, voice assistants and smart electric meters:
- EFR32MG21 Mighty Gecko SoCs supporting multiprotocol, Zigbee, Thread and Bluetooth mesh networking
- EFR32BG21 Blue Gecko SoCs dedicated to Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth mesh.
“Line-powered” means the first generation of Wireless Gecko Series 2 is not suitable, or at least not ideal, for battery-powered systems
The company is also offering the EFR32xG21 Wireless Starter Kit with support for Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread, and Multiprotocol Zigbee/Bluetooth software stacks in order to get started as quick as possible.
The kit includes 3x wireless starter kit mainboards, 3x EFR32MG21 2.4 GHz +20 dBm radio boards, 3x EFR32MG21 2.4 GHz +10 dBm radio boards, an AA battery board, cables, and EFR32MG Getting Started Card.
Development can be performed with the Simplicity Studio IDE including a unified wireless development kit, SDKs, energy profiler, network analysis, application demos, and mobile apps.
Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 and EFR32BG21 SoCs are available now starting a $3.36 in sample quantities, and the Starter Kit can be purchased for $479. Visit the chips’ product page for further details.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
