Silicon Labs has announced two new sub-GHz wireless SoCs with EFR32FG23 (FG23) and EFR32ZG23 (ZG23) devices adding to the company’s Gecko Series 2 Cortex-M33 platform.
Both FG23 and ZG23 support up to one mile (~1.6 km) wireless range, 10+ year battery life on a coin-cell battery, are certified with Arm PSA Level 3 security, and support “advanced wireless technologies” such as Amazon Sidewalk, mioty, Wireless M-Bus (WM-Bus), Z-Wave, and proprietary IoT networks.
Silicon Labs explains the chips’ ultra-low transmit and receive radio power (13.2 mA TX at 10 dBm, 4.2 mA RX at 920 MHz) and RF implementation (+20 dBm output power and -125.3 dBm RX at 868 MHz, 2.4 kbps GFSK), makes the long-range and long battery life possible.
The ZG23 is designed for Z-Wave applications with Long Range and Mesh connectivity and can be integrated into either end devices or gateways. The company is also working on ZG23-based SiP modules (ZGM230S) to simplify development and speed time-to-market, and says the chip and modules target the Smart Home, as well as hotel and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) markets.
Designed for battery-operated nodes for Amazon Sidewalk, industrial IoT (IIoT), smart city, building, and home automation markets, the FG23 wireless SoC support -111.2 dBm RX @ 920 MHz (50 kbps GFSK) wireless link budget, a low active current of 26 µA/MHz, and a 1.2µA sleep mode.
The EFR32FG23 devkit enables evaluation and earlier development around the FG23 secure wireless SoC. It includes 868 MHz and 915 MHz antennas, 2x AA battery holders, an LCD display, a few buttons, a Micro USB port for power and programming, and several GPIOs. Development is done through the same Simplicity Studio software that has been available for years, and is now at version 5.
EFR32FG23 SoCs are available in 5 x 5mm QFN40 and 6 x 6 mm QFN48 packages, as well as FG23 development kits starting at $39.99 US. EFR32ZG23 SoCs, ZGM230S modules, and development kits are expected for later in Q4 2021. More details can be found on the respective product pages for EFR32FG23 and EFR32ZG23 that is also called “Z-Wave 800 Modem SoC”.
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.
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