Atific Selects Nordic Transceivers for Multi-Radio Wireless Sensor Network Development Kit

Oslo, Norway -- Nordic Semiconductor ASA announced that Finnish university startup Atific is employing four Nordic Semiconductor nRF2401A 2.4 GHz transceivers in its "Helicopter" multi-radio wireless sensor network (WSN) development kit platforms. The platforms are designed to act as nodes for the development of wireless sensor mesh networks and can each communicate simultaneously with up to four other neighboring nodes.

Using the Helicopter platform, users can configure each nRF2401A transceiver to independently transmit or receive data from other WSN network nodes simultaneously across up to 83 selectable frequency channels. Each nRF2401A radio has a maximum data rate of 1 Mbit/s and consumes just 18 mA in receive (RX) mode, and 10.5 mA in transmit mode (TX) at -5 dBm output power. Other features include a built-in Power Down mode that makes significant power savings easily realizable (see "About the nRF2401A" below for more information).

To minimize interference, each nRF2401A transceiver is implemented on a separate radio board arranged orthogonally (at 90º right angles) to each other. According to research by Atific, this yields an operating range for the node of up to 50 meters when all four transceivers are operating in parallel (rising to 100 m when a single transceiver is operating alone), plus a hop delay as low as 106 µs and an overall network throughput of up to 3.3 Mbit/s.

"The Nordic Semiconductor nRF2401A was carefully evaluated to be the best choice for such a demanding radio environment," says Janne Sikiö, Managing Director of Atific Oy. "The nRF2401A's essential features included very low energy consumption to support numerous small, battery-powered nodes; high interference tolerance to ensure reliable node co-existence and resistance to other 2.4 GHz sources such as WLANs, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi; narrowband operation with a large number of freely selectable frequency channels; and finally, versatile programmability for different kinds of WSN protocols."

"Wireless sensor networks are now taking place in business and professional applications, but penetration into consumer and mass markets is set to follow within several years", says Professor Timo D. Hämäläinen, a technology advisor to Atific Oy. "This will demand cost effective, very low power mobile and embedded WSNs that will open up a whole new range exciting applications that have not previously been realizable. Ultra-low power radio transceivers like the Nordic Semiconductor nRF2401A will be the key building blocks to such implementations."

SOURCE: Nordic Semiconductor ASA