Low power microcontroller firm Energy Micro is developing a range of RF transceivers.
According to the Norwegian company, it will bring the low power silicon technology it has used in its range of microcontrollers to the RF chips.
"In terms of energy consumption, RF products have simply not improved over the last five years,” said Energy Micro president and CEO, Geir Førre.
“Our aim then is to maintain levels of integration and performance while achieving energy consumption figures four times lower than those offered today,” said Førre.
The plan is to launch the RF products in 2011. Exactly what these will be is yet to be announced but they are expected to target the smart metering market where the company’s MCUs are used.
See: Energy Micro details its ARM Cortex M3-based EFM32G range
It is expected to cover multiple frequency bands and will use both standard and proprietary wireless protocols.
Førre continued, "With the launch of our EFM32 Gecko microcontrollers in 2009, we proved we have the capability and know-how to challenge the status quo in electronic design and produce the world’s most energy friendly products.”
A number of the company’s designers came from RF chip firm Chipcon.
See Q5 Interview - Geir Førre, Energy Micro