Shortlink adds ultra low power RF transceiver to ASIC building block portfolio

The move reflects increasing demand from designers of miniature battery powered wireless products for compact, high-efficiency ASIC solutions, capable of significantly extending the operating times achievable from a single coin cell source.



Designed to support the 868MHz and 915MHz ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) bands, the transceiver building block can also be readily adapted to suit 315MHz, 433MHz and 2.4GHz bands. Transceiver sensitivity is -110dBm and maximum output power a generous 10dBm.



The transceiver handles short-range line-of-sight communication up to a range of 1km and is ideal in whole building environments, where wall and floor penetration is essential. Applications include body-worn medical sensors, miniature wireless audio communication devices, wireless sensors, building automation and security systems and a host of new equipment reliant on energy harvesting power supplies.



Based on a low IF architecture, the Shortlink transceiver has been developed, fully tested and proven on a well characterised 150nm CMOS process, and is easily integrated with Shortlink's low overhead proprietary radio protocols and low power mixed-signal function blocks to arrive at a complete system on silicon solution in a minimum timescale.



Hans-Erik Backram, Managing Director of Shortlink said, By providing our low power RF transceiver as a customisable ASIC building block, based on a mature process technology, we aim to help customers remove significant NRE and effectively de-risk new wireless product developments.



We have proven time and time again that an ASIC building block approach can reduce power, cost and time to market and by its nature, can also guard against product counterfeiting, a further key consideration in highly competitive product markets.