Development board kick starts low-power wireless designs

26th April 2018

Mick Elliott

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The Tiger board extends the SmartEverything family at Arrow Electronics. It features the NXP Semiconductors Kinetis KW41Z multi-protocol wireless MCU for extremely low-power connected devices. The board provides an ideal platform for products like smart door locks, portable healthcare technology, wearable sports monitors, RF remote controls, wireless computer keyboards and mice, gaming controllers, security access-control systems, smart energy products, and networking equipment.

Arduino connectors give users flexibility to add extra value-added features to their designs, and the Kinetis KW41Z’s integrated security features, which include a hardware AES-256 cryptographic accelerator and a True Random Number Generator, help to keep data and assets safe.

Featuring the efficient Arm Cortex-M0+ core, the Kinetis KW41Z wireless MCU contains both a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) v4.2 radio and an IEEE 802.15.4 radio, and can run multiple wireless protocols concurrently.

Added to this, the Tiger board also has built-in Wi-Fi to further extend the connectivity options available to users: it can support a smart end-node application bridging Wi-Fi to Thread or BLE; it can be used in equipment to be controlled locally by a smartphone, such as in-home smart lighting, or remotely as part of a Cloud-connected network; or it can function as a small gateway.

In addition, BLE can be used for easy commissioning of products to an IEEE 802.15.4 mesh network.

With -95dBm typical BLE sensitivity and -100dBm typical generic FSK (at 250 kbit/s) sensitivity, both radios enjoy a strong RF link budget to maximise communication range and immunity to interference.

By integrating a buck-boost DC-DC converter capable of operating from 0.9V to 4.2V, the Kinetis KW41Z MCU also ensures low peak current in receive and transmit modes to help extend battery life.