New Semtech RF Transmitter Improves Performance While Reducing System Cost and Extending Battery Lifetime

The part covers the frequency bands from 310 MHz to 450 MHz, 860 MHz to 870 MHz, as well as 902 MHz to 928 MHz which makes it ideally suited for worldwide operation and regulatory compliance for FCC 15.231/15.247, ARIB and European products under EN 300-220.

To extend battery life, the SX1243 has very low active current consumption of 11mA at +10dBm OOK or 15mA at +10dBm FSK making it ideal for applications requiring coincell batteries, which only support peak currents up to 20mA. The low active and sleep currents, combined with fast wake-up times from sleep to TX, make it a perfect fit for applications requiring fast wake-up and long battery lifetime.

The SX1243 features Semtech’s exclusive Power & Go technology that reduces cost dramatically by eliminating the need for a microcontroller to configure the part. In Power & Go mode, the part will automatically wake-up for transmission once data transitions are detected on the data pin and automatically return to sleep once the transitions cease. Default configurations for Power & Go are preprogrammed and can be modified for high-volume applications. In other applications where more flexibility to configure parameters is desired, an interface for use with an external MCU is available.

“Semtech is known as a leader in RF devices that deliver performance and low power, and the SX1243 builds on that position with added performance and cost advantages,” said Hardy Schmidbauer, Director of Wireless ISM Products for Semtech. “The ability to use the part without an MCU gives it an advantage in both flexibility and cost.”

While the SX1243 offers designers the benefit of significant board space savings, its small size and RoHS & WEEE compliance also contributes to energy conservation and hazardous waste reduction.