MCU-evalueringskit til UWB-applikationer

Atmel har lanceret 'Ultra Wideband, UWB' evalueringskit til programmerbare CAP microcontrollere (in english).

Ultra wideband is a wireless technology for transmitting large amounts of digital data over medium distances (10 to 50m) using a wide spectrum of frequency bands with very low power. UWB has the ability to carry signals through doors and other obstacles that tend to reflect signals at more limited bandwidths and a higher power.

Ultra wideband broadcasts digital pulses that are timed very precisely on a carrier signal that simultaneously occupies a number of frequency channels across a wide spectrum. Transmitter and receiver must be synchronized to send and receive pulses with sub-nanosecond accuracy. On any given frequency band that may already be in use, the UWB signal has less power than the background noise of other transmission protocols, so interference is minimized.

The UWB Media Access Controller (MAC) is implemented, together with any application-specific logic, in the FPGA that emulates the CAP Metal Programmable (MP) Block. The UWB Physical Access Layer (PHY) is implemented in transmission and reception extension boards that plug into the CAP Development Board.

The AT91CAP9A UWB Evaluation Kit consists of two AT91CAP9A Development Kits (one for transmission and the other for reception) each comprising three associated boards (Motherboard, Mezzanine and 3.3V Memory Extension), a CAP9 UWB PHY Transmitter Board and a CAP9 UWB PHY Receiver Board, together with UWB Video Streaming Application Software. This configuration creates an application-ready UWB development environment with a video streaming reference design.

The AT91CAP9A UWB Evaluation Kit interfaces with a PC running industry-standard ARM development tools for system development and debug. This permits parallel hardware/software development that significantly reduces the development time for the application. When the system has been fully debugged, the UWB MAC and application-specific logic are re-mapped into the MP block of a customized CAP, providing a complete UWB transceiver system based on a small part count. This low-cost, medium-volume UWB solution is ideal for wireless medical systems and similar applications.

Michel Le Lan, Atmel’s Marketing Director for ASICs, says:
- Ultra Wideband is an energy-efficient short-range protocol that is ideal for many industrial and medical applications that operate in noisy, obstructed environments. Our CAP UWB Development Kit provides a rapid, low-cost development path for customers who wish to integrate their own IP together with the UWB MAC in a single high-performance, low cost system-on-chip.