Zigbee collaboration

Texas Instruments and Ember Corporation have unveiled what they’re claiming is the world's lowest power consuming ZigBee networking and microcontroller (MCU) platform.

ZigBee is a wireless, standards-based radio technology that addresses the unique needs of remote monitoring, control and sensor network applications including home control and awareness, building automation and industrial automation.

Ember has paired its EM2420 802.15.4/ZigBee-compliant semiconductor platform with TI's MSP430F161x series of ultra-low power MCU for developers building ZigBee applications that require the lowest possible power requirements.

TI's MSP430 platform of MCUs will also support Ember's next-generation EM260 network processor, which debuted at the ZigBee Open House in Oslo, Norway this week.

The new dual-chip network module provides a complete, integrated MSP430 MCU, a radio and the ZigBee software platform. To reduce the device's footprint and bill of materials (BOM), the MSP430F161x MCU series integrates all peripherals and up to 55KB of flash memory, which reduces the need for EEPROM.