29 July 2015

RFaxis collaborates with Silicon Labs to support Internet of Things and smart home market initiatives

Fabless semiconductor firm RFaxis Inc of Irvine, CA, USA, which designs RF semiconductors and embedded antenna solutions for wireless connectivity and cellular mobility, is collaborating with Silicon Labs Inc of Austin, TX, USA (which provides analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs) on chipset reference designs to address the high-growth Internet of Things (IoT) and smart home markets.

Specifically, RFaxis has developed RF front-end reference designs that extend the reach and capabilities of Silicon Labs' ZigBee and Thread EM35x mesh networking products. Silicon Labs is a founding member of the Thread Group that is helping product developers and consumers to easily and securely connect more than 250 devices into a low-power, wireless mesh network that supports seamless Internet and cloud access.

"The RFaxis chipset reference designs provide our mutual customers with fully integrated and cost-effective RF front-ends to meet the needs of a wide variety of products in the connected home," says Greg Fyke, director of marketing for IoT Wireless Products at Silicon Labs.

"The integrated and cost-effective CMOS RF front-end integrated circuit (RFeIC) technology that RFaxis provides combined with Silicon Labs' chips, ZigBee or Thread software and development tools will help spur development of innovative and low-cost IoT products by device makers," says Raymond Biagan, RFaxis' VP of worldwide sales.  

RFaxis initially will provide its RFX2401C reference design, followed by its RFX2411 and future products with antenna diversity. The RFX2401C and RFX2411 are fully integrated, single-chip, single-die RFeICs that incorporate all the RF functionality needed for IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee, wireless sensor networks, the IP-based Thread mesh networking protocol and other wireless systems in the 2.4GHz ISM band.

The RFX2401C and RFX2411 architectures integrate the power amplifier (PA), low-noise amplifier (LNA), transmit and receive switching circuitry, the associated matching network and a harmonic filter in a single-chip CMOS device. The RFX2411 includes an additional antenna diversity switch, as well as a bypass mode to provide maximum flexibility for system implementations. RFaxis says that, suitable for high-power applications like home automation, smart house/smart living and smart power environments, the RFX2401C and RFX2411 combine superior performance, high sensitivity and efficiency, low noise, small form factor and low cost. Both provide a solution for applications requiring extended range, receive sensitivity and bandwidth, the firm adds.

Tags: RFaxis CMOS

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