Ultra low power short range RF

look at AT86RF401, it is a transmitter with an AVR in the same chip

Yes, it i sinteresting, but I just noticed that I forgot to clearly state communication needs to by two-way...so I'll need transceivers.

The AT86RF211 on the other hand might be a choice...just need to check the wakeup functionality.

Xemics XE1209 for example can be set to "partilly sleeping", woken by carrier detection. Another on might be transceivers that have built-in sleep cycles. The look at AT86RF401, it is a transmitter with an AVR in the same chip

max)

One more thing... What is the situation with this "Zigbee" standard. Chips/products available?

Pygmi

Nordic VLSI nRF2401 (1uA sleep, 18mA while active)

If you want to take advantage of the version with integrated micro controller (nRF24E1 not an AVR though;-) you will have a single chip solution that runs off 1.9V - 3.6V (directly from 2 AAA or AA;-) Both are easy to use as they have most of the RF "tidbits" integrated.

With the power budget you have I would rather look into redefining the master/slave functionality: The mains powered unit default is receive mode, the battery powered unit sends a message either every (x)seconds or when a change in status appear. The battery powered unit then awaits an acknowledge within a set time window, if noACK received, it will retransmit. With an ACK it will know that message transaction is complete and go back into sleep.

If the Master is to "wake up" the batterypower unit, this unit must be in a mode where the receiver will be able to detect that the master wants to talk, (more than your 100uA).You will need a fairly accurate RTC (or similar) for a power effective "time mulitiplexing" system.

HTH

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Morten
Raider of the Lost Electron

A local company is doing something similar for asset tracking - they've got a PIC-based keyfob module that'll transmit for >5 years on a single coin cell. Wakes up every minute or so.

Hi,

Interesting chips, although not what I'm looking for right now. I couldn't find how they would wakeup by themselves from RF-signal. And yes, unfortunately the master really needs to wake up the slave. This is possible at least with

-Xemics XE1209 having mode where it is woke up by carrier (takes few ms)

-one Aurel transceiver, having RX current < 100 uA! So I really need the RF to wake up the system, one way or another. This means the uC too, so that I can keep it sleeping.

AND I forgot something from my first "spec" It is not just: "wakeup time for slave when master sends enquiry

Zigbee is still in development, however the underlying RF standard IEEE 802.15.4 is complete.

CompXs

are selling development systems.

Cheers, JonB

Ok, thanks. Sort of got that impression, but wasn't sure... Maybe some time in the near future.

Pygmi