July 25, 2012 – Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB, Country Manager Jong-Chan Lee), a global leader in high-performance analog-intensive mixed-signal ICs, announced today two next-generation EZRadio® wireless ICs designed to simply add high-performance wireless connectivity to cost-sensitive embedded applications. The newly released EZRadio Si4455 transceiver and Si4355 receiver families integrate market-leading size, performance, and low-power driving technologies into easy-to-use development tools. EZRadio ICs are suitable for a wide range of wireless applications, such as remote controls, automotive RKE (remote keyless entry), home and building automation, security and lighting control, wireless sensor networks, and health and fitness equipment and devices.

Adding RF connectivity to embedded applications is not only complex but also time-consuming. Silicon Labs’ EZRadio family provides developers with an easy and cost-effective way to integrate bidirectional or unidirectional RF links into their products without performance degradation. By lowering the barriers to wireless development, the EZRadio family helps expand the use of high-performance wireless connectivity in embedded designs.

Supporting frequency bands of 283-350MHz, 425-525MHz, and 850-960MHz, the Si4x55 device offers +13dBm output and -116dBm sensitivity, providing a much better range than other sub-GHz solutions. These ICs deliver excellent out-of-band performance (-56dB selectivity and -61dB blocking at a 1MHz offset), allowing for easy compliance with regulatory standards and operation in noisy environments without additional filtering. With minimal external components required and the smallest form factor (3 mm x 3mm) in its class, the Si4x55 is ideal for cost-sensitive and space-constrained designs.

The Si4x55 EZRadio not only provides outstanding RF performance but also offers industry-leading low-power operation, making it suitable for battery-powered applications. The Si4x55 provides the best standby power current in its class (50 nA), an excellent transmit current of 20 mA at +10 dBm, and a low receive current of 10 mA.

While numerous high-performance wireless ICs are difficult to configure, the EZRadio product family includes the GUI-based EZConfig configuration tool, a core component of Silicon Labs' Wireless Development Studio. EZConfig software eliminates the complex manual configuration processes required by most RF designs, saving time and effort spent calculating and verifying numerous wireless parameters. Developers can simply select optimized and verified predefined configuration environments or easily install their own custom environments. EZConfig also offers an optional configuration wizard for developers unfamiliar with RF design. The configuration wizard provides an installation process that ultimately proposes a wireless configuration environment based on the requirements of the desired end-product application.

“Knowing the existing complexity of adding RF connectivity to embedded systems, we designed the Si4x55 EZRadio wireless IC and development tools to provide the best ease of use without compromising performance,” said Diwakar Vishakhadatta, Vice President and Head of the Wireless Embedded Products family at Silicon Labs. “Our EZConfig software makes it easy to add state-of-the-art sub-GHz transceivers and receivers to any application.”

Comprehensive wireless development tools
Silicon Labs provides various implementation and development kits for rapid wireless development. Many developers start with standard LED-based demo kits, such as the EZR-LEDK1W kit for unidirectional wireless connectivity and the EZR-LEDK2W kit for bidirectional connectivity. These kits come with pre-installed demo code so that developers can perform RF measurements immediately upon opening the box. Silicon Labs also offers the 4010-AES1W, 4012-LCDK1W, and EZR-LCDK2W kits to enable more advanced evaluation. These kits provide an LCD screen on the Si4355 or Si4455 evaluation board to display details related to the communication link. The Si4355 and Si4455 daughter cards available with these kits can be used directly with Silicon Labs' compatible Universal Development Platform (UDP). This UDP is a test board kit equipped with modular daughter cards that allow for easy testing of multiple Silicon Labs products in the same environment.

Price and Supply
Samples of the Si4x55 EZRadio product are currently available. The Si4355 receiver is priced at $0.99 per 10,000-unit quantity, and the Si4455 transceiver is priced at $1.19. The Si4x55 is offered in a small 3 mm x 3 mm QFN package, which features the industry's smallest footprint for a sub-GHz wireless IC, making it suitable for embedded wireless applications requiring a small form factor. The Si4355 receiver and Si4455 transceiver are supplied with the same pin arrangement, enabling a single-board layout implementation suitable for both unidirectional and bidirectional link applications. The standard EZR-LEDK1W and EZR-LEDK2W kits are priced at $20 and $25, respectively. More details regarding the Si4x55 EZRadio product information, as well as the purchase of samples and development tools, can be found at www.silabs.com/pr/EZRadio.