Unveiled Sigfox-Certified Solution for Low-Power IoT Design

ON Semiconductor has introduced a new Programmable RF System-in-Package (SiP) that integrates an advanced RF System-on-Chip (SoC) and all peripheral BOMs (including TCXO).

AX-SIP-SFEU is the most integrated Sigfox solution covering both uplink (transmission) and downlink (reception) communications.

As the first product in a new SiP family set to be released within a few months, this device provides a variety of ready-to-use turnkey radio frequency (RF) solutions to support applications requiring IoT connectivity.

Just as IoT devices require connectivity close to sensors, ON Semiconductor's 7mm x 9mm x 1mm SiP transceiver solves challenging space constraints. It occupies only nearly one-third of the footprint of module-based solutions and is just one-tenth the size. This allows engineers greater flexibility in product design.

Thanks to the AX-SIP-SFEU, which integrates various components with the excellent capabilities of the AX-SFEU SoC family, ON Semiconductor has established itself as a leader in one-chip solutions for Sigfox applications. 'Ready-to-use' solutions with conformal shielding and pre-certified wireless regulatory approval simplify design and accelerate time-to-market, as well as reduce the overall development cost of the system, allowing customers to focus solely on application and antenna design.

A greater concern for wireless communication application design engineers due to the long lifespan features required by battery-powered solutions is power consumption. Sigfox’s predictable lowest-consumption 'device-to-cloud' is complemented by ON Semiconductor’s proprietary ultra-low-power design, providing new SiP standby, sleep, and deep sleep mode currents of 0.5 mA, 1.3 µA, and 100 nA, respectively.

The AX-SIP-SFEU connects to customer products via a simple universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) interface. AT commands are used to transmit frames and configure wireless parameters, and API (Application Programming Interface) variant modes are very useful for customers who wish to write their own software. This new device is expected to be very popular as part of ON Semiconductor's ecosystem, which consists of a development kit and an integrated IDE for software developers.

Thomas Wolff, Vice President of Wireless and Connectivity Solutions at ON Semiconductor, said, “ON Semiconductor’s new SiP transceiver, the AX-SIP-SFEU, offers all the advantages, integration, and convenience associated with IC form factors and modules. Sigfox certification and local compliance allow engineers developing exciting and innovative IoT solutions across various markets to focus only on other aspects of their design, recognizing that connectivity and communication elements are already well-managed.”