IAR enhances its wireless protocol for embedded devices

By Colin Holland
iApplianceWeb
(01/08/03, 10:48:59 PM EDT)

San Francisco, Ca. -- IAR Systems Software Inc. has introduced an enhanced version of its wireless Robin technology for connecting embedded devices.

It has been developed for robust and reliable wireless data transmission with low power consumption and it is intended that systems using this technology will run for years on a single lithium battery. This is achieved through limitation of the data rate and use of the 868MHz ISM band. It does not require a qualification process.

Using the up to 64 transmitters can be tracked per receiver and different BlueRobin systems can co-exist next to each other without interference. Uni-directional transmission is possible and a typical transmitter with this technology (16-bit data packages and approximately a 100-meter transmission distance) consumes 75µA on average. A transmission distance of up to 300 meters is possible.

It was designed for systms that only need data transfer rates that can be „eye monitored“, transfering data between devices at rates as low as once a second.

The BlueRobin protocol provides all the functionality required for a very robust and safe unidirectional RF link achieved with a minimum of power consumption. A BlueRobin system consists of one or more transmitters sending data to one or more receivers. A smart method for data redundancy ensures high reliability only known from bi-directional systems but allows to reduce both system costs and power consumption to a minimum.

Every transmitter gets an identification code (ID) and in case several different types of transmitter are used every type of transmitter also gets an unique type identification code (SubID). Every receiver knows the IDs and SubIDs of all the transmitters belonging to it, thus being able to distinguish between own and foreign transmitters including their data.

One or more transmitters can be easily “virtually connected” to a receiver either by setting the receiver into a kind of learning mode in which the receiver looks for all currently active transmitters or by just offering a setup item for entering all IDs/SubIDs if these codes are known (i.e. printed on the housing of the transmitter).

For more information, go to www.iar.com.

And for more information about the issues, products and technologies mentioned in this story, go to the top of the home page for this site, click on the animated icon and  use  the associatively-linked XML/Java Web map we have created there to  search for any related product information for the last 12 months.

For technical article coverage, go to EETimes In Focus maps on the iAppliance Web map page and browse or quickly search for all articles on a particular topic since the beginning of 1998.

These Web Maps can be browsed by date, by category, by title, or by keyword, with results displayed instantly either as a list of possible hits or with the specific Web page.