MRF24XA_15 Datasheet, PDF (5/258 Pages) Microchip Technology – Low-Power, 2.4 GHz ISM-Band IEEE 802.15.4™ RF

1.0 DEVICE OVERVIEW
MRF24XA is an IEEE 802.15.4™ Standard compliant
2.4 GHz RF transceiver with feature extensions.
MRF24XA integrates the PHY and MAC functionality in
a single-chip solution. MRF24XA implements a low-
cost, low-power, high data rate (125 kbps to 2 Mbps)
Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) device. All
the data rates contains the same spectral shape
requiring identical bandwidth. At 125 kbps data rate
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) is
combined with error correction and coding for
maximum range and robustness against interference.
The 2 Mbps data rate is used to minimize radio ON
time, therefore extending battery life. Figure 1-1
illustrates a simplified block diagram of a MRF24XA
wireless node. MRF24XA interfaces to many popular
Microchip PIC^® microcontrollers through a 4-wire serial
SPI interface, interrupt, GPIO, and RESET pins.
MRF24XA can also handle external Power Amplifier
(PA) and Low Noise Amplifier (LNA).
MRF24XA
MRF24XA provides hardware support for:
• Energy detection
• Carrier sense
• Four CCA modes
• CSMA-CA algorithm
• Automatic packet retransmission
• Automatic acknowledgement
• Independent transmit and receive buffers
• Security engine supports encryption and
decryption for MAC sublayer and upper layer
• Inferred destination addressing
• Channel agility with ACKs
• Battery monitoring
These features reduce the processing load, allowing
the use of low-cost 8-bit microcontrollers.
MRF24XA is compatible with Microchip’s ZigBee^®,
MiWi™ and MiWi P2P software stacks. Each software
stack is available as a free download, including source
code, from the Microchip web site:
http://www.microchip.com/wireless.
FIGURE 1-1:
Antenna
MRF24XA WIRELESS NODE BLOCK DIAGRAM
MRF24XA
RFOUTP
RFOUTN
RFINP
RFINN
PHY
MAC
Interface
CS
SDI
SDO
SCK
Power
Management
INT
RESET
PIC® MCU
IO
SDO
SDI
SCK
INTX
IO
16 MHz
crystal
 2015 Microchip Technology Inc.
Preliminary
DS70005023C-page 5