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Freescale Semiconductor has introduced an addition to its popular ZigBee® wireless sensing triple-axis reference (ZSTAR) demonstration tool collection. The newest offering features the MMA7660FC triple-axis accelerometer, which enhances user interfaces with intelligent features for mobile phones, small appliances and gaming. The accelerometer has built-in intelligence for consumer applications with orientation, shake and tap detection. It also includes smart power management features such as auto-wake and auto-sleep to help extend battery life.

The advanced RD3965MMA7660FC ZSTAR3 reference design provides designers with two small, portable demo boards, a sensor transceiver board and a USB receiver board for demonstrating and evaluating a wide range of accelerometer-based applications with low-power wireless connectivity. A USB stick connects via the computer’s USB port for communications, using Freescale’s USB 2.0 full-speed 8-bit MC68HC908JW32 microcontroller (MCU).

Wireless communication is enabled by Freescale’s MC13213, a ZigBee–ready 2.4GHz low-power transceiver that also contains an 8-bit MCU as a system-in-package that reduces board space requirements.

The MC13213 ZigBee platform is an IEEE 802.15.4 standard compliant on-chip transceiver/modem that is capable of 16 selectable channels. For more information, visit www.freescale.com/zigbee.

ZSTAR3 reference platform features

MMA7660FC triple-axis ±1.5g digital accelerometer with extremely low power
0.4 micro amps in Off Mode
2 micro amps in Standby Mode
47 micro amps at one sample per second
Auto-wake/sleep feature for low power consumption
Tilt orientation detection for portrait/landscape capability
Gesture detection including shake detection and tap detection
2.4GHz MC13213 wireless transceiver with 8-bit MCU system-in-package
8-bit USB 2.0 full-speed MC68HC908JW32 MCU
Two small, portable demo boards:
Sensor transceiver board powered by a coin-sized CR2032 3V battery
USB receiver board
RF protocol supports up to 16 sensor boards per one USB receiver
RF network star topology
Sensor data rate at 30, 60 or 120 Hz
Typical wireless range is 20 meters
Software support for easy development