Freescale Kinetis KW41Z Wireless MCU Supports Bluetooth 4.2, Zigbee, and Thread

Freescale has unveiled a new wireless micro-controller part of their Kinetis MCU family with Kinetis KW41Z, based on an ARM Cortex M0+ core, and supporting both the latest Bluetooth 4.2 specifications, as well as a 802.15.4 radio allowing support for Zigbee and Thread.

Kinetis KW41Z main features and specifications:

• ARM Cortex-M0+ core @ 48 MHz, with up to 512 KB Flash memory, up to 128 KB SRAM, and an integrated balun
• Multi Protocol Radio
  • 2.4 GHz radio, Bluetooth Low Energy 4.2 compliant
  • IEEE 802.15.4-2011 standard compliant radio
  • Receiver Sensitivity (Typ.) –  BLE: -96 dBm;  802.15.4:  -102 dBm
  • Programmable Transmitter Output Power up to +4 dBm
• I/Os – 2x I2C, 2x SPI, LPUART, TSI, CMT and GPIOs with interrupt capabilities
• Analog modules – 16-bit ADC, 12-bit DAC, 6-bit High Speed Analog Comparator (CMP)
• Security – AES-128 Accelerator (AESA), True Random Number Generator (TRNG)
• Operating Voltage Ranges
  • Bypass Voltage: 1.71V to 3.6V
  • DCDC Converter Buck Configuration: 2.1V to 4.2V
  • DCDC Converter Boost Configuration: 0.9V to 1.795V
• Power modes and consumption
  • Nine low-power modes
  • Typical Rx/Tx Current (DC/DC Enabled): 6.2/6.0 mA

KW41Z supports dual PAN, meaning that two 802.15.4 networks, or a 802.15.4 based network and a Bluetooth LE network can be accessed concurrently (although not simultaneously), which eliminates the need for multiple radios, and reduces cost.

The company can provide BLE, Thread and Zigbee PRO host stacks and profiles supported by Kinetis Software Development Kit (SDK), and several real-time operating system (RTOS) are also supported. FRDM-KW41Z development board, and a USB-KW41Z USB dongle for sniffing packed via a PC will be available for development later on, but I could not find any details about the two hardware platform at this stage.

Kinetis KW41Z will be available to select customers in Q2 2016, with general availability expected in Q3 2016.

Via EETimes

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress