Semtech transceiver targets healthcare applications

Semtech Corp. has expanded its RFIC transceiver platform with the new SX1235, a low current sub-GHz RF transceiver that provides ETSI category 1 compliance with 6 dB regulatory margin. 

ETSI category 1 compliance is the highest transceiver rating for European regulations and is required for safety-critical wireless applications, such as social alarms and healthcare monitoring.  The SX1235 expands the target applications for Semtech’s wireless platform and provides an affordable high-performance radio IC solution to monitor, serve and increase the safety of a rising aging population.

Previous category 1 solutions have only been produced using large and expensive discrete devices, which are difficult to design and offer little flexibility. As a result, this limited the overall deployment of products designed to provide safety to the elderly and workers in hazardous conditions.  The SX1235 reduces the development time and cost with flexibility to tailor to multiple products leading to the expansion of products to serve this important market segment.  

With a 9.3 mA receive mode current consumption, the SX1235 is well-suited for category 1 applications seeking the lowest consumption possible for maximum battery lifetime while giving the highest margin to the regulatory limits.  Current consumption or power efficiency in both transmit and receive modes, determines the capacity of primary or secondary back-up battery cells used in category 1 products which have a significant influence on the cost of these systems.

Key features:

• +20 dBm maximum output power
• -123 dBm sensitivity at 1.2 kbps
• Low current consumption

o   9.3 mA RX current

o   100 nA sleep current

o   28 mA TX current at +13 dBm

• -12 dBm IIP3
• 6 dB adjacent channel selectivity margin for category 1 compliance
• 6 dB margin for 2 MHz category 1 blocking specification with specified SAW filter
• 10 dB margin for 10 MHz category 1 blocking specification with specified SAW filter
  • 1.8 to 3.7 V supply range
  • Ultra-fast frequency hopping

Pricing and Availability

The SX1235 (order code: SX1235IMLTRT) is available immediately in production quantities and is priced at $1.95 each in 10,000-piece lots.