Coronis Systems wows with Wavefront™ wireless card

Montpellier, France, 15 April 2005 – Coronis Systems of France – designer, developer and promoter of Wavenis™ wireless technology – is extending its current product line with a unique new solution. Its innovative Wavefront™ tiny OEM wireless card is the first ultra low power solution on the market to provide a ready-to-use RF chipset (front-end) in which the controlling protocol software runs on a target device’s separate, existing micro-controller. Coronis Systems will be present at the IFSEC trade show in Birmingham, UK, from 12 to 16 May 2005 (stand C121).

Wavefront™ is a front-end radio board designed to provide data communications in ultra low power products. With this new concept, a target device’s existing micro-controller runs its own firmware applications as well as the Wavenis™ protocol stack to control the Wavefront™ add-on. Connections between the two are made via simple serial-type connections. This unique solution keeps production costs down as it only requires a single micro-controller, and it offers customers a ready-to-use, industrial quality RF card that is controlled by a simple serial bus.

This solution offers the price savings often associated with single-chip solutions that use a single micro-controller for communications and radio functions. At the same time, it offers developers the time savings of being able to continue using their existing micro-controller for their own applications (plus the Wavenis™ protocol), and to add wireless features easily by connecting the Wavefront™ RF board.

The card meets the requirements of integrators who wish to enhance their applications with specific new communication features without having to deal with the difficulties of developing radio-frequency solutions themselves. By being able to concentrate on their core business, integrators benefit both from smart new radio equipment and a fast time-to-market.

The Wavefront™ card is an ideal solution for integrators with product volumes up to around 50,000 units. The kit comes with a software programming tool to help interface custom applications with the Wavenis™ communication protocol’s software layers. The tool also makes it easy to customise communication features according to specific needs.

With its ultra low power (ULP) consumption and long-range performance, Wavenis™ is frequently used in heterogeneous networks alongside Bluetooth and Wi-Fi protocols. Wavenis™ was developed to optimise the performance/price ratio from integrated circuit design through industrialisation. In its Wavenis™ Embedded Technology line, Coronis Systems offers two other products – fully integrated Wavecard™ modems, and Wavenis™ technology licensing. Over 250,000 Wavenis™ powered products have been shipped to date.

With the Wavenis™ platform, which includes the ultra low power RF transceiver and complete wireless protocol stack, Coronis offer systems integrators and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a total solution. Highly sophisticated mechanisms such as Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS), data interleaving and Forward Error Correction (FEC) give Wavenis™ the ability to stand up to interference (with no increase in power consumption) and allow it to be used simultaneously with other RF technologies.

Wavenis™ technology may be used with any stand-alone device that requires wireless connection within ISM (Industry-Scientific-Medical) frequencies. Wavenis™ uses the 868 MHz (Europe), 915 MHz (US) and 433 MHz (Asia) frequencies and offers all of the functions needed to create wireless mesh networks with point-to-point, broadcast, polling and repeater functions.

Target applications typically have very low volumes of data to transfer. However, they also require ultra-long battery life and typically require radio coverage under difficult propagation conditions (difficult radio access, weak radio signals inside buildings, weak antennae due to integration requirements, etc.). With Wavenis™ technology, even for the most critical applications, battery life can reach up to 15 years. In addition, the 124db dynamic RF link offers operational power consumption of 10µA with a range of 1km in line-of-sight (LOS) and 200 metres indoors.

Wavenis™ wireless technology is particularly well adapted for products and applications in home comfort, centralised building access and remote control (lighting, HVAC, doors and windows), alarms, security, remote meter reading, healthcare, tracking (locating items and people, UHF RFID), and general consumer goods (such as weather stations and smart objects).

Also in the Wavenis™ technology line, Wavecard™ products are complete RF boards with both the Wavenis™ transceiver and protocol stack. Wavecards™ can be connected to a target device’s motherboard and controlled by serial bus (similar to controlling a modem) using the supplied Wavenis™ command interface. This solution is designed for system integrators who require fast integration and/or who manage volumes of up to 5,000 units.

Also, the Wavenis™ Licence package includes the Wavenis™ RF ASIC and communication protocol stack, plus dedicated technical support during the project design phase and the use of a specialised test bench to optimise the industrial production of Wavenis™ RF modules. The Wavenis™ Licence program is designed for integrators who have their own RF module production facilities and who handle volumes in excess of 50,000 units.

About Coronis Systems

Headquartered in Montpellier, in south-east France, Coronis was founded in 2000 and continues to grow and market its products internationally via local offices and an extensive distribution network. The company supplies innovative technologies and global solutions in the field of ultra low power and long-range network architecture. The company is committed to the design, development and industrialisation of solutions based on Wavenis™ RF ASIC technology combined with the company's own communication protocol. Beyond the ultra low power and long-range performance behind Wavenis'™ success, the technology also allows users to extend standard Bluetooth technology to embedded smart objects. With more than 250,000 products installed and licensed, and orders for 500,000 new products confirmed for the next 18 months, Coronis has reached industrial maturity and foresees orders for one million Wavenis™ radio products over the next three years.
For further information, please go to: www.coronis-systems.com