Integration Associates Unveils Its New EZMac(TM) Media Access Control; A New CompXs(TM) Software Module Designed to Complement the Award Winning Integration IA4420 and IA4421 FS EZRadio(R) Transceivers.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Integration Associates, a fabless semiconductor company focusing on high performance analog solutions for wireless and wireline data communications, today unveiled its EZMac media access control software module.

Integration's EZMac is a media access control module developed in C code for use with Integration's new IA4421 or IA4420 ISM transceiver products. EZMac was created to provide designers with another step towards their solution in the emerging world of wireless sensor, remote control and remote management fields. EZMac is used with low-cost third-party MCUs to create very low cost mesh networks. EZMac provides transceiver application designers with a simplified interface to the physical radio layer that manages the delivery of protocol signals and their associated packets between the transmitter and the receiver nodes.

Running in the background on the main CPU in two interrupt service routines, EZMac transmits data in short packets (16 byte maximum payload) and supports data transmission using the internal baud rate generator of the transceiver chip. The EZMac's state machine behavior is determined by a set of parameters stored in the different registers. The MAC engine supports four basic modes (sleep, idle, transmit, and receive) via nine basic machine states (sleep, wake-up, idle, check DQD, receive packet, packet is valid, listen before talk, transmit packet, transmit error).

In addition to enabling the data communication automatically, EZMac provides a number of value-added features to ease application design while keeping the implementation to a simple, turnkey level. EZMac offers a range of addressing modes for customizable packet filtering, including customer ID, sender ID, destination ID, and packet length (see below for more details on packet filtering options). EZMac also works in connection with the receiver's DQD (data quality detector) to support fast frequency-hopping when needed to find a valid packet transmission. Along with customizable addressing/filtering modes, EZMac provides a comprehensive error detection and management capability, including collision error, synchronization error, start of packet missing, bad CID, bad address, bad CRC, and bad packet length.

EZMac Key Features

--Supports Integration's ISM band transceivers

--Supports industry-standard microcontrollers (requires 5 I/Os)

--Internal baud rate generator

--16 byte payload per packet

--Dedicated crystal oscillator for exact timing

--DQD (data quality detector) for FSK fast frequency hopping

--Configurable packet filtering (customer ID, sender ID, destination ID, packet length, cycle redundancy code)

--Multiple error detection (collision error, synchronization error, start of packet error, bad CID, bad address, bad CRC, bad packet length)

--Nine basic machine states (sleep, wake up, idle, check DQD, receive packet, packet ready, listen before talk, transmit packet, transmit error)

--Supports various addressing modes (broadcast, multicast, promiscuous)

--Full function and reduced function versions available

--Patents pending

A demonstration system (part#: IA EZM-DANW1 915) for EZMac is available from Integration consisting of 6 configurable nodes. Each node can be set up as a member of an EZMac network (or subnet); they may also be setup as an EZMac protocol sniffer or a noise generator.

About Integration

Integration Associates is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices and design centers in Europe and North America. Integration Associates designs and delivers tested wafers and packaged ICs for wireless, wireline, and power system management applications for a wide range of systems. For more information about Integration Associates and its products, visit www.integration.com.