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NEUCHATEL, Switzerland & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2001--XEMICS S.A., specializing in short-range wireless connectivity products, today announced the release of the XE88LC08, a revolutionary home automation microcontroller.

Home automation applications specific priorities rank from one finds low system cost, miniaturization, battery longevity, and wireless and (or wired) communication. The XE88LC08 uses the XE8000's system on a chip low power and data acquisition features, focusing them on fulfills these conditions, inheriting some of the data acquisition and low-power features of the XE88LC01 Sensing Machine that have been limited and focused on home automation needs. needs.

The XE88LC08 includes an 8 channels 12-bits analog-to-digital converter (ADC) (that can be extended to 13 channels. ). Suitable for home automation applications (security, comfort, remote metering), this microcontroller includes 11k byte of MTP Flash memory, 520 byte of RAM, counters, UART, numerous IO, and PWM. It makes possible , making to realize a large variety of acquisition, filtering, data processing and management functions possible. This programmable System-On-Chip operates from 2.4 V to 5.5 V. The XE88LC08 It uses less than 2 uA in low-speed mode and 300 uA/MHz in active mode, making it perfect for both monitoring and battery powered devices. The XE88LC08's operating voltage is regulated in such a way that its current requirement does not depend on the supply voltage.

Asynchronous digital communication can be made via the integrated 115 kbaud UART or by connecting the XE88LC08 to any one of the XEMICS XE1200 ultra low-power radio transceiver series.

The ADC itself requires only 200 uA for a 12-bit 8 kHz or an 8-bit 20 kHz data conversion. For sensors that havewith a limited full scale, the ADC range can be changed thanks to the two differential inputs that are available for external references. The RISC MCU executes any instruction in 1 single clock cycle, including multiplication, conditional jump or multiple position shift. It can operate at a sustained 2 MIPS for only 600 uA. Any block can be set in sleep mode for very low-power operation. Extreme low-power is achieved by using the prescaler that generates a 1 Hz interrupt and makes possiblemaking it possible to maintain real time clock and operate while operating the MCU at a mean frequency of 1 kHz for less than 2 uA.

``The XE88LC08 home automation microcontroller eliminates a lot of external components such as ADC, VLD and real-time clock, which saves PCB area, costs, power and increases the system reliability,'' said Michel Chevroulet, Product Line Manager for the XE8000 series. ``And, all this at home automation prices.''

Examples of applicationsApplications that take profit fromof the XE88LC08 include temperature monitoring, intrusion detection, remote metering and air quality monitoring. Any application that relies on batteries for its supply or transmit data over RF can use the XE88LC08 capabilities. Software examples including those with low-power radio communication are available from www.xemics.com., inclusive examples with low-power radio communication.

The XE88LC08 is available now. Price in 1k for the XE88LC08 in LQFP44 package is $3.64. The XE88LC08 is pin-compatible with the XE88LC01 Sensing Machine.

A complete toolsettoolkit is available from XEMICS and third parties for the XE8000 series, includingsive CoolRIDE (C-compiler, assembler, editor, linker, debugger and simulator) and the ProStart (combined programmer and starter-kit).

For more information on this new device, contact any XEMICS sales representative or authorized distributor or visit www.xemics.com.

ABOUT XEMICS

XEMICS is a fabless semiconductor company offering advanced short-range wireless connectivity solutions for Personal Area Networks and Home Automation Networks. XEMICS' integrated circuits are designed for ultra low power consumption and include analog, mixed-signal, microcontroller and radio functions. The main product lines are RF transceivers, including Bluetooth, data acquisition and communication products, 8-bit microcontrollers and Audio CODECs.

For more details of products from XEMICS please contact:

     XEMICS, Neuchatel
     Florence Amez-Droz, +41 32 720 5670
     Fax: +41 32 720 5770
     E-Mail: florence.amez-droz@xemics.com
     Website: www.xemics.com