Amsterdam, The Netherlands --- (METERING.COM) --- October 9, 2012 - The Kinetis microcontroller line has been expanded by Freescale Semiconductor with the new Kinetis M series, designed to enable a wide range of low cost one and two-phase electrical meter designs, the KW01 wireless MCU for wirelessly networked smart energy applications, and the KW20 with dual-PAN capability.

The Kinetis M series is based on the 32-bit ARM® CortexTM-M0+ core. Some devices integrate all necessary peripherals to build a single chip, cost effective meter that requires no external components, while others are precision analog interface devices when used in multi-chip, higher end smart meter applications.

To address the varying requirements in different regions, the M series is configurable with multiple reference designs, enabling countries to specifically address their individual energy management needs. The M series also integrates several key features for protection, including a memory protection unit to prevent unauthorized code modifications.

The KW01 wireless MCU is designed to meet the robust communication and low power consumption requirements of both outdoor and indoor smart energy networks. Its high performance radio is capable of up to 600 Kbps using complex modulation schemes (GFSK, MSK, GMSK and OOK) while operating at multiple frequencies in the range of 290 to 1020 MHz, supporting ISM bands in Japan, U.S.A., Europe, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and others.

For outdoor applications, such as neighborhood area networks that connect many smart meters to a common data collection point and metropolitan area networks that connect numerous street lamps or sensors, the KW01 MCU can support proprietary protocols and the industry standard IEEE® 802.15.4e/g protocol. For indoor applications connecting wireless sensors, controls, displays, appliances and machinery, the KW01 MCU can support proprietary protocols or standard protocols such as 6LoWPAN, WMBUS (EN13757-4), KNX and ECHONET.

The KW20 MCU with its dual-PAN capability allows a single device to seamlessly connect and actively participate in two separate networks. As the deployment of IEEE® 802.15.4 ZigBee® networks continues to expand, multiple ZigBee networks (including ZigBee Home Automation, ZigBee RF4CE and ZigBee Smart Energy versions 1.x and 2.0) may exist simultaneously in a home or building.

The dual PAN functionality will be supported in Freecale’s ZigBee protocol software and sample applications for the MC13242 and KW20 wireless MCUs, including the forthcoming ZigBee IP stack and ZigBee Smart Energy 2.0 standard.

These MCUs will be on display by Freescale at Metering, Billing/CRM Europe 2012 in Amsterdam, October 9-11.