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Reference designs for wireless human-interface products

2.4 GHz RF link uses wireless USB spread-spectrum signalling

21st February 2007 – A reference design kit from Cypress Semiconductor provides 2.4-GHz communications solutions for products such as wireless keyboards, mice and dongles. The PRoC LP kit employs Cypress's low-power, Programmable Radio System-on-a-Chip that integrates the company’s WirelessUSB LP 2.4-GHz transceiver with the enCoRe II 8-bit reprogrammable Flash microcontroller. The CY4672 RDK also uses Cypress's AgileHID protocol for interference immunity, and includes a wireless mouse, a wireless keyboard, and a small form-factor bridge. It also offers kit documentation, hardware schematics, bill of materials, development tools, and flexible firmware for customization. Manufacturers can easily copy the reference designs exactly, and only need to add enclosures to produce ready-to-ship devices. The designs also take advantage of Cypress's patented KISSBind buttonless-bind technology - a simple and intuitive method that allows a peripheral to bind to a nearby bridge without pressing a dedicated bind button on either device. The kit supports Microsoft Windows HotStart (Direct Application Launch), a new feature in Vista for launching applications directly from system startup through button presses from input devices. PRoC LP has a radio transceiver plus digital baseband on a single chip, operates between 1.8 and 5.25V with power-saving techniques to extend battery life in devices such as wireless mice. This combination of low power consumption, DSSS interference immunity and low cost suit it to wireless HID applications: it comes in a 40-pin QFN package. The RDK (reference design kit) costs $279.00.