Overview

  • High performance SMARTRange™ transceiver modem
  • Thread Certified Component for every role
  • Compliant to IEEE 802.15.4-2006 and IEEE 802.15.4-2003
  • Industrial temperature range: -40°C to +85°C
  • Wide supply voltage range: 2.1V to 3.6V
  • Integrated MAC on low-power co-processor for a clean API
  • Highly optimised, robust and heavily tested

Radio Features

  • Industry leading receive sensitivity of -105dBm
  • Programmable transmit power of -3dBm to 9dBm
  • Industry leading link budget of 114dB

Low-Power Features

  • Industry leading power consumption:
    Tx: 12mA at 0dBm transmit power
    19mA at +9dBm transmit power
    Rx: 14mA at -105dBm sensitivity
  • Multiple options for sleep and power-saving modes
  • Sleep mode currents:
    32kHz Sleep timer 200nA
    16MHz Crystal Oscillator 100µA

IEEE 802.15.4-2006 MAC Hardware Support

  • Full integrated IEEE 802.15.4 MAC
  • Frame Check Sequence (FCS) Computation
  • Energy Detection (RSSI)
  • Link Quality Indication (LQI)
  • Clear Channel Assessment (CCA)
  • AES security hardware accelerator
  • IEEE 802.15.4 security management
  • Thread network security hardware support
  • Advanced security configuration for hardening
  • IEEE 802.15.4 MAC timer
  • Automatic frame filtering and address validation
  • Automatic indirect frame transmission to sleepy children
  • Auto-ACK, CSMA-CA and retransmission algorithms
  • True Random Number Generator (TRNG)
  • Automatic IEEE 802.15.4 command response
  • Direct packet access for advanced/non-standard behaviour

CPU Supervision

  • Supply monitor

Simplified API

  • IEEE 802.15.4 MAC managed by on-chip co-processor
  • SAP interface, following the IEEE 802.15.4 specification
  • Additional commands for advanced & non-standard behaviour
  • Synchronous SAP commands simplify user software
  • All real-time requirements are handled by the CA-8211
  • Optimised & robust SPI interface

Configurable GPIO interface:

  • SPI (Used for API)
  • Configurable IRQ outputs
  • Configurable clock outputs
  • Configurable control inputs for state transition and clock management

Peripherals

  • Temperature sensor
  • Hardware AES accelerator
  • True Random Number Generator (TRNG)
  • 10 general-purpose I/O pins

Package

  • Available in a 32-PIN low-profile QFN package
  • Package size 5mm x 5mm x 0.9mm

Development Tools

  • IEEE 802.15.4-2006 MLME/MCPS API
  • Certified Thread stack based on openthread
  • Wide range of supported platforms (see below)
  • Seamless Linux prototyping suite to access API over USB for rapid development
  • Wing Commander GUI tool
  • Development kits available on request

Firmware

Cascoda has designed the CA-821X family to be very easy to control. The entire 802.15.4 MAC layer and all system configuration is managed by an intelligent co-processor. This can then be controlled by a powerful yet simple API, closely related to the IEEE 802.15.4 MLME & MCPS primitives. This minimises the control overhead on the host processor, as specification compliance and all real-time requirements are handled by the CA-8211. The CA-8211 enables a very simple system integration, and rapid development.

Cascoda has developed a comprehensive set of drivers for the following micro-controller platforms:

  • ARM® Cortex®-A
  • ARM® Cortex®-M
  • MIPS® interAptiv®
  • MIPS® microAptiv®

Cascoda also supports the following operating systems:

  • Linux [from kernel 4.1, in the kernel from 4.12]
  • ARM mbed [release 5.1]
  • Contiki [release 3.0]

Check out our GitHub repository for publicly available code.

The company expects to add support for further micro-controllers and operating systems as the need arises.

Datasheet

Please download the CA-8211 datasheet from the link below:
CA-8211_datasheet Please take note of our disclaimer.

Application Notes

Cascoda’s application notes will help you get the most out of our silicon. Our application notes are written by engineers, for engineers.

Check out our Application Notes for downloading.