Racing Cars from 'World's Smallest Car Company' Controlled by Atmel's Smart RF Multi-Channel Transceivers
San Jose, California (ots/PRNewswire)
- Tiny Metl-Tech Remote-Control Car Design Benefits from Highly-Integrated Communications Chips
Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions and Metl-Tech Racers, Los Altos, CA, the world's smallest car company, announced today that Atmel's multi-channel transceiver is being used in Metl-Tech's line of tiny, remote-controlled race cars.
Metl-Tech Racers are "matchbox-sized" remote control cars. Their high-tech electro-mechanical design makes them the first miniature indoor R/C racers. A unique high-frequency transmitter from Atmel sends data to the vehicle to precisely control steering and speed. It combines radio frequency, mechanical and microcontroller design to create a reliable, digital-proportional remote-controlled mini-vehicle. The cars have great maneuverability made possible by a patent-pending Digital Proportional electronic design. They provide players with hours of challenging driving enjoyment, racing against friends on a conference table or floor. They also can help develop driving skills by using them to learn parallel parking or maneuvering around objects on a desk.
Metl-Tech designers cite the level of integration of Atmel's SmartRF AT86RF211 transceiver that allowed them to meet the dimensional constraints of a car that's just 2-3/4-inches (7cm) long. They also commented that the Atmel transceiver includes all RF functions embedded on silicon, requiring a small number of external components and can be controlled by any low-cost microcontroller. Atmel's technical support was also mentioned as a key design attraction.
Prototypes submitted for lab testing complied with Part 15 of the Federal Communication Commission's regulations when first tested, this not being typically common for RF products. The FCC governs operation of RF transmitters in the unlicensed ISM 902-928 MHz frequency bands.
About the AT86RF211/RF211S Transceiver
The AT86RF211/RF211S is a single-chip transceiver chip dedicated to low-power wireless applications, for licence-free ISM band operations from 400 MHz to 950 MHz. Its flexibility, robustness and level of integration make it a natural choice for telemetry, remote controls, alarms, RF modems, automatic meter reading, hand-held terminals and high-tech toys like Metl-Tech's racing cars.
This Atmel transceiver makes bi-directional communications cost-effective and allows rapid development of Adaptive Frequency Agility (AFA), Listen Before Transmit (LBT) or FHSS protocols. It can be easily configured to a range of applications and is well adapted to battery-operated systems because it can be powered from just 2.4V. It offers several power-saving modes, including a stand-alone "wake-up" feature that alerts the associated microcontroller only when a valid inquiry is detected. It is 100 percent compatible with its predecessorAT86RF211, through direct in-production replacement. In addition to cost-reduction, the use of the latest RF Atmel process significantly improves technical features, such as current consumption and phase noise. New features, activated by a dedicated control bit, include a 1 to 10 MHz buffered clock for the companion microcontroller.
About the Metl-Tech Racers
Metl-Tech Racers, Los Altos, CA, the world's smallest car company, designs patentable toy technologies. The company's founder and development team, with over 60 years of combined experience in sophisticated electronic product design, have created a new generation of indoor racers. Metl-Tech Racers are a high-tech, electro-mechanical design allowing the first miniature indoor R/C racers. A unique high-frequency transmitter sends data to the vehicle to precisely control steering and speed. The "Matchbox-sized" remote control car combines radio frequency, mechanical and microcontroller design to create a reliable, digital-proportional remote controlled mini-vehicle. Designed in the USA to 1:64 scale standards, their original die-cast car models are interchangeable to fit the speedster one R/C chassis. Metl-Tech owns the patent pending Digital Proportional electronic design enabling ease of driving mastery in R/C cars. For more information please contact metltech@xxap.com
About Atmel
Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions. Focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere You Are(R).
NOTE: Atmel(R), logo and combinations thereof, Everywhere You Are(R) and others are registered trademarks or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.
Information
For further information on Atmel's Smart RF product family, go to http://www.atmel.com/products/SmartRF/
Information specific to the AT86RF211S can be retrieved at http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=3662
Press Contacts
Sylvie Mattei, Communications Manager, Atmel Grenoble +33-4-76-58-30-25, Email: sylvie.mattei@gfo.atmel.com
Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe Tel: +33-1-30-60-70-68, Fax: +49-71-31-67-24-23 Email: veronique.sablereau@atmel.com
Clive Over, Director of Press Relations - USA and Asia, Phone: +1-408-451-2855, Email: cliveover@atmel.com
Web site: http://www.atmel.com
Contact:
Sylvie Mattei, Communications Manager of Atmel Grenoble,
+33-4-76-58-30-25, or sylvie.mattei@gfo.atmel.com; or Veronique
Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe,
+33-1-30-60-70-68, or fax, +49-71-31-67-24-23, or
veronique.sablereau@atmel.com; or Clive Over, Director of Press
Relations - USA and Asia, +1-408-451-2855, or cliveover@atmel.com