Silicon Labs Si1000DK Wireless MCU Development Kit

Silicon Labs is known for its low-power microcontrollers as well as its wireless devices. So it’s only natural that they’d focus on low-power wireless, for which the Si1000 is their flagship product.

Introduced earlier this year, Silicon Labs claims the chip exhibits both lower sleep- and active-mode power than competing chips (and you know who they are). The Si1000 includes an ultra-low power 64 kByte, 10-bit ADC MCU with an integrated 240-960 MHz transceiver; dual comparators with programmable hysteresis; 64 kBytes of flash; 4 kBytes of internal data RAM; and 22 I/O ports. The MCU is a pipelined 8051 core running at 25 MIPS peak throughput with a 25 MHz clock. RF power consumption is rated at 18.5 mA in receive and 85 mA in transmit for +20 dBm RF output. Typical sleep mode current is rated at <0.1 uA from a 1.8-3.6V supply.

While we’re not (yet) prepared to do a detailed 1:1 comparison with Competitors X, Y or Z, we were anxious to put this chip through its paces using the Si1000 development kit. While our numbers didn’t always agree with the data sheet, the chip certainly met our expectations.

When you have 10 minutes to spare and a fresh cup of coffee, check out the video below where we check out the Si1000.