TI’s new 2.4 GHz ZigBee® wireless network processor simplifies ZigBee design and reduces time-to-market

Z-Accel(TM) family makes it easy to add ZigBee wireless networking to new or existing products

DALLAS .- Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today introduced the first product from the company’s new Z-Accel family of 2.4 GHz ZigBee-certified network processors. The CC2480 provides engineers complete ZigBee functionality without having to learn the complexities of a full ZigBee stack, making it easy to integrate ZigBee into a wide variety of applications, such as home and building automation and industrial monitoring and control, with minimal development effort. The device also allows customers the flexibility to work with any host microcontroller (MCU).

“The CC2480 ZigBee processor drastically simplifies the design of a new low-power wireless product, or the addition of wireless into an existing product, by allowing customers to separate the application code from the networking component of their systems,” said Art George, senior vice president of TI’s High-Performance Analog business unit. “TI continues to deliver innovative products, software and support so customers can design advanced low-power wireless systems with shorter development times and lower production costs.”

Z-Accel is a comprehensive solution where TI’s ZigBee-2006 stack, Z-StackTM software, runs on a ZigBee processor and the application runs on an external MCU. The CC2480 handles all the timing-critical and processing-intensive ZigBee protocol tasks, while leaving the resources of the application MCU free to handle the application. The CC2480 communicates with any MCU via an SPI or UART interface, and it can be combined, for example, with TI’s MPS430 ultra-low power MCUs.

The CC2480 targets ZigBee wireless network systems used in home and building automation, industrial monitoring and control, asset tracking, low-power wireless sensor networks, set-top boxes, remote controls, automated meter reading and medical applications.

The device supports SimpleAPI, which has only 10 API calls to learn, and features excellent radio performance, low power consumption and an automatic low-power mode in idle periods.

Availability and packaging

The CC2480 is available now from TI and its authorized distributors in a 7 mm x 7 mm QFN-48 package. Suggested resale pricing for the CC2480 starts at $8.10 in 1,000-piece quantities.


Start your development today with a comprehensive demonstration kit. The eZ430-RF2480 is a USB-based wireless demonstration tool providing all the hardware and software necessary to evaluate the CC2480 network processor and the MSP430 MCU. The eZ430-RF2480 is priced at only $99.00 (US$).