Applications
 Ultra low-power wireless applications
operating in the 315/433/868/915 MHz
ISM/SRD bands
 Wireless alarm and security systems
 Industrial monitoring and control
 Wireless sensor networks
 AMR – Automatic Meter Reading
 Home and building automation
 Wireless MBUS

Product Description
CC1101 is a low-cost sub-1 GHz transceiver
designed for very low-power wireless applications.
The circuit is mainly intended for the
ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) and
SRD (Short Range Device) frequency bands
at 315, 433, 868, and 915 MHz, but can easily
be programmed for operation at other
frequencies in the 300-348 MHz, 387-464 MHz
and 779-928 MHz bands.
The RF transceiver is integrated with a highly
configurable baseband modem. The modem
supports various modulation formats and has
a configurable data rate up to 600 kbps.
CC1101 provides extensive hardware support
for packet handling, data buffering, burst
transmissions, clear channel assessment, link
quality indication, and wake-on-radio.
The main operating parameters and the 64-
byte transmit/receive FIFOs of CC1101 can be
controlled via an SPI interface. In a typical
system, the CC1101 will be used together with a
microcontroller and a few additional passive
components.
The CC1190 850-950 MHz range extender [21]
can be used with CC1101 in long range
applications for improved sensitivity and higher
output power.

Key Features
RF Performance
 High sensitivity
o -116 dBm at 0.6 kBaud, 433 MHz,
1% packet error rate
o -112 dBm at 1.2 kBaud, 868 MHz,
1% packet error rate
 Low current consumption (14.7 mA in RX,
1.2 kBaud, 868 MHz)
 Programmable output power up to +12
dBm for all supported frequencies
 Excellent receiver selectivity and blocking
performance
 Programmable data rate from 0.6 to 600
kbps
 Frequency bands: 300-348 MHz, 387-464
MHz and 779-928 MHz
Analog Features
 2-FSK, 4-FSK, GFSK, and MSK supported
as well as OOK and flexible ASK shaping
 Suitable for frequency hopping systems
due to a fast settling frequency
synthesizer; 75 μs settling time
 Automatic Frequency Compensation
(AFC) can be used to align the frequency
synthesizer to the received signal centre
frequency
 Integrated analog temperature sensor
Digital Features
 Flexible support for packet oriented
systems; On-chip support for sync word
detection, address check, flexible packet
length, and automatic CRC handling
 Efficient SPI interface; All registers can be
programmed with one “burst” transfer
 Digital RSSI output
 Programmable channel filter bandwidth
 Programmable Carrier Sense (CS)
indicator
 Programmable Preamble Quality Indicator
(PQI) for improved protection against false
sync word detection in random noise
 Support for automatic Clear Channel
Assessment (CCA) before transmitting (for
listen-before-talk systems)
 Support for per-package Link Quality
Indication (LQI)
 Optional automatic whitening and dewhitening
of data
Low-Power Features
 200 nA sleep mode current consumption
 Fast startup time; 240 μs from sleep to RX
or TX mode (measured on EM reference
design [1] and [2])
 Wake-on-radio functionality for automatic
low-power RX polling
 Separate 64-byte RX and TX data FIFOs
(enables burst mode data transmission)
General
 Few external components; Completely onchip
frequency synthesizer, no external
filters or RF switch needed
 Green package: RoHS compliant and no
antimony or bromine
 Small size (QLP 4x4 mm package, 20
pins)
 Suited for systems targeting compliance
with EN 300 220 (Europe) and FCC CFR
Part 15 (US)
 Suited for systems targeting compliance
with the Wireless MBUS standard
EN 13757-4:2005
 Support for asynchronous and
synchronous serial receive/transmit mode
for backwards compatibility with existing
radio communication protocols
Improved Range using CC1190
 The CC1190 [21] is a range extender for
850-950 MHz and is an ideal fit for CC1101
to enhance RF performance
 High sensitivity
o -118 dBm at 1.2 kBaud, 868 MHz,
1% packet error rate
o -120 dBm at 1.2 kBaud, 915 MHz,
1% packet error rate
 +20 dBm output power at 868 MHz
 +27 dBm output power at 915 MHz
 Refer to AN094 [22] and AN096 [23] for
more performance figures of the CC1101 +
CC1190 combination