Issues with typical low-cost, low-power sensor nodes in System-on-Chip designs include component integration, energy efficiency and reusability. These are solved by implementing a standard communication protocol like the Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA) that allows low-power designs. An AMBA system prototype is designed, implemented, and characterized on an FPGA platform, with ARM9TDM as the processor, SRAM as memory device, and Ethernet, LCD, UART, and PS/2 as peripherals. With this base platform, other sensor node components like the transceiver, ADC and sensors can be easily integrated to obtain a completely functional node for sensor networks.