Nordic Semiconductor Provides Ultra Lowest in Ultra Low Power Wireless

By: By Stephen Las Marias, Editor
( 1 Nov 2007 )

Bluetooth technology's merger with the Nokia-developed Wibree has ushered in a new segment of wireless connectivity—the Ultra Low Power (ULP) Bluetooth. The first open standard featuring true ultra low power wireless connectivity, the ULP Bluetooth enables many new opportunities for wireless data links between PCs or high-end mobile phones and coin cell battery powered devices such as sports and health sensors.

Bluetooth is one of the strongest and massively backed brands in wireless, as well as the most widely adopted short range wireless technology. Wibree, on the other hand, is a short range RF communication technology that features ultralow power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and two implementation options—as an easily implemented extension of the established Bluetooth radio technology, and as a stand-alone implementation. Adopting Wibree technology will expand Bluetooth's coverage into small battery powered wireless devices.

According to Svenn-Tore Larsen, CEO of Nordic Semiconductor, ULP Bluetooth's attributes will ensure widespread adoption in many new applications where Bluetooth wireless technology is not practical to use due to its power consumption and expense. Among these segments are sports and wellness, healthcare, watches, PC peripherals, home entertainment and portable media players.

Nordic Semiconductor, one of the first companies to join the Wibree specification group, is currently developing stand alone ULP Bluetooth solutions— highly integrated RF silicon, ULP Bluetooth software and development tools—and expects to release it in the early second half of 2008. Thomas Embla Bonnerud, Product Manager for Standard Components of Nordic Semiconductor, said that one of the main features of these products will be ultra low power consumption of 12µA (average). The devices will also include complete radio in a 4x4mm package, will have built-in security, and can be powered by coin cell batteries.

Nordic Semiconductor has been aggressively developing ultra low power RF silicon solutions. Recently, the company has released its nRF24LU1 single chip 2.4GHz transceivers that are available in a 5x5mm QFN package, enabling ultra-compact USB dongles. The nRF24LU1 is designed to integrate seamlessly via Nordic Semiconductor's unique Enhanced ShockBurst hardware link layer with ultra-low power 2.4GHz peripherals based on the company's nRF24L01 transceiver that need to be able to run on small batteries for long periods of time.

"The size of the USB dongle is becoming a key differentiator in the wireless PC peripheral market," said Bonnerud. "As a true single chip solution, the nRF24LU1 is ideal for implementing extremely compact dongles. The chip also meets the performance requirement for very advanced PC peripherals like media center remote controls and three-in-one desktop bundles with mouse, keyboard and remote controls."

The nRF24LU1 delivers a full-speed USB 12Mbps PC to USB transfer rate, a powerful and highly optimized embedded 8051 MCU, plus a 2Mbps air data rate. Its internal 16kB of flash can also be used to emulate non-volatile memory, removing the need for an external EEPROM thus reducing PCB area and cost.