Low Power Bluetooth Brings Wireless Connectivity to a New Class of Devices

Following the recent adoption of Bluetooth version 4.0 specs by the Bluetooth SIG, UK’s CSR announced it has readied an highly integrated single-mode, single-chip Bluetooth low energy platform, CSR (News - Alert) µEnergy, to address the needs of ultra low power connected devices.

With RF, baseband, microcontroller, qualified Bluetooth v4.0 stack, and customer application running on a single chip, the CSR µEnergy platform is architected to  provide everything required to create a Bluetooth low energy solution that promises to enable ultra low power connectivity for applications previously limited by the power consumption, size constraints and complexity of other wireless standards.

“The CSR µEnergy platform unlocks the potential of the Bluetooth low energy standard and is a huge step forward in consumer wireless technology. Bluetooth low energy technology is an alternative to the fractured market of proprietary and poorly adopted standards and can be deployed in a variety of everyday devices, changing the way that we interact with our local environment,” commented Anthony Murray, senior vice president of the audio and consumer business unit at CSR. “The ultra low power consumption of CSR’s µEnergy platform enables a new range of accessories to connect to the mobile phone, TV, PC, media player or tablet, enabling consumers to experience the power of these services in the home or products that they carry. Bluetooth low energy sensors in consumer products will enable their behavior to be customized to the needs of the user, and tags will enable consumers to search and locate products and services around them.”

Fiona Thomson (News - Alert) of IMS Research said, “The technology will bring wireless connectivity to a whole new class of devices that have never used it before. The industry is at a key turning point with this technology right now and with the launch of the µEnergy platform of products, CSR is in a great position to drive this market forwards.”

According to CSR, the µEnergy chips can run for years on a single coin cell battery, and may be used in simple sensors such as a step counting foot pods, heart rate monitors or car keyfobs, as well as in more complex low power devices such as a watch that can control and display information from a mobile phone.The platform offers single-mode chips that complement CSR’s dual-mode offerings and provide a complete range of Bluetooth low energy solutions that will drive the development of this new market.

The chips each have direct antenna connections, can connect directly to a 3 V coin cell or a pair of AAA batteries, and come with three pulse width modulation outputs for variable power control in applications such as lighting control or vibration motors. They can run in optimized sleep modes with currents as low as 600 nA and chips can “wake” quickly in response to external input signals for applications such as remote controls. Both chips provide embedded support for keyboard scanning while “asleep” at less than 5 µA.

CSR µEnergy is available in two package options. CSR1000 comes in a 32-pin 5 x 5 x 0.6mm QFN package. CSR1001, in a 56 pin 8 x 8 x 0.9mm QFN, provides extra pins for more complex products with a larger number of digital inputs, such as keyboards, remote control products or home information displays.

Both CSR1000 and CSR1001 can act as a master or slave using CSR’s recently qualified Bluetooth v4.0 host stack providing complete generic access profile (GAP), L2CAP, security manager, attribute protocol (ATT) and generic attribute profile (GATT).