Weartech-Comms / Bluetooth / Wireless Archives - Page 11 of 19

Dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth module extends battery life for the IoT

Tue, Mar 07, 2023

Extending the Infineon Airoc portfolio, the company has introduced the CYW43022 Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth module which extends battery life for IoT applications with up to 65 per cent power reduction.

The CYW43022 low power architecture results in up to a 65 per cent reduction in power usage during deep sleep mode, to extend the battery life for applications such as smart locks, smart wearables, IP cameras and thermostats.

Sivaram Trikutam, vice president of Wi-Fi product line at Infineon, said: “By optimising the sleep power for battery-operated IoT devices, consumers can now enjoy longer battery life compared to competing solutions. With the industry’s lowest power consumption for a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combination, [the CYW43022] enables more devices to be smarter, connected, and more versatile in a wide range of environments,” he added.

The Aitoc CYW43022 low power, dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.3 device includes Wi-Fi network offloads and an embedded Bluetooth stack reducing power demands on host processors. To support designs with smaller antennas or designs that require longer reach, it includes a Class 1 Bluetooth power amplifier with +18dBm transmit power. To protect against hacker attacks, there is secure boot with firmware image authentication which requires signed Infineon firmware protects against hacker attacks.

Infineon’s Airoc wireless products, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combinations with a broad portfolio of high-performing, reliable, low power products that deliver robust industry-leading performance.

Airoc products leverage a common software framework across Android, Linux, RTOS platforms and are pre-integrated with Infineon’s ModusToolbox software and tools, allowing developers to deliver differentiated products to market on time and on budget.

Infineon’s Airoc CYW43022 low power, dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth is available now. IT will be exhibited by Infineon at Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany (14 to 16 March) Hall 4A-138.

http://www.infineon.com

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STMicroelectronics reveals single-chip antenna-matching ICs for easier, faster design with Bluetooth LE SoCs and microcontrollers

Tue, Feb 07, 2023

STMicroelectronics has extended its range of single-chip antenna-matching ICs that simplify RF-circuit design with two new devices optimised for BlueNRG-LPS system-on-chip ICs (SoCs) and STM32WB1x and STM32WB5x wireless microcontrollers.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 for BlueNRG-LPS and MLPF-WB-02D3 for STM32WB integrate the complete filtering and impedance-matching network needed for best RF output power and receiver sensitivity with an external antenna. Each has 50Ohm nominal impedance on the antenna side. The chip-scale package has a minuscule footprint, 0.4mm bump pitch and a profile of only 630micro after reflow soldering. Also featuring a 2.4GHz low-pass filter, ST’s antenna-matching ICs ease compliance with worldwide radio regulations, including FCC, ETSI, and ARIB specifications.

The circuit elements are fabricated on a glass substrate leveraging ST’s integrated passive device (IPD) technology, which, the company claimed, minimises insertion losses and outperforms circuits built with discrete components. Integration on the same die is said to ensure consistent component parameters for end-product quality. In addition, ST’s IPDs help accelerate time to market, reduce bill-of-materials costs and miniaturise circuit dimensions.

The BlueNRG-LP and Blue NRG-LPS SoCs and STM32WB1x and STM32WB5x contain ST’s energy-efficient 2.4GHz radio IP and come with royalty-free protocol stacks and dedicated software tools. They help developers quickly design state-of-the-art wireless products, even without having extensive RF-design skills. Both provide on-chip features such as memory, peripherals, communication interfaces, power regulation and advanced hardware security including encryption, memory protection and public key acceleration (PKA).

BlueNRG-LPx SoCs can be used in standalone or network processor applications and support Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3 features including point-to-point and mesh communications, advertising extensions and direction finding.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 IPD is compatible with all variants, comprising the BLUENRG-3x5Vx, BLUENRG-3x5Ax and BLUENRG-332xx in UFQFPN and WLCSP packages.

The STM32WB5x and STM32WB1x MCUs are Bluetooth 5.3, Zigbee 3.0 and OpenThread certified and feature an Arm Cortex-M4 core for application processing with a Cortex-M0+ dedicated to managing the radio. They are available in WLCSP and UFBGA packages that connect directly to the MLPF-WB-02D3 IPD. A different IPD is available for other MCU variants in UQFN and VQFN packages.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 and MLPF-WB-02D3 single-chip antenna-matching ICs are available from $0.14 for orders of 1,000 pieces.

https://www.st.com/

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nRF7002 companion IC and development kit create low power Wi-Fi 6 IoT

Thu, Feb 02, 2023

The first IC in Nordic Semiconductor’s Wi-Fi product family is the nRF7002 Wi-Fi 6 companion IC. The low power Wi-Fi 6 companion IC provides seamless dual band (2.4 and 5.0GHz) connectivity. The nRF7002 IC can be used with Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52 and nRF53 series multi-protocol SoCs and the nRF9160 cellular IoT (LTE-M / NB-IoT) system in package (SiP), but can be used in conjunction with non-Nordic host devices.

In IoT applications, Wi-Fi 6 has power efficiency gains for battery power Wi-Fi operation and management in smart home products, industrial sensors, asset trackers, and wearables. They also contribute to the management of large IoT networks comprising hundreds of devices, said Nordic Semiconductor.

According to Svein-Egil Nielsen, CTO and executive vice president of R&D and Strategy at Nordic: “This highly integrated and flexible solution will empower developers to create new, innovative Wi-Fi 6-enabled products. Supported with the nRF7002 DK and the award-winning nRF Connect [software development kit], combined with Nordic’s . . . technical support, I believe it has never been easier to develop great Wi-Fi products.”

“The nRF7002 is designed to work alongside Nordic’s nRF52 and nRF53 Series making it a perfect fit for Matter, a smart-home standard backed by Amazon, Apple, Google, Nordic, Samsung, and hundreds of other companies,” explained Finn Boetius, product marketing engineer with Nordic. “The introduction of the IC and the nRF7002 DK now makes it easy for developers to get started on Matter and any other Wi-Fi based applications.” Matter uses Thread and Wi-Fi for data transport, and Bluetooth LE for commissioning.

The nRF7002 brings low power and secure Wi-Fi to the IoT. The dual-band IC complies with Station (STA), Soft Access Point (AP), and Wi-Fi Direct operation, and meets the IEEE 802.11b, a, g, n (Wi-Fi 4), ac (Wi-Fi 5), and ax (Wi-Fi 6) standards. The product also offers co-existence with Bluetooth LE, Thread and Zigbee.

The nRF7002 supports target wake time (TWT) a key Wi-Fi 6 power saving feature. Interfacing with a host processor is done via serial peripheral interface (SPI) or quad SPI (QSPI). The IC offers a single spatial stream, 20MHz channel bandwidth, 64 QAM (MCS7), OFDMA, up to 86Mbits per second PHY throughput, and BSS (base service set) colouring.

In addition to general IoT applications and Matter, the nRF7002 implements low power SSID-based Wi-Fi location when used with Nordic’s nRF9160 SiP and the company’s nRF Cloud Location Services. SSID-based Wi-Fi location supplements GNSS- or cell-based location by providing accurate positioning indoors and in places with a high density of Wi-Fi access points.

The introduction of the nRF7002 is accompanied by the launch of the nRF7002 DK, a development kit for the Wi-Fi 6 companion IC. The DK includes an nRF7002 IC and features an nRF5340 multi-protocol SoC as a host processor for the nRF7002. The nRF5340 embeds a 128MHz Arm Cortex-M33 application processor and a 64MHz high efficiency network processor. The DK supports the development of low-power Wi-Fi applications and enables Wi-Fi 6 features like OFDMA (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing), beamforming, and TWT (target wake time). The DK includes Arduino connectors; two programmable buttons; a Wi-Fi dual-band antenna and a Bluetooth LE antenna, and current measurement pins.

The nRF7002 companion IC and nRF7002 DK are available now from Nordic’s distribution partners.

http://www.nordicsemic.com

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Invicta antenna extends Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee coverage, says Antenova

Thu, Oct 13, 2022

Antenna and RF antenna modue manufacturer, Antenova, has released the Invicta compact antenna. It is for use with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee frequencies at 2.4 to 2.5GHz and averages 70 per cent efficiency across the 2.4GHz band.

The Invicta antenna averages efficiency of 70% across the 2.4 GHz band. Using this antenna allows designs to operate over longer distances and through walls and obstacles, said Antenova, extending the coverage and performance of wireless devices using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee.

It is a flexible printed circuit (FPC) antenna, which is easy to place in a design. It connects directly to the PCB via a cable and IPX MHF (UFL) connector. The antenna comes with 100mm cable as standard; other cable lengths and connector options are available on request.

An FPC antenna is different to an SMD antenna in that it operates independently to a ground plane length and no antenna matching is required, so the design cycle for Invicta is simpler and shorter, said Antenova.

The FPC antenna also makes for easier manufacturing, as the antenna is fixed in place by a simple self-adhesive strip. It can be curved and inserted into the case of a design. This style of antenna is suited to small to medium volume manufacturing.

Antenova has designed the Invicta antenna primarily for smart battery-powered devices for the home and office, where one single device provides global coverage. Typical applications in the home would be smart meters, home automation, wireless sensor networks, smoke and intruder alarms. It would also be used for remote monitoring in industrial and medical environments.

“The efficiency of an antenna is related to its size, with larger antennas usually providing better performance. The Invicta antenna . . . performs better than PCB trace antennas and provides exceptional performance and range in return for the relatively small space in a design,” said Antenova’s product marketing manager, Michael Castle.

The Invicta antenna part number is SRFW082.

https://www.antenova.com

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Dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth module extends battery life for the IoT

STMicroelectronics reveals single-chip antenna-matching ICs for easier, faster design with Bluetooth LE SoCs and microcontrollers

nRF7002 companion IC and development kit create low power Wi-Fi 6 IoT

Invicta antenna extends Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee coverage, says Antenova

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