EM Microelectronic's new CoolRF chip qualifies for Bluetooth V4.0

October 04, 2011 // Paul Buckley

EM Microelectronic, the semiconductor company of the Swatch Group, has announced at the Bluetooth Technology Conference 2011 in Munich, Germany, the Bluetooth V4.0 qualification of its EM9301, the latest member of the company’s CoolRF circuits family.

The EM9301 is a single-mode Master/Slave controller optimized for low voltage and low energy systems such as wireless sensors, wireless remote controls and wireless monitoring. With operating supply voltage as low as 0.8 V, the circuit allows applications to take advantage of a wide range of common single-cell batteries or of energy harvesters such as solar cells, piezo-electric and electro-magnetic elements.

The true low voltage design of the EM9301, combined with its ultra-low current consumption, confirms EM Microlectronic's leadership in providing lowest power solutions on the market. Interfaced with a 8051-based application controller from the market, this CoolRF circuit offers the industry's most energy-efficient solution for a Bluetooth low energy application.

EM9301 Bluetooth low energy solutions are typically tailored for portable applications requiring both low voltage and low energy connection types. In receive mode, the circuit requires only 16.5 mA peak current from physical layer to application layer. Under the same operating conditions, competing products consume up to 2 3mA peak current from physical layer to host interface only. With its integrated DC/DC converter, the circuit is capable of operating the RF functions while delivering up to 100 mA to an external device. When the Bluetooth low energy connection is not required, the system power budget can be optimized by setting the sleep or idle mode in which the circuit itself consumes less than 1.0 uA.

The EM9301 is fully compliant with Bluetooth V4.0 specification adopted by the Bluetooth SIG. The device is a single-mode and master-slave Bluetooth low energy qualified solution, providing full Bluetooth low energy functionality from the radio up to the host controller interface (HCI).

Due to its state-of-the-art architecture, the EM9301 can be interfaced with any 8, 16 or 32bit host controller, which allows much better cost/performance optimized solutions than comparable products with fully integrated and often overpowered host controllers.

To fit the single-mode Bluetooth low energy applications, the EM9301 companion chip offer a system solution providing flexible power management, while running from a single supply. The total system cost remains low as the bill-of-material (BOM) can be limited to only few basic external passive components.

EM Microelectronic worked with Alpwise, a leading supplier of wireless software to provide a series of tools including kits, dongles, modules and software suites running with the EM9301.

Samples and development kits for the EM9301 are available now directly from EM Microelectronic or Alpwise.

Availability

The EM9301 is available in MLF24 package and production will start Q1/2012.

More information about the EM9301 Master/Slave controller and development kit is available at
www.emmicroelectronic.com/Products.asp?IdProduct=289
or www.alpwise.com/

Technical papers     

• AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation Field Analyzers
• 16-Bit, 100 kSPS Low Power Successive Approximation ADC System
• Replacing the Candle in the Candelabra
• Adaptive Cell Converter Topology Enables Constant Efficiency in PFC Applications

December 15, 2011 | Texas instruments | 222901974

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