Today we have announced the qualification of our RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart 4.2 IP. This is the 3rd generation of this very successful Bluetooth Smart product line which is already shipping in tens of millions of devices. It can be found in a variety of ultra-low power connected applications including wearables, health and fitness sensors, sport, beacons, PC peripherals, hearing aids and other technologies for the Internet of Things (IoT).
Securely Connected, Interoperable and low power consumption
Right now, IoT is undoubtedly the most lucrative, high volume emerging market for technology companies. But what are the main criteria for allowing ‘things’ (and, potentially, everything) to be connected to the internet? On top of having the proper infrastructure, it is essential to be user-friendly, securely wirelessly connected, interoperable and have the lowest power consumption possible. Building on the 100% adoption rate of Bluetooth Smart Ready in the latest smartphones, the best wireless technology to address all these requirements is Bluetooth Smart.
Bluetooth Smart is often called Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE. The RivieraWaves BLE IP supports all the optional BLE 4.2 features including Secure Connection, Enhanced Privacy, Scatternet (more about this feature later) and Data Length Extension. This ensures better secured connection and provides higher throughput that reaches more than 800Kbps. This allows for instance much faster OTA firmware update. Bluetooth Smart 4.2 also broadens system inter-operability by supporting IPv6/6LowPAN, allowing direct Internet Protocol based communication right down to the Bluetooth smart device.
To ensure interoperability, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has defined formal test plans that all Bluetooth products have to pass in order to claim Bluetooth qualification and the right to carry the logo. The SIG regularly organizes UnPlugFests and other Interoperability testing events which most Bluetooth players – including CEVA – attend to ensure best user experience. CEVA has just qualified its RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart IP with the latest and most stringent test plan for Bluetooth Smart 4.2.
Battery life is another key element for the success of IoT deployment. In Bluetooth Smart, one can argue that the key contributor to the power consumption is the RF. Peak power consumption, dominated by RF power consumption is indeed an important factor, particularly for the selection of the type of battery and other power management components. However, as IoT devices such as wearable sensors are sleeping most of the time, the battery life is heavily impacted by the way the platform, the controller and the protocol stack are implemented. CPU activity, wake up time and the amount of data to be retained in sleep mode are the main contributors. The RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart IP innovative architecture is the response to such stringent requirement.
A good illustration is the 15 years battery life BLE keyboard made possible thanks to the CEVA RivieraWaves powered Dialog SmartBond BLE IC. Another example is the CEVA RivieraWaves powered Xiaomi Mi Band fitness band which has a one month battery life rather than the one week offered by many similar devices.
Xiaomi Mi Fitness Band
Handling Master Links and Slave Links in Parallel
The RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart 4.2 IP is the second generation of IP that simultaneously supports all Central and Peripheral roles, handling several master links and several slave links in parallel. This is an important capability for the efficient handling of complex scenarios, for instance, smart home LED lighting, which can be meshed and even controlled from several smartphones and tablets. Another good example is a cycling computer collecting data from multiple sensors for cycling speed, cycling power and heartrate sensors, while connected to a smart phone.
The RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart 4.2 IP incorporates a smart co-existence interface that handles Wi-Fi/Bluetooth traffic arbitration to avoid interference and is in production with some of the industry’s leading IoT companies. What’s more, this flexible interface is also used with Zigbee and other proprietary wireless protocols by some customers.
The CEVA RivieraWaves family also includes a Bluetooth Smart Ready 4.2 platform. This is a dual mode solution, meaning compliant with both Classic Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy. It is widely deployed in smart phones, tablets and other audio and CE devices. This 3rd generation of RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart Ready IP is taking advantage of the similar innovative architecture introduced in the RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart IP, hence making it also ideal for extremely power constrained wearable devices such as headsets, hearing aid devices and smart watches.
Click here to learn more about RivieraWaves Bluetooth Smart IP Platform.
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