Date
04/09/2014
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Wireless intellectual property (IP) company Sunrise Micro Devices (SMD), has partnered with Wicentric, a leader in Bluetooth software solutions, to develop powerful and efficient protocol stack software optimized for CORDIO™ BT4 radio core, SMD’s first radio core offering from the CORDIO family of sub-volt wireless products. This integrated and highly optimized solution provides a convenient option for semiconductor vendors looking to easily integrate Bluetooth Smart radio functionality into their chips.
“The success of the Internet of Things (IoT), whether in wearable devices or embedded sensors, depends critically on long battery life and low cost silicon,” said Nick Hunn, CTO of WiFore Consulting. “SMD has just moved the goalposts with an integrated IP offering that makes possible products that designers have only previously dreamt of. Their low cost, sub-1V Bluetooth functionality shatters one of the last major barriers to ubiquitous connected products.”
CORDIO BT4 radio core incorporates Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.1 with a Low Energy Core Configuration that is suitable for applications requiring single-mode devices. This radio core solution is a fully integrated platform that includes a transceiver, baseband and link layer subsystem for separate and independent execution of the link layer via the host controller interface (HCI). CORDIO BT4 radio IP includes Wicentric’s link layer firmware in the ROM and makes a patch area in RAM available for firmware updates.
This solution offers both master and slave mode support. SMD IP, incorporating Wicentric’s link layer firmware, will be a Bluetooth qualified controller sub-system (with a unique QDID) to ease Bluetooth listing of OEM products. The timing-independent interface to the host controller in the CORDIO BT4 radio core enables easy implementation of the stack and application layers. CORDIO BT4 also works with Wicentric’s separately licensable exactLE Stack and Profiles, a complete Bluetooth low energy (BLE) protocol stack and profile solution.
“CORDIO BT4 offers a breakthrough in low power consumption and ease-of-integration that is unmatched in the marketplace,” said Jason Hillyard, CEO of Wicentric. “Wicentric is excited to partner a leader in sub-volt wireless design to deliver this innovative and comprehensive Bluetooth Smart IP offering to chip makers.”
The combined silicon and software IP solution utilizes Wicentric’s exactLE product line, which offers a complete baseband-to-application software solution for Bluetooth low energy. Wicentric’s link layer, exactLE Link, is designed for efficient execution on low power CPU cores running at low clock speeds, making it well suited for sub-volt wireless designs. Accompanying stack and profiles support 18 standard Bluetooth Smart profiles and services for products like physical activity monitors, healthcare devices, and smart watches. The entire exactLE product line is designed to minimize ROM and RAM use, therefore reducing the cost and power consumption of Bluetooth Smart chips.
“By partnering with Wicentric, a proven software provider in the Bluetooth space, SMD can offer exactly what the IoT market needs – a complete Bluetooth Smart radio IP solution” said Bob Morris, vice president of sales and marketing at SMD. “Together, we will foster the ecosystem of Bluetooth Smart products by enabling innovative product features while reducing interoperability risk and time-to-market”.
