ultra low power
www.nordicsemi.com
SUMMER ISSUE 2011
HearT raTe mOniTOr
First Bluetooth low energy heart rate
belt is ready for production
A heart rate chest belt developed by
Dayton Industrial – and based on a
Nordic µBlue™ nRF8001 Bluetooth low
energy chip – is claimed to be the first ever
“production-ready" belt to employ Bluetooth
low energy.
Dayton Industrial manufactured
over half the ultra-low power
(ULP) heart-rate belts shipped
globally last year (as measured by
sales revenue)1.
Set for volume production, the
belt can communicate with devices
equipped with the latest Bluetooth
wireless technology Version 4.0 (which
features Bluetooth low energy as a hallmark
feature). This means owners of smartphones
and other devices incorporating Bluetooth v4.0
(expected to hit the market later this year) will
be able to set-up and use the wireless belt
within seconds. Data will be transmitted
directly to the phone or device.
This is expected to spur the development
of a whole new range of Bluetooth low energybased health and fitness applications ('apps').
Such apps could enable new ways of collecting,
interpreting, and displaying training data –
including motivational social media-based data
and progress sharing. The belt has attracted the
attention of the world’s leading gadget press
(e.g. Engadget.com – see tinyurl.com/3hcy3yp, and
Übergizmo.com – see tinyurl.com/3tusdrs).
The nRF8001’s ultra-low power consumption
and compact size enables the Dayton heart-rate
belt to run for up to 1.5 years from a CR2032
coin cell under typical usage conditions
Dayton's Bluetooth low energy belt weighs 46g
and features a sensor housing just 1.1cm thick
(1-hour per day). The slim (1.1cm) and compact
(3.8 x 6.5cm) plastic sensor housing and soft
fabric finished belt weigh 46g (less than the
weight of two AA-sized batteries).
“This is not only the first Bluetooth low energy
product Dayton Industrial has developed but
“Consumers will soon have
an even wider choice to
monitor their heart rate with
solutions to suit everyone”
also the slimmest wireless heart-rate belt
we have ever produced,” comments Johnson
Chan, Product Engineering Manager at Dayton
Industrial.
“Heart rate monitors are one of the first and
most sought after use cases for Bluetooth low
energy,” says Geir Langeland, Nordic’s Director
of Sales & Marketing. “This Dayton product
platform will now sit alongside established ANT+
interoperable heart rate belts and other noninteroperable proprietary alternatives, and give
consumers an even wider choice when it comes
to monitoring their heart rate and so support an
even more vibrant heart rate monitoring market
with solutions for everyone.”
1. InMedica (a division of IMS Research), 'The World
Market for Sports and Fitness Monitors – 2011
Edition'.
NEWS • TRENDS • COMMENT • FEATURES • RF DESIGN TIPS • PEOPLE & FACES
Motivating
cycling
enthusiasts
Wireless links, 3G
networking, and cloud
computing combine
to track cyclists’
performance
Design talent
acclaimed
5
Nordic’s nRF8001
design team are
recognized by being
shortlisted for a
prestigious industry
award
ULP wireless: An
athlete’s best
investment
8
To get ahead in
professional sport,
competitors are
increasingly using
wireless technology
10
BUSINESS BRIEFING: BRIGHT FUTURE FOR ULP WIRELESS TECHNOLOGy – PAGE 14
The Bluetooth™ word mark and logo are registered trademarks and are owned by the Bluetooth SIG
in brIef
nRF24LE1 shortlisted
for top award
The Nordic nRF24LE1 OTP
System-on-Chip (SoC) has
been selected from hundreds of
nominations to be a finalist in the
‘Electronics & Test’ category of
this year’s Design News Golden
Mousetrap Awards for “cutting
edge design” and “practical
evolution of technology”. For
more than two decades, the
Design News Awards Program has
recognized engineering innovation
and creativity in product design.
This year, Golden Mousetrap
awards were given in four major
categories: Electronics & Test,
Automation & Control, Design
Tools: Hardware & Software, and
Materials & Assembly. Managing
Editor Jennifer Campbell
gathered a record number of
entries, distributing them to
the magazine's beat editors for
judging.
COMPETITION PRIZE
Free Nordic training for Bluetooth
Innovation World Cup winners
}
Nordic Semiconductor is offering the three winners
of this year’s Bluetooth Innovation World Cup the
opportunity to 'kick-start' the development of products
based on their winning Bluetooth low energy product
ideas with free training and support.
The winners of the 2011 competition will be offered
the chance to work with Nordic’s ultra low power RF
design experts.
At the company's R&D headquarters in Trondheim,
Norway, winners will receive a day of complimentary
technical training and support. In addition, the
winners will receive a suite of Nordic’s µBlue™ Bluetooth
low energy development tools to help them turn their
competition winning product design ideas into real
products.
All runners-up finalists in this year’s competition
will also be offered a free Nordic µBlue™ nRF8001
development kit.
The Bluetooth Innovation World Cup – now in its
third year – is a Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG)
competition targeting Bluetooth low energy-enabled
product concepts and ideas in three core application
categories: sports & fitness; healthcare & wellness, and
automotive & entertainment (plus any other).
Companies and individuals wishing to register and
submit their ideas to the Bluetooth SIG have until
September 15 to enter online (see tinyurl.com/65twncv
for more info).
The competition attracted submissions from over 500
developers around the world in 2009 and 2010.
Nordic joins Bluetooth
SIG board
Svein-Egil Nielsen, Nordic’s
Director of Emerging Technologies
& Strategic Partnerships, has
been elected to the Bluetooth
SIG’s Board of Directors as the
company’s representative. Along
with U.S. consumer electronics
giant Apple, Nordic was
unanimously voted onto the board
for a two-year period starting
July 1. The two companies are the
first Associate Members of the
Bluetooth SIG to join the Promoter
companies that currently make
up the board. Other members of
the board include Ericsson AB,
Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola,
Nokia, and Toshiba.
On show at ESC Silicon
Valley
Nordic recently exhibited its
full range of products – nRF24L
Series, ANT chips, and Bluetooth
low energy transceivers – at
the ESC Silicon Valley event
in San Jose, CA. “The U.S. is a
key market for Nordic and is a
vibrant source of innovation and
R&D for ULP wireless products,”
says J. Darren O’Donnell, Nordic
Semiconductor’s Director of Sales
for the Americas. “It was exciting
to exhibit at ESC and we used the
opportunity to demonstrate our
full range of class-leading 2.4GHz
wireless connectivity solutions
and advise our North American
customers which ones would best
meet their application needs.”
2 Nordic ULP WIRELESS quarter summer 2011
DENTISTRY
Wireless dental polishing frees professional dental
hygienists from cord clutter
}
The ZEN cordless Prophy
eliminates the restrictions of
traditional, corded dental polishers
by featuring a cordless hand-piece
and a Nordic nRF24LE1-based
battery-powered wireless foot
pedal.
Professional tooth whitening
and oral care products maker
Discus Dental (which has just
been acquired by Philips) claims
the unit is a “world first“.
“This brings an end to the
annoying cord clutter and drag
suffered by professional dental
hygienists, while giving
the clinician much
greater comfort and
control over their hand
and body position,”
explains Brian Zargari,
Senior Engineering
Project Manager at Discus
Dental. “In fact hygienists
can now position themselves
anywhere without constantly
having to work against the
pulling-back resistance of
the metallic shielded cord
on a traditional hard-wired
polishing hand-piece.”
In operation, a Nordic
nRF24LE1 located in the
ZEN Prophy hand-piece
communicates with a second
transceiver in the foot pedal.
The hand-piece is powered by a
built-in 3.7V rechargeable Li-ion
polymer battery that is recharged
each time the unit is placed back
into its powered charging dock.
The foot pedal is equipped with
six AAA batteries supplying up to
three months' typical use .
When powered up, the hand-piece
listens for wireless status updates
from the foot pedal and modifies
motor speed accordingly. Because
this happens several times per
second, to the clinician it feels like
a regular wired response.
The ZEN Prophy
is the world’s
first cordless
professional
dental polisher
news &trends
gaming controllers
HEALTH & wellness
Controller supports new gaming
and entertainment options
}
Sales of wearable
wireless sensors to
reach 80m by 2016
}
HD color touchscreen, camera, microphone,
speakers, and motion-sensing all included
controller's gyroscope.
Each Wii U console will be
supplied as standard with one of
these new controllers, while also
supporting up to four additional
Wii Remote™ or Wii Remote Plus
controllers, and offering full
backward compatibility with
existing Wii games and accessories.
"Wii U redefines the structure
of home entertainment by
fundamentally changing how the
TV, game console and Internet ...
interact together," says Nintendo
President, Satoru Iwata. "The
experience enabled by the Wii U
and new controller will take players
deeper into their games, while
reaching out wider than ever before
to be inviting to all kinds of gamers."
PHOTO: Courtesy Nintendo
Japanese gaming giant Nintendo
has unveiled its Wii U™ console.
The device features a sophisticated
controller that the company says is
set to challenge established norms
within the TV-based gaming and
home entertainment sector.
The Wii U controller features a
6.2-in (157mm) color touchscreen
that can support full HD graphics,
an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a
rumble feature, an inward userfacing camera, a microphone,
and speakers. In addition, the
unit features Nintendo's Classic
Controller button scheme.
The controller can support a
variety of new gaming and home
entertainment options, says
Nintendo, including the ability
to support multiple unique user
viewpoints and displayed info
that does not appear on the main
TV. The viewpoints can change in
relation to the orientation of the
training aids
miCoach interactive training for mobiles
migrates to video game consoles
}
www.nordicsemi.com
miCoach allows you to work out with
world famous Adidas athletes
and basketball, and select well-known Adidas
athletes to guide them through the on-screen
training game experiences. The miCoach
hardware can also wirelessly synchronize to
a miCoach Pacer and miCoach mobile app,
incorporating workout data gathered away from
the game on a mobile device.
PHOTO: Courtesy adidas
ANT+ member Adidas is collaborating with
global video game publisher THQ to bring
the popular miCoach interactive mobile device
training system (designed for MP3 players or
smartphones) to video games consoles.
According to an official Adidas press release
(see tinyurl.com/6a9trzu), the new system
will include the use of a miCoach (or any
other ANT+ compatible) heart rate monitor
to provide real-time feedback of in-game
performance during workouts.
Scheduled for release on Kinect™ for Xbox
360® and PlayStation® Move in early 2012,
users can create profiles, set fitness goals,
and get instant analyses of workout regimes.
They can also choose from several sports such
as running, tennis, soccer, American football,
Over the next five years,
sales of wearable ultra-low
power (ULP) wireless fitness
and wellbeing devices is
predicted to reach close to 80
million devices. This growth
translates to a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of
46 percent between now and
2016.
According to analyst ABI
Research, consumers are
predicted to turn to wearable
wireless sensors to monitor
– and share via a range of
online social networking
applications – their
performance results.
Manufacturers hope that by
being able to record and share
their fitness activity results
users will be motivated to
adhere to long-term training
regimes.
ABI says that ongoing
wireless protocol
standardization, new device
availability, and changing
social patterns dictated by
how people participate in
health and fitness activities
will accelerate the process.
According to a study by
the company ('Wireless
Health and Fitness' – see
tinyurl.com/5t2q82m), the
majority of this growth will
come from consumer-driven
sports, fitness, and wellness
(including home health
monitoring) devices rather
than wearable sensors for
clinical remote healthcare.
Although ABI says the
potential market for clinical
remote healthcare is huge, it
is subject to far greater levels
of device complexity and
regulation than the consumer
sector, which will inevitably
slow its deployment by
comparison in the near term.
Nordic ULP wireless QUARTER summer 2011 3
“The fact that
Nordic’s RF
solutions can be
optimized to meet
the demands of any
application appeals
to many OEMs”
Svenn-Tore Larsen
Dear Reader
Back in 2008, I made a statement that I considered perfectly
summed up the reason why Nordic staked its future on being a
specialist ultra-low power (ULP) wireless connectivity solutions firm.
At the time, while my words may have sounded like hype to the
uninitiated, they were based on a good understanding of the then
fledgling ULP wireless connectivity sector. And now, at least from
Nordic’s perspective, the statement is proving accurate.
“Once designers have an inexpensive way to add an interoperable
wireless link to anything that’s battery powered, even devices with
the smallest batteries, the application potential is vast. Designers will
come up with thousands of ways to use that link,” was what I said.
At the time Nordic was forging a successful business with its
nRF24L Series proprietary technology, especially in sectors such
as wireless PC peripherals. The fact that Nordic’s RF solutions can
be optimized to meet the performance demands of any application
appeals to many OEMs. That success has continued to the present
day, especially as makers of wireless peripherals utilizing 27MHz
wireless move over to superior 2.4GHz technology.
But even as Nordic grew, we knew that to continue to expand we
needed a compelling technology to attract new customers to whom
interoperability – the ability to seamlessly connect with products
from other manufacturers – was critical. Today we sell ANT chips,
running RF protocol software from our long-time design partner,
Canadian-based ANT Wireless. These have sold in their millions, and
thanks to the over 300-member ANT Alliance have become a de
facto interoperable wireless standard for the cycling sector and are
now making inroads into other sports (see pages 10 and 11).
But as successful as ANT has become, it’s not the most popular
interoperable wireless standard; that honor goes to Bluetooth.
Billions of Bluetooth chips have now been shipped. But, when I
made my original statement, none of these devices could come
close to matching the ULP performance of Nordic’s transceivers.
In 2011, that’s all changed with the introduction of Bluetooth
v4.0, which includes Bluetooth low energy, a version that can run
from coin cells. We’re proud that Nordic was part of the group that
first started work on interoperable ULP wireless back in 2006. That
technology formed the basis of today’s Bluetooth low energy.
Now Nordic has three product ranges covering the full spectrum
of ULP wireless applications. The nRF24L Series caters for designs
that require optimum performance, Nordic’s ANT chips are a
proven interoperable technology, and the new µBlue™ nRF8001
chip is Nordic's first Bluetooth low energy device that will connect
seamlessly with rapidly expanding Bluetooth ecosystem.
With these ULP solutions at the design community’s disposal,
I may need to modify my original statement from “thousands of
ways…” to “tens of thousands of ways to use that link”!
yours Sincerely,
Svenn-Tore Larsen,
Chief Executive Officer
4 Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011
eDiTOrial
U.S. patent reform
encourages innovation
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a broad
patent reform bill (H.R. 1249) and proponents suggest it will
be voted in by a wide margin. That would be a good thing,
because changes to the legislation are long overdue; the last major
reform to the U.S. patent system was around the time the transistor
was invented, nearly 60 years ago.
The U.S. is keen to reinvent its patent laws – as part of its America
Invents Act 2011 – because of concerns that the current system is
bogged down by frivolous lawsuits and uncertainty regarding patent
ownership.
According to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
the Judiciary’s website, America’s innovators spend years and
millions of dollars defending their claims to patent ownership
while competitors are busy
developing new products that
expand their businesses and
grow their economies.
The situation in the U.S. has
taken on increasing urgency
because, this year, for the
first time, China is expected
to become the world’s
number one patent publisher,
overtaking America and
Japan in the total and basic
number of patents.
The major reforms include
a “first-inventor-to-file”
standard for patent approval
(harmonizing with other
The U.S. is considering patent reform to
patent offices around the
encourage money-making ideas
world), and creating a postgrant review system to weed out bad patents. Significantly, the
reforms also include expansion of rights of companies who are the
first to commercially use an invention, even after someone else wins
a patent on that invention. This is intended to stop so-called patent
‘trolls’ buying up patents, sitting on them, and stopping others using
the invention to bring products to market.
These issues are highly relevant for the ULP wireless sector. There
is much innovation in the silicon radios and RF protocol software
that underpin the technology that has made people’s lives easier,
more productive, and more fun.
The invention of technologies such as Bluetooth low energy
or ANT+ – that can, for example, seamlessly link to cell phones
such that users can relay information like the average speed on
their latest run to friends on the other side of the world – is an
amazing achievement. And much of that innovation comes from
small companies that can’t afford extended litigation and need the
protection of a patent system that discourages pointless lawsuits.
A revised U.S. patent system that stimulates innovation – and is
likely to be a model for other countries – will go a long way towards
ensuring future enhancements to ULP wireless technology won’t be
stifled. And that would be a huge bonus for a technology that’s just
starting to blossom.
WHAT’S NEW from nordic?
Nordic on show
Performance monitoring platform
motivates fitness enthusiasts
CES 2011 and Wireless Japan hosted cycling-based exhibits combining ULP wireless
connectivity, 3G networking, and Internet-based cloud computing
Sharing with friends
Cyclocomputer is equipped with maps and other
helpful applications for training and weight
control, and displays real-time performance
data from the network of ANT+ sensors on the
bike. Moreover, cyclocomputer allows the user
to transmit cycling data and other information,
such as favorite locations, using Yellow Digital’s
eWellness cloud service, for further analysis and
to share with friends on Internet devices such as
smartphones and tablet computers.
www.nordicsemi.com
Wireless sensors, cycling computer, Internet
services, and a 3G network will come together
to provide a motivational and performance
improvement tool for keen cyclists
“The collection and transmission
of data via wireless connections
were critical to the operation of the
eWellness platform”
In addition to Nordic Semiconductor and ANT
Wireless, Yellow received technology support for
the CES and Wireless Japan exhibits from Pioneer
Corporation, Qualcomm Incorporated, Trek
Bicycles, and AnyDATA.
The exhibit was based on a Trek bike with
built-in ANT+ wireless sensors. These sensors
are equipped with wireless connectivity
powered by the nRF24AP2 2.4GHz ULP SingleChip-Connectivity transceivers running ANT
RF protocol software. (See ULP Wireless Quarter
Winter 2009 page 5.)
“Because ANT+ offers assured interoperability
between products from many different
manufacturers these leading companies were
PHOTO: Courtesy Suunto
N
ordic’s participation at CES 2011,
held in Las Vegas back in January, and
Wireless Japan, held in Tokyo during
May, provided an opportunity to
demonstrate how the company’s ultra low power
(ULP) wireless technology is enabling innovative
sports & fitness performance monitoring
platforms.
CES is the world’s largest trade event for the
promotion of consumer electronics technology.
For its part, Wireless Japan is the country’s
premier showcase for wireless communication
products.
At CES and Wireless Japan, Nordic and
ANT Wireless, the company that supplies the
proven ULP RF protocol that runs on the Nordic
nRF24AP2, participated in an 'eWellness'
cycling performance monitoring exhibit with
leading consumer electronics and technology
companies. The collection and transmission of
data via wireless connections were critical to the
operation of this eWellness platform.
Yellow Digital Health Lab, an eWellness
platform and service provider based in Santa
Monica, CA, and Tokyo, coordinated the
technologies making up the exhibit. These
included ULP wireless sensors, 3G-capable cycling
computer prototype, Internet services, and a
commercial 3G network (a link to the 3G network
was not part of the Wireless Japan exhibit).
Performance data, such as cadence, power,
speed, and heart rate, was transmitted from the
wireless sensors using ANT+ communication,
to Japanese consumer electronics company
Pioneer’s ANT+-equipped “cyclocomputer”
(a prototype cycling computer) that has a 3G
network capability.
able to put together a seamless demonstration of
the huge potential of wireless connectivity,” says
Rod Morris, Director at ANT Wireless.
“Nordic ANT chips are the proven solution
for compact wireless sensors with coin cell
batteries; in fact, in addition to the cycling
demonstration, those chips are at the heart of
every other application on the ANT+ Pavilion
at CES this year,” adds Thomas Søderholm,
Business Development Manager for Personal Area
Networks (PANs) at Nordic Semiconductor. n
Further Information: For detailed technical
information on the nRF24AP2 go to http://tinyurl.com/
yfeu9kb.
Nordic ULP wireless QUARTER SUMMER 2011 5
feaTure
ulP wireless seCTOr OVerView
2.4GHz technologies carve
up wireless sector
Proprietary 2.4GHz technologies have many advantages, though
standard-based solutions have the edge when interoperability is
essential. By Jack Shandle
Jack Shandle
is a freelance
writer specializing
in semiconductors,
wireless, and other
high-tech
topics
6 Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011
PHOTO: COURTESy GARMIN
T
he 2.4GHz band has a well-deserved
reputation as the workhorse
for wireless applications. It
accommodates a 'Who’s-Who' of
standard-based technologies such as Bluetooth
(including the new low energy variant
included in Bluetooth Version 4.0), ZigBee,
RF4CE, Wi-Fi in all its incarnations, and
numerous proprietary radio technologies that
target mass markets.
Proprietary technologies earn their success
by doing something – power efficiency,
robustness, range, or special features – better
than the standards. They are more flexible,
infinitely 'tweakable', and run very lean
protocols, which delivers energy-saving
attributes as well as reducing cost by, for
example, requiring less Flash memory. Talk to
any product manager about the advantages
of their proprietary protocol and the word
“flexibility” is sure to come up again and again
during the conversation.
Both the protocols and the radio chips are
very lean – executing only those functions
needed for a specific application. Being
proprietary, they can take advantage of new
circuit design techniques without re-writing a
standard and can be agnostic about signaling
schemes and protocols. All this makes them
exceptionally agile when new applications
pop up.
An excellent example of how proprietary
technologies can dominate a sizable market is
the wireless keyboard/mouse application.
Bluetooth – now known as Classic Bluetooth to
distinguish it from Bluetooth low energy – was
once considered a contender for the keyboard/
mouse market but failed to gain a foothold
except for sockets in some Microsoft and Apple
products. The reason is fairly simple: “The
Classic Bluetooth protocol has a heartbeat,”
says Kjartan Furset, Nordic Semiconductor’s
Strategic Application Manager for Asia. “Data
is exchanged every 600µs just to maintain the
link.”
ANT dominates
wireless
connectivity
in the cycling
sector
To save energy, the link should be shut down
when there’s no activity. But if it is shut down
or lost, Bluetooth’s link-up algorithm requires
about a second to re-establish it and this is
both noticeable and disconcerting for users.
Nordic Semiconductor’s Gazell protocol, on
the other hand, is asynchronous (and hence
does not require a synchronizing “heartbeat”)
AT A GLANCE
} Proprietary protocols use less power,
less memory and are infinitely
'tweakable' because their do not have
to conform to a standard
} When evaluating a proprietary wireless
technology, important points of
comparison are the link budget, the
design constraints set by the protocol,
and cost
} Although Bluetooth low energy has
successfully addressed the power
challenges of its predecessor,
proprietary technologies will still be the
best choice in many emerging markets
and turns power off when there is no data. It
handles start/stop efficiently, taking only 3ms
to re-establish the link. Other energy-saving
strategies integrated into the protocol include
techniques such as biasing energy use toward
the host side (which is often mains-powered)
and transferring data as fast as possible when
the radio is active.
Nordic is far from alone in fielding ultra low
power (ULP) asynchronous protocols. Cypress
Semiconductor, TI, and other companies have
ULP protocols too.
Another important technology is the ANT
protocol from ANT Wireless of Cochrane,
Alberta, Canada. It uses a Time Division
Multiple Access-like signaling scheme that
relies on each transceiver transmitting in a
clear timeslot. When multiple nodes (such as
fitness equipment in a gym) are transmitting
on the same frequency, each node can listen
for drifting transmission sources. If there
is approaching interference, it can adapt
accordingly.
ANT draws so little power that it can operate
www.nordicsemi.com
u
The importance of silicon
Although protocols play the dominant role
in making a system-level solution energy
efficient, silicon is also important. Radiochip designers use every trick in the book to
minimize power, including maximizing the
time spent in nanoampere sleep modes and
minimizing peak current to ensure operation
from coin cell batteries.
ULP operation is not the only design goal,
however, because the radio will operate in
what is perhaps the most competitive band in
the RF spectrum. Interference is a big issue and
it is typically handled at the PHY level by the
signaling scheme.
The radio chip’s link budget – calculated
as the difference between maximum
transmitter power and receiver sensitivity – is
another important consideration because it
helps determines the practical range of the
wireless link. Link budget figures are subject
to specmanship such as not having antiinterference algorithms running when the
measurements are made but a rule of thumb
is that a radio chip running at 250 Kbits/s
should have a link budget in the vicinity of 98
dBm. Link budget declines as the raw data rate
increases (see Table 1).
Configuring the protocol
The key to low power consumption and long
battery life is to keep the radio off whenever
possible, send as much data as possible in the
shortest time possible, and take advantage of
the operating characteristics of the specific
www.nordicsemi.com
TABLE 1
The effect of data rate on link budget for a typical ULP 2.4GHz transceiver (@ 0.1% BER)
Data rate
Link budget
250 kbit/s
98 dBm
1 Mbit/s
89 dBm
2 Mbit/s
86 dBm
feaTure
on a coin cell in a sports watch that monitors
physiological fitness indicators such as heart
rate and mechanical ones such as bicycle
power meters.
ANT supports more than 80 devices in close
proximity, has mesh networking capabilities
and implements interoperability functionality
so that fitness systems from different vendors
can communicate. ANT Wireless has enjoyed
a long-term collaboration with Nordic
Semiconductor which ports ANT software
to its radios. More recently, ANT has agreed a
similar deal with Texas Instruments (TI).
It should be noted that Bluetooth low energy
can compete in ULP markets. It retains the
heartbeat capability but makes it adjustable
from 5 ms up to several seconds. In addition,
Bluetooth low energy includes other features
pioneered by proprietary ULP technologies
such as maximized standby time, faster
connections, and reduced peak transmit/
receive power.
“Radio-chip designers use every trick in the book to
reduce power, including maximizing the time spent
in sleep modes and minimizing peak current”
application. The flexibility afforded by
proprietary protocols lends itself to attaining
these design goals.
Timing, which is essentially how long the
application can tolerate the chip being in sleep
mode, should be adjustable. As previously
mentioned, one of the improvements included
in Bluetooth low energy is the ability to adjust
its wakeup timing to between 5ms and several
seconds.
In addition to understanding what
parameters can be adjusted, another
consideration is the ease in which the protocol
can be configured to meet the designer’s
specifications. Any 2.4GHz protocol stack is a
complex piece of software, however, because
the band is so riddled with interference.
Adjustments have to be made within the
parameters set by the vendor and that makes
those parameters very important.
Several semiconductor vendors offer proven
silicon solutions. Nordic Semiconductor,
for example, offers a its popular and proven
nRF24L Series of transceiver and transmitter
devices targeting PC peripherals such as
wireless keyboards/mice, game controllers,
sports equipment, and wireless audio.
Nordic, TI, and Cypress have all gone to
great lengths to make their radio technologies
easy to integrate into system-level products.
These efforts include packaging radio
chips and microcontrollers in modules
and even integrating them onto a single IC.
Comprehensive application development
packages and reference designs are also
available.
The interoperability advantage
Proprietary 2.4GHz technologies have
several advantages: They can move quickly
to new implementation technologies; their
lean protocol stacks and modest Flash
requirements provide a price advantage,
and the inherent flexibility of not having
to comply with a standard allows them to
pioneer new markets.
The flexibility proves its value by providing
ultra-low power consumption that allows
system designers to utilize modest batteries
such as coin cells. Prior to Bluetooth low energy,
no standard-based solution could manage this.
Bluetooth low energy has many of the
attributes of proprietary technologies and an
advantage in that it can leverage the installed
base that Classic Bluetooth has built over the
past decade. Volume production will, over
time, reduce the price of chips and modules
significantly.
Interoperability offers two advantages for
engineers designing mass market products
that will not operate in a closed-systems
environment. Being able to communicate
effectively with products from different
vendors tends to make the market larger
because end users have confidence their
investment does not depend on the viability of
a single company. In addition, the eco-system
created around the standard makes for a more
competitive environment for development
tools and components.
Proprietary solutions will still offer some
advantages, however, largely due to their
inherent flexibility.
Design engineers need not worry too
much, however, about the impact of Bluetooth
low energy on markets that have, until now,
favored proprietary solutions. Two of the
companies mentioned in this article – Nordic
Semiconductor and TI – have already released
chips that implement the Bluetooth low energy
standard.
With a foot in both the standards-based and
the proprietary camps, it seems clear that they
want to continue to provide the most costeffective solutions while providing engineers
with a choice of proprietary flexibility or the
interoperability guaranteed by a standardbased technology. n
Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011 7
INSIDE NORDIC
Designing µBlue™
Wireless design team’s talents
recognized in award nomination
By becoming finalists in the EE Times ACE awards, the engineers behind Nordic’s
µBlue™ nRF8001 Bluetooth low energy chip gain the acclaim they deserve
T
he release of the Nordic µBlue™
nRF8001 Bluetooth low energy
solution represents the culmination
of six years and 150,000 man-hours
of research and development work by a team
of 100 software and hardware engineers.
“Nordic has a heritage of designing ULP
wireless devices,” explains David EngelienLopes, Nordic Project Manager for the
nRF8001. “However, this was the first time
the design team had embarked on a project
to develop a ULP connectivity chip complying
with the Bluetooth v4.0 specification.
"In fact, at the time, it was the first time any
design team in the world had embarked on
such a project.”
Design engineers are rarely acknowledged
for their technical contributions outside
of their own company. But this time was
different with the design team behind the
nRF8001 being nominated ‘Design Team
of the Year’ in the prestigious 2011 Annual
Creativity in Electronics (ACE) awards. The
awards were organized by leading U.S.
electronics design title EE Times.
The company’s engineers were in
auspicious company featuring on a shortlist
that also included Intel (the world’s largest
chipmaker), microprocessor manufacturer
Advanced Micro Devices (the 12th largest
chipmaker in the world), and IBM (33rd
largest company in the World according to
Forbes magazine). Israel-based PrimeSense
completed the list of finalists.
The ACE Awards program – judged
by EE Times editors and a distinguished
independent judging panel comprising
leading voices from academia and industry,
and Wall Street executives – is one of the
world’s leading electronics industry events.
“To see the design team’s commitment
recognized by such a prestigious judging
panel is an honor,” notes Geir Langeland,
Nordic Semiconductor’s Director of Sales &
Marketing. “I’m especially pleased for the
development team because I know how hard
8 Nordic ULP WIRELESS quarter sUMMER 2011
and for how long they have worked – until
now with little public recognition – to earn
this acknowledgment.”
A special connectivity chip
The engineers behind the world’s lowest
power consumption, fully-compliant
Bluetooth low energy single-chip-connectivity
solution available today
“This was the first time
any design team in the
world had embarked on a
project to develop a ULP
transceiver complying
with the Bluetooth v4.0
specification”
The recently launched µBlue™ nRF8001 is
Nordic’s first Bluetooth low energy product
(see ULP Wireless Quarter Spring 2011 page
2). This connectivity chip sets the ultra-low
power performance benchmark for Bluetooth
low energy and has already been selected by
Casio Computer for its Bluetooth Low Energy
Watch (see ULP WQ Spring 2011 front cover).
The nRF8001 is one of the first devices
available in volume that’s fully compliant with
the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (SIG's)
recently released Bluetooth Core Specification
Version 4.0 (see ULP WQ Spring 2011 page 9).
The design team’s challenge was to minimize
power consumption by coupling a highly
efficient silicon radio with an optimized RF
software protocol. Bluetooth low energy wireless
technology is designed in such a way that target
receivers can be located rapidly, the packet
payload is maximized (i.e. each packet carries
a lot of useful data with minimal overhead),
a wide bandwidth is supported (so that a lot
of packets can be sent per unit time), low
peak currents are maintained, and graceful
and rapid disconnections facilitated. This
operational sequence ensures a Bluetooth low
energy chip minimizes the time it spends in a
relatively high power transmission mode and
consequently extends battery life (see ULP WQ
Autumn 10 page 14).
A further challenge for the design team,
which had previously worked in a secretive
environment whereby the company’s
intellectual property was closely guarded,
was to rapidly adapt in order to cooperate
closely with direct competitors on the
development of the Bluetooth low energy
specification. This cooperation was vital in
order to meet the common goal of creating
an efficient, interoperable, ultra-low power
wireless technology. n
www.nordicsemi.com
Wireless hotspot
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Mitsuo Yamazaki
is Nordic
Semiconductor’s
Regional Sales
Manager for
Japan
The Wireless Japan trade exhibition enabled Nordic to
showcase technology for wireless health and fitness monitoring,
and remote control applications. By Mitsuo yamazaki
W
ireless Japan is a major
annual event for the
electronics industry
and provides a perfect
opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their
latest wireless developments. Held at the end
of May in Tokyo, this year’s exhibition covered
all wireless technologies from cellular phone
networks, to local area networks (LANs) and
ULP RF for applications such as body area
networks (BANs) and remote control.
Despite Japan’s recent economic
problems and the aftermath of the March
earthquake and tsunami, the country
remains a powerhouse of electronics
product innovation. And wireless
technology is enabling the country’s
engineers to add new functionality to
products to differentiate them from the
overseas competitors.
That’s why Nordic, together with its
long-time design partner, ANT Wireless
of Cochrane, Canada, used the show to
demonstrate how Nordic’s three product
lines – the nRF24L Series, ANT chips and
µBlue™ Bluetooth low energy solutions – all
address the key ULP wireless applications
which are currently the focus of many
Japanese RF engineers.
Nordic’s ANT chips, the nRF24AP2 SingleChip-Connectivity solutions (which run the
ANT+ RF protocol software), attracted a lot of
interest from those engineers. Interoperability,
together with a proven solution, is often
important to Japanese manufacturers; so the
fact that ANT is backed by an alliance now
numbering over 300 companies and is already
in use in over a million devices worldwide adds
to its appeal here.
Together with ANT and Yellow
Digital Health Lab – a leading eWellness
platform and service provider based in
Santa Monica, CA and Tokyo – Nordic
demonstrated the capabilities of an ANT
chip-powered eWellness platform for
providing a motivational and performance
improvement tool for fitness enthusiasts
www.nordicsemi.com
COmmenT
eXHibiTiOn reView
Nordic attracts the
crowds at Wireless Japan
(see this issue page 5). The exhibit perfectly
demonstrated how ULP wireless technology
can enable BANs and personal area
networks (PANs) to monitor physiological
and performance parameters. This type of
application is currently a priority for many
Japanese consumer electronics companies.
Performance data, such as cadence, power,
speed, and heart rate, was transmitted from
the wireless sensors using ANT+, to Pioneer’s
ANT+-equipped ‘cyclocomputer’ (cycling
computer) that has 3G network capability.
Cyclocomputer displayed real-time
performance data from the network of ANT+
sensors on the bike. The computer allowed
the user to transmit cycling data and other
information, such as favorite locations, using
Yellow’s ‘cloud service’, for further analysis.
Today’s answer for RF remotes
Although it’s early days for Nordic's other
interoperable ULP wireless technology,
µBlue™ Bluetooth low energy, there was
still considerable interest in its potential
from visitors to Wireless Japan. Before the
show, Nordic had announced that Casio
selected Nordic’s nRF8001 Bluetooth low
energy solution for its Bluetooth Low Energy
Watch (see ULP Wireless Quarter Spring 2011
front page) and this enticed engineers who
wanted to find out more. On the booth the
chip was demonstrated in a Bluetooth low
energy proximity tag application (see ULP WQ
Summer 2010 page 6).
Another key technology application area
in Japan today is RF remote control.
While other technologies such as RF4CE
and Bluetooth low energy promise much for
this application, both are immature and
bring early development design challenges.
The risk is that while OEMs and ODMs
grapple with these problems the market
opportunity is missed.
At Wireless Japan, Nordic demonstrated
its proven nRF24LE1 and Gazell RF protocol.
The technology is an ideal technology for
RF remote control; it allows companies
to gain market traction in the RF remote
control sector now, with the opportunity
to migrate to a standards-based technology
if interoperability becomes vital as the RF
remote control market matures (see ULP WQ
Autumn 2010 page 10). n
For more information on Nordic’s product
families, go to www.nordicsemi.com.
Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011 9
ANT FOCUS
ANT+ IN SPORT
Wireless technology: An athlete’s
best investment
Power output is the critical training metric for cyclists and kayakers. ANT+ technology
makes it simple to measure. ULP Wireless Quarter reports
F
or all his success as a seven-time
winner of cycling’s most grueling
event, Lance Armstrong wasn’t
the first American to climb to the
top of the Tour de France podium in Paris.
That honor went to Greg LeMond who was
successful in the 3,500km event not once,
but three times in 1986, ’89, and ’90. And
not only was LeMond the first from
the U.S., he was also the first nonEuropean cyclist to win.
Now long-retired, these days
LeMond lends his name and expertise
to a company, LeMond Fitness, that
specializes in training products for
serious amateur and professional cyclists.
LeMond Fitness’ clearly benefits from the
association. The company’s latest product,
the LeMond Revolution indoor bike trainer,
is a case in point; according to the firm, “it
solves the ‘connection and feel’ problems
associated with traditional bike trainers”. A
direct drive, progressive resistance trainer
that integrates with a bike’s drive train,
Revolution eliminates inconsistent tire-toroller connections with a design that allows
the user to attach their own bike to the unit
(see picture).
“Compared to traditional roller-based
trainers, the Revolution represents the
difference between riding on the road, on
a great bike, on a great day and riding your
bike with a flat tire, uphill, in sand. Who
wants to ride in those conditions?” said
LeMond in a statement.
But of all Revolution’s advantages, the
critical one isn’t mechanical but electronic.
ANT+ and Nordic wireless technology is the
key to the trainer realizing the Holy Grail of a
serious cyclist’s training regime – real time
power output. While other metrics such as
speed, distance, and heart rate are useful,
power is the true measure of how hard a
cyclist is working at any particular time and
the data is the most useful for customizing
their training regime to achieve optimum
performance.
10 Nordic ULP WIRELESS quarter SUMMER 2011
The missing link
“It’s really important for a professional
cyclist to know exactly how their training is
progressing. To do that they need a consistent
base line metric against which to measure
Revolution eliminates
inconsistent tire-to-roller
connections and allows the
user to attach their own
bike. Power Pilot (inset)
displays output data
improvements,” Rob Bingham, Director of
Engineering at LeMond Fitness told ULP Wireless
Quarter. “And the cyclist or coach can change
things if they’re confident they’re working to
the same consistent metric. Power is the only
suitable measurement for this purpose.”
The Revolution uses a combination of fan
speed and cadence (relayed by ANT-powered
wireless sensors) to measure power, eschewing
the relatively expensive crank-mounted, strain
gauge-based devices typically used for this
measurement. The accuracy of the system is
comparable with those more expensive sensors.
Bingham has developed a bike computer
to accompany Revolution, called the Power
Pilot. The computer is equipped with
environmental sensors that allow it to
measure the air density and hence more
accurately determine the resistance of the
fan. In turn this improves the precision of the
power measurement. Power is determined by
combining the data from the fan speed and
environmental sensors then processing with
some complex algorithms. In addition to
power and cadence, Power Pilot also records
speed, distance, heart rate, and calories
burned.
But it’s the ANT+ technology that’s
provided the missing link to transform
www.nordicsemi.com
u
Power output is a highly sought-after
measurement for kayakers. (Inset) Close
up of PerformanceBlade
“Without the networking capability of ANT+
we couldn’t have done this. No other wireless
technology offers the functionality needed”
Revolution and Pilot into much more than
just standalone fitness products.
“Thanks to ANT+, the Revolution and
Power Pilot are much more than ‘dumb’
recording devices – they now constitute a
full training system,” Bingham explains.
“Without the networking capability of ANT+
we couldn’t have done this. No other wireless
technology offers the functionality needed.”
LeMond Fitness’ decision to use ANT+ was
reinforced by its interoperability. “The fact
that a user can wirelessly link Power Pilot
to equipment from other manufacturers to
gather additional metrics such as heart rate
or offload activity data is another key reason
for choosing ANT+,” says Bingham. “Otherwise
we’d have to design and make all this
equipment ourselves. Interoperability enables
a distributed development environment.”
Courtesy of ANT+’s FIT1e interface module
(see ULP Wireless Quarter Q1 2009 page 4)
transferring the activity data from the Pilot
to another device, such as an ANT+-equipped
cell phone, is simple.
The module allows training data from the
bike computer to be sent straight to a coach
for analysis. The coach can then modify
the workout program with new power and
heart rate zones and send it back to the Pilot,
completing the training feedback loop.
“We have tested this by streaming data
from a Power Pilot directly to a Sony Ericsson
www.nordicsemi.com
handset,” notes Bingham. “Once uploaded
to the cell phone, the data can be sent to the
coach via the Internet or cellular network
and he or she can then return new training
programs to the console via the same
technology.” (See ULP WQ Spring 2011 page 3.)
“This final step is the most important,
because without it we wouldn’t have a complete
training system. ANT+ makes it simple and
elegant and has enabled us to be one of the
first companies to offer such a solution to our
customers,” Bingham concludes.
Adventure isle in world first
New Zealand is a prime destination for thrillseekers. And Queenstown, on the country’s
rugged South Island, is the unofficial capital of
the adventure isle. The city is a Mecca for skiers,
mountaineers, white water rafters, and other
adrenaline junkies.
But New Zealand isn’t just home to
enthusiastic amateurs, it also has a proud
professional sport heritage best personified
by the mighty All Blacks Rugby Union team.
Perhaps lesser known, but nonetheless world
class in their own right, are the country’s
professional kayakers – whose training
programs now stand to benefit from a novel
application of wireless connectivity.
Wellington-based One Giant Leap has
developed a kayak paddle that integrates a
strain gauge-based power meter. Called the
anT fOCus
PerformanceBlade, the paddle sends data
from ANT+-equipped wireless sensors to
a Garmin computer or ANT+ display. The
PerformanceBlade is able to provide real-time
feedback of power (in Watts) and stroke rate
during paddling.
“This is a world first,” says Mathew Pottinger,
co-founder of One Giant Leap. “While there
are other instrumented kayak paddles, none
are able to measure power and offer real-time
feedback.”
Because a kayak paddle moves rapidly in
all directions it would have been impractical
to link it to a computer using a wired system,
so it had to utilize wireless connectivity.
Nonetheless, conventional wireless technology
wasn’t good enough.
“We did consider Bluetooth [wireless
technology] and other forms of wireless at
the prototype stage,” says Pottinger, “but
quickly realized that the large batteries
these technologies needed for extended
operation would make the paddle too heavy.
So we decided to go for an ultra-low power
consumption type that can run for long periods
from tiny cells.”
Of the ultra-low power technologies, ANT was
the only sensible choice because of its adoption
by Garmin for the U.S.-based company’s sports
computers. “We wanted to link to a Garmin
computer because of its popularity with
kayakers and the fact that it had the perfect
screen to display PerformanceBlade’s power
information,” elaborates Pottinger.
Like the cyclists, power output is a highly
sought-after measurement for the kayakers.
“It’s the most important number for judging
how an athlete's performing,” says Pottinger.
“Boat speed is an indicator of performance,
but it’s affected by wind and current, so it’s
possible that the kayaker could be working
harder but actually going slower than on a
previous training session. In contrast, power is a
direct and consistent measurement of effort no
matter what the conditions.”
Professional cyclists and kayakers spend lots
of money on the best equipment and coaching
in their quest for success, but it’s likely that
nothing else comes close to offering the return
on investment from a few dollars spent on
the wireless connectivity that underpins the
measurement of their power output. n
For more information on LeMond Fitness
go to www.lemondfitness.com, for more on
PerformanceBlade go to performanceblade.com, for
more on ANT got to www.thisisant.com, for more on
Nordic’s nRF24AP2 go to http://tinyurl.com/3rbjbyz
Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011 11
Press arTiCles
rf & miCrOwaVe Designline
Building better Bluetooth low
energy chips
By Geir Langeland
(This item is an extract of a comment item that appeared in RF & Microwave DesignLine, May 2011)
}
RF & Microwave DesignLine
This article was originally
published in RF & Microwave
DesignLine. The journal is
published by UBM.
About the author
Geir Langeland is Director of
Sales & Marketing for Nordic
Semiconductor and is based
in Oslo
Although it’s a detailed
document, the Bluetooth SIG’s
specification for Bluetooth low
energy doesn’t include a figure
for the maximum permissible
energy (or power) consumption
of a Bluetooth low energy chip.
However, because Bluetooth low
energy is targeted at coin cellpowered sensors, the upper limit
to the current the transceiver
can draw will be around 30mA.
In addition, to ensure reasonable
battery life from coin cells
with a typical capacity of 160to-220mAhr, average current
must be limited to just tens of
microamps.
The company I work for, Nordic
Semiconductor, specializes in
developing and manufacturing
RF transceivers to operate for
months or years (depending on
the application) from coin cell
batteries such as the 3V CR2032.
For this reason, Nordic was at
the forefront of the group that
mapped out the Bluetooth low
energy part of the Bluetooth v4.0
specification since it became a
foundation member of Nokia’s
Wibree Alliance in 2006 (which
merged with the Bluetooth SIG in
June 2007).
Even though all semiconductor
vendors making Bluetooth chips
will adhere to the Bluetooth v4.0
specification, subtle differences
between each manufacturer's
design will ensure that not all
Bluetooth low energy chips will be
the same. Some will consume less
energy than others – and as the
key point of Bluetooth low energy
is low power consumption,
this distinction will be very
important. If an OEM can select
one Bluetooth low energy chip
that, in a particular application,
Getting the most from a tiny coin cell battery requires more than just
adhering to the Bluetooth low energy standard
enables a battery life of nine
months, or another that extends
battery life to over a year, it’s likely
it’ll chose the latter.
Several manufacturers have
now released their Bluetooth low
energy solutions, and already
there are some big differences in
power consumption even though
all the devices are qualified to
the standard. A glance through
the various data sheets shows the
peak transmit (TX) and receive
(RX) current (when the device uses
the most power) of competitive
chips from major semiconductor
vendors can differ by as much as
14mA (at 0dBm output power and
1Mbps bandwidth). That’s a lot of
extra current to take from a coin
cell battery and will inevitably
shorten its life.
For its part, Nordic’s recently
introduced nRF8001 Bluetooth
low energy solution, for example,
exhibits 12.5mA peak RX current
and 11mA peak TX current and
connected mode average currents
below 12µA (for one second
connection intervals).
Our engineers have worked
hard to minimize the power
consumption of the company’s
Bluetooth low energy solution
because customers say that
battery life is one of the most
important operating parameters
for their applications.
Casio, for example, one of
Japan’s leading consumer
electronics companies, has
chosen a Nordic nRF8001 chip to
power the wireless connectivity
of its G-SHOCK Bluetooth Low
Energy Watch.
The company says the main
reason for this choice was
because it wasn’t prepared to
compromise on the key customer
demand of up to two years of
operation from the watch’s
CR2032 coin cell. n
For more information on
Nordic’s nRF8001 go to http://tinyurl.
com/3s5lysw.
TO SEE THE ARTICLE ONLINE GO TO: http://tinyurl.com/5vwyhnp
12 Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011
www.nordicsemi.com
2011 wireless sector review
By Ståle ytterdal
(This item is an extract of an interview that appeared in ESM China, January 2011)
}
ESM China
PHOTO: COURTESy A&D MEDICAL
Nordic sees two strategic
areas for its ULP wireless
connectivity technology in
2011: RF for remote control
and remote health monitoring
of patients in their homes
(rather than them taking up an
expensive hospital bed).
Although Infrared (IR) remote
controls will be around for
some time yet, the way modern
consumers access digital media
will only be realized through the
advanced functionality enabled
by an RF link. RF technology
provides a faster response,
bi-directional connection (IR is
only one-way), non-line of sight
control and extended range
compared to IR. And only RF
has sufficient bandwidth over
a bi-directional link to support
advanced user interfaces while
consuming modest battery
power and meeting mass-market
cost constraints.
ZigBee-based RF4CE
(Remote Control for Consumer
Electronics) has been touted as a
good technology for RF remote
control but seems to be failing
to live up to its early promise.
In the longer term, Bluetooth low
energy may well be a popular
alternative, but the technology
is not currently available in
volume. In comparison, Nordic’s
proprietary nRF24LE1/Gazell
RF technology, for example,
is ideally suited to RF remote
control. It’s a proven technology
already used on millions of
'wireless desktops' employing
inexpensive, robust, interference
immune 2.4GHz transceivers.
A recent commercial report
concluded the use of “body
worn electronics wireless
monitors” could save the health
care industry US$25 billion
by 2012. ULP 2.4GHz wireless
Press arTiCles
esm CHina
This article was originally
published in ESM China.
The journal is published by
Global Sources
About the author
A&D Medical’s ANT+ equipped digital blood pressure monitor records
blood pressure readings and can automatically transmit the information
via a wireless link to the user’s PC
monitors with long battery
life – monitoring vital signs
such as blood pressure, pulse
and blood glucose – can link
to existing cellular or Internet
infrastructure and this allows
patients to shorten or avoid
expensive hospital stays while
still being in frequent electronic
contact with their health care
providers.
There are few technologies
that provide ULP wireless
connectivity to cell phones.
Bluetooth low energy is one – but
its availability will be limited
until production ramps up
– another is ANT+. ANT+ is
an interoperable RF protocol
from ANT Wireless of Canada
that runs on Nordic nRF24AP2
transceivers and can connect to
cell phones via either a dongle,
or an ANT-compatible cell phone
chip recently announced by
Texas Instruments. Again, this
offers a proven solution available
now for manufacturers looking
to take advantage of the lucrative
health/wellness market.
Both the RF for remote control
and wireless health monitoring
market are potentially huge,
but they are also 'disruptive'
– meaning that adoption
could be slow or staggered. For
example, IR remote control is
still a good solution for simple
control tasks so is unlikely to
be rapidly displaced by slightlymore-expensive RF unless the
extra cost can be justified by
consumers demanding extra
functionality.
And the health market is
rightly conservative because
it’s vital that technologies
are thoroughly tested before
being employed in health care
applications.
So, while both markets will
undoubtedly grow during 2011,
it’s difficult to predict by how
much. What’s slightly easier to
predict is that these markets
are set to become massive in the
next five-to-ten years. n
Ståle Ytterdal is Director
Sales & Marketing - Asia with
Nordic Semiconductor and is
based in Hong Kong
For more information on
Nordic’s products, go to www.
nordicsemi.com. For more on
Bluetooth low energy technology,
go to www.bluetooth.com/English/
Products/ Pages/Low_Energy.aspx.
TO SEE THE ARTICLE ONLINE GO TO: http://tinyurl.com/23km3rq (the article is published in Simplified Chinese)
www.nordicsemi.com
Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011 13
Bright future for ultra-low power
wireless technology
Currently in its infancy, the short-range RF sector is set to boom. And the catalyst
for this expansion will be ULP technology. ULP Wireless Quarter reports
E
ven though the chips ship in their
tens of millions each week, the
market for short-range, low power
RF technologies operating in the
globally popular 2.4GHz ISM band – such as
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth wireless technology, ZigBee
and a slew of proprietary solutions – is far
from maturity. In the next few years, many
impressive developments will emerge and
wireless connectivity will pervade every aspect
of our lives.
In particular, ultra low power (ULP) wireless
applications – using tiny RF transceivers
powered by coin cell batteries, waking up to
send rapid 'bursts' of data and then returning
to nanoamp 'sleep' states – are set to increase
dramatically. For example, according to
analysts ABI Research, the wireless sensor
network (WSN) chips market grew by 300
percent in 2010. And the same company
forecasts that no less than 467 million
healthcare and personal fitness devices using
Bluetooth low energy chips will ship in 2016.
Another company, IMS Research, says that
during the period 2009 to 2015, proprietary
ULP and low-power wireless IC shipments are
forecast to increase at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of over 20 percent (see ULP
Wireless Quarter Spring 2011 page 3).
ULP wireless connectivity can be added to
any portable electronic product or equipment
featuring embedded electronics, from tiny
medical and fitness sensors, to cell phones,
PCs, machine tools, cars, and virtually
everything in between. Tiny ULP transceivers
can bestow the ability to communicate with
thousands of other devices directly or as
part of a network – dramatically increasing a
product’s usefulness.
The difference is power
ULP wireless technology differs from so-called
low power, short-range radios such as Bluetooth
technology (now called Classic Bluetooth to
differentiate it from the recently released
Bluetooth v4.0 which includes Bluetooth
14 Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011
ULP wireless has already made inroads into the entertainment
sector along with sports, health, PC peripherals, remote
control, mobile phone accessories, and home automation
PHOTO: COURTESy SIFTEO
business briefing
ulP wireless seCTOr OVerView
low energy technology) in that it requires
significantly less power to operate. This
dramatically increases the opportunity to
add a wireless link to even the most compact
portable electronic device.
The relatively high power demand of
Classic Bluetooth – even for transmission of
modest volumes of user data – dictates an
almost exclusive use of rechargeable batteries.
This power requirement means that Classic
Bluetooth is not a good wireless solution for ‘low
bandwidth-long-lifetime’ applications and it’s
typically used for periods of intense activity
AT A GLANCE
} ABI Research forecasts that 467 million
Bluetooth low energy personal sensors
will ship in 2016
} ULP operation opens up a wide new
range of applications that are beyond
the capabilities of higher power
consumption wireless technologies
} Engineers can choose from a range
of proprietary and interoperable ULP
wireless technologies for a wireless link
when frequent battery charging is not too
inconvenient.
Classic Bluetooth technology, for example,
finds use for wirelessly connecting a cell
phone to a headset or the transfer of stored
digital images from a camera to a Bluetoothenabled printer. Battery life in a Classic
Bluetooth-powered wireless device is therefore
typically measured in days, or weeks at most.
(Note: There are some highly specialized
Classic Bluetooth applications that can run on
lower capacity primary batteries.)
In comparison, ULP RF transceivers can
run from coin cell batteries (such as a CR2032
or CR2025) for periods of months or even
years (depending on application duty cycle).
These coin cell batteries are compact and
inexpensive, but have limited energy capacity
that restricts the active duty cycle of a ULP
wireless link.
Choice of technology
ULP transceivers wake up quickly, send very
short but relatively high-bandwidth 'bursts'
of data (up to 1 or 2Mbps), before immediately
www.nordicsemi.com
u
www.nordicsemi.com
“Proprietary ULP and
low-power wireless
IC shipments are
forecast to increase at
a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of
over 20 percent from
2009 to 2015”
of the additional overhead required for
assured interoperability. The benefit is a
more efficient solution with lower power
consumption and reduced cost. The drawback
is a lack of interoperability.
But many OEMs require a technology
that’s guaranteed to seamlessly connect
with wireless chips in other companies’
products. Such standardized interoperability
is typically underwritten by a formal alliance
of commercial companies such as the ZigBee
Alliance, standards bodies such as IEEE, or trade
associations such as the Bluetooth SIG. Products
must be tested to the relevant specification
in order to qualify for interoperability
certification to a particular standard.
Although enhancements to standards can
take a long time to emerge, and testing to gain
certification takes time and adds expense
for product developers the advantages are
significant. Interoperable solutions tend to
stimulate market growth because equipment
manufacturers gain confidence that the
technology will be available for many years;
there is a multiple source chip-supplier
market; increased competition drives down
prices; and quality is assured because chip
makers have to pass a regulated certification
process.
ANT+ is one example of an interoperable
ULP wireless technology. Nordic’s nRF24AP2
runs the ANT wireless protocol developed by
ANT Wireless of Cochrane, Canada (see ULP
WQ Winter 2009 pg 5). The two companies have
a successful long-term relationship. ANT+ is
supervised by an alliance of over 300 companies
and has been adopted as a de facto standard by
manufacturers such as Garmin and Trek in
Coin cells meet
the cycling sector. And, recently,
in addition
to
Bluetooth
low
Nordic Semiconductor, another
semiconductor
energy’s
power
demands
company has started to offer ANT chips.
Vast potential
However, the most successful interoperable
short range RF solution (in terms of shipment
volumes) is still Bluetooth wireless technology.
The Bluetooth SIG has extended its popular
Bluetooth technology with a version that can
operate from coin cell batteries. Bluetooth low
energy has been designed to allow sensors and
peripherals to communicate with each other
and devices such as the next generation of
cell phones. In December 2009, Bluetooth low
energy was adopted as part of Bluetooth v4.0.
Nordic Semiconductor has played a significant
role in the development of the specification,
donating its extensive ULP wireless design
heritage to the technology (see ULP WQ Autumn
2010 pg 14).
Semiconductor vendors are now shipping
Bluetooth low energy chips. Nordic, for example,
recently announced the first in its µBlue™
Series of Bluetooth low energy chips. The first
product in the µBlue family is the Nordic
nRF8001 – a complete Bluetooth low energy
solution in a 32-pin 5 by 5mm QFN package
incorporating a fully embedded radio, link
controller, and host subsystem – suitable for
watches, sensors, and remote controls among
other applications. Casio’s recently released
G-SHOCK Bluetooth Low Energy Watch uses
this chip (see ULP WQ Spring 2011 front cover).
Bluetooth v4.0 chips are also becoming
available. Devices such as cell phones should
start to incorporate these devices in the
second half of 2011. Once that happens, the
full potential of this exciting new technology
will start to be realized because the cell
phone will be able to act as a gateway to the
Internet for Bluetooth low energy sensors and
peripherals. ANT+ is not standing still though,
the technology is already available in a range
of cell phones from Sony Ericsson (see ULP WQ
Spring 2011 pg 6). n
business briefing
Casio’s recently released
G-SHOCK Bluetooth Low Energy
Watch uses a Nordic µBlue™ chip
PHOTO: COURTESy CASIO
returning to the low energy consumption
sleep state in order to operate from such
modest power reserves for long periods. For
example, Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF24LE1
2.4GHz transceiver has a maximum raw
data bandwidth of 2Mbps, features a peak
current of around 13 milliamps and average
current over an extended period of just tens of
microamps. This low average current extends
coin cell battery life to months or even years
(see ULP WQ Q4 2008 pg 5).
Consequently, ULP RF transceivers are not
capable of high duty cycle applications and
therefore don’t compete directly with Wi-Fi
and Classic Bluetooth. However, ULP operation
does open up a wide new range of applications
that are beyond the capabilities of higher
power consumption wireless technologies.
The sheer diversity of these applications is
remarkable. ULP wireless has already made
inroads into the sports, health, entertainment,
PC peripherals, remote control, gaming, cell
phone accessories, home automation, and
industrial control sectors, and will spread to
many others in the coming years.
These applications have one thing in
common that plays to the strength of ULP
wireless technology – they’re based on compact
sensors and peripherals with small batteries.
These devices send small quantities of data
(typically a few bits) infrequently (i.e. once
every few seconds to a few times per second at
most with a duty cycle of around 0.25 percent).
Despite this commonality, applications
as diverse as a wireless PC peripheral (for
example, a wireless mouse), a bike computer
and associated performance sensors (such as
speed & distance monitors), an RF remote
control, and a medical sensor (such as a
heart rate monitor) demand different
technical solutions.
Engineers can choose more
expensive but easier to design-in
System-on-Chip (SoC) RF devices
(which include an integrated
microcontroller), or go for a SingleChip-Connectivity IC that looks after all
the RF communications, but has to be
paired with a separate microcontroller
to supervise the application (see ULP WQ
Summer 2010 pg 11).
Furthermore, the design team can choose
either a proprietary wireless connectivity
solution or an interoperable one.
Proprietary technology (i.e. one that
belongs to a single company such as Nordic’s
nRF24L series chips) features optimized RF
protocol software without the encumbrance
Nordic ULP WirELESS qUartEr summer 2011 15
The People & Faces
behind Nordic Semiconductor
roger Pedersen
Svein-Egil Nielsen
JOB TITLE:
JOB TITLE:
rEGioNaL SaLES MaNaGEr
JOINED NORDIC:
NoVEMBEr 1997
BASED:
troNdHEiM, NorWaY
INTERESTS INCLUDE:
FaMiLY, rUNNiNG, MoUNtaiN BiKiNG,
SKiiNG
dirEctor EMErGiNG tEcHNoLoGiES &
StratEGic PartNErSHiPS
JOINED NORDIC:
JaNUarY 2011
BASED:
NEW YorK, U.S.
INTERESTS INCLUDE:
traVELLiNG, FaMiLY, diY
Hi, my name is Roger Pedersen and I’m a Regional Sales Manager for
Europe based at Nordic’s headquarters in Trondheim, Norway.
Before joining Nordic as a RF sales engineer, I worked as an RF
designer and (occasional) field applications engineer at a subsidiary
of cellphone operator TeleNor. The second of these roles made me
realize that I really enjoyed getting out of the lab, meeting people, and
working with customers.
My main responsibilities today are to maintain and develop new
business for Nordic in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Spain.
Europe remains a vibrant market for ultra low power (ULP) wireless
– especially in segments such as medical, sports & fitness, computer
peripherals, remote controls, and domestic (white) goods.
My job is to target product managers and R&D decision makers
during their product design cycles before everything is transferred to
production.
“Compared to
That can be quite a challenging
job at times when you consider that even five years ago
Nordic, from a marketing brand
Nordic is far more
perspective, is still a relatively small
recognized in its own
company competing against multiright as a leading
million and -billion dollar global
semiconductor giants.
semiconductor
That said, the arrival of Bluetooth supplier in the ULP
low energy has helped to open a few
wireless field”
new doors. In fact compared to even
five years ago Nordic is now far more recognized in its own right as a
leading semiconductor supplier in the ULP wireless field. But you can
never be complacent and must always be willing to go the extra mile.
Outside of work I’m very lucky to have three beautiful daughters
ranging in age from 12 to 17 who I enjoy supporting in cross-country
skiing in the winter and soccer in the summer – a rather popular sport
in Norway where the Norwegian female soccer team have been former
European, World, and Olympic champions.
For holidays we go to our cottage in Trollheimen in the mountains of
central Norway for hiking; or skiing or to our house on Frøya, an Island
west of Trondheim for fishing; or just enjoying the skerries (small rocky
islands common in Norway) in our boat.
But living with an all-female family does mean that I occasionally feel
the need to burn a little bit of male energy by going for a challenging
outdoor run or mountain bike ride in the summer, or doing some ‘serious’
skiing in winter. That said, I still find all of this far less challenging than
encouraging my oldest daughter to learn her math!
Hi, my name is Svein-Egil Nielsen and having been Nordic’s Sales &
Marketing Director and (later) R&D Director between 2001 and 2006,
I have now rejoined the company as its first Director for Emerging
Technologies & Strategic Partnerships.
In the four years between leaving and rejoining Nordic I worked for
the Norwegian government as a trade commissioner in San Francisco.
This job focused on assisting small Norwegian companies with U.S.
expansion plans – a role in which my previous experience with Nordic
proved highly relevant.
Today my main responsibility “My main responsibility
is to pursue new initiatives
is to pursue new
that could prove vital to the
initiatives that could
Nordic's long-term success –
prove vital to the
including global technological
opportunities, strategic alliances, Nordic’s long-term
commercial partnerships, and
success – including
sourcing strategies.
global technological
My typical day is structured
opportunities, strategic
around morning phone calls to
the East Coast U.S. and Europe, alliances, commercial
West Coast U.S. in the afternoon, partnerships, and
and Asia in the evening.
sourcing strategies”
At present I spend a lot of
my time working to advance the adoption of the new Bluetooth 4.0
spec that includes Bluetooth low energy as a hallmark feature. This
means working with a range of other established Bluetooth and
complementary wireless technology companies.
One of the things I really like about my role is the opportunity to
work in the rapidly expanding wireless sector for a leading, global
semiconductor company that essentially pioneered the ultra low
power (watch-battery) wireless segment.
Combine that with my strong historical links to Nordic and the fact
that it’s still small enough to be fast, nimble, and fun to work for – and
you will understand why I feel honored to have the opportunity to
contribute to the company again.
Outside of work I enjoy relaxing with my family. That said, relaxing
is harder than it used to be now that I have a small one-and-a-half
year-old boy that is currently exploring the world without any
understanding of risk. I also enjoy embarking upon DIy projects
because it feels great to build something practical and gets me extra
brownie points from my wife. And I’m set to gain even more points this
year when I start learning Korean - my wife's native language.
Roger Pedersen
Svein-Egil Nielsen
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