San Jose, CA – Cypress Semiconductor [Nasdaq: CY] has announced its new highly integrated, single-chip Bluetooth Low Energy solutions have achieved Bluetooth qualification. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group awarded specification 4.1 qualification to Cypress’s Link Layer component, Bluetooth Low Energy protocol stack and radio frequency physical layer (RF Phy) used in the PSoC 4 BLE Programmable System-on-Chip and PRoC BLE Programmable Radio-on-Chip solutions. Additionally, the solutions’ chip-scale packages (CSP) and quad-flat no-lead (QFN) packages earned Bluetooth 4.1 qualification.
Bluetooth 4.1 is designed to coexist with cellular technologies such as LTE and deliver better connections and improved data transfer, enabling developers to create innovative Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Customers designing with Cypress’s Bluetooth Low Energy solutions can apply to add the Bluetooth logo on their products by referring to Cypress’s qualification identification numbers.
“Achieving Bluetooth 4.1 qualification is a major milestone for our Bluetooth Low Energy product roadmap,” says Jayant Somani, senior director of Bluetooth Low Energy products at Cypress. “PSoC 4 BLE and PRoC BLE are easy to use, and Bluetooth 4.1 qualification further enables customers to complete their end-product designs and get to market quickly.”
The Cypress Bluetooth Low Energy solutions enable complete systems by integrating a Bluetooth Smart radio, a high-performance 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 core with ultra-low-power modes, programmable analog blocks, and Cypress’s industry-leading CapSense capacitive touch-sensing functionality. This combination of technology delivers unmatched system value for Bluetooth Smart products, with prolonged battery life, customizable sensing capabilities, and sleek, intuitive user interfaces. PSoC 4 BLE delivers unprecedented ease-of-use and integration in a customizable solution for IoT applications, home automation, healthcare equipment, sports and fitness monitors, and other wearable smart devices. PRoC BLE provides a cost-effective turnkey solution for wireless Human Interface Devices (HIDs), remote controls and applications requiring simple wireless connectivity. The solutions also have an on-chip balun that simplifies antenna design while reducing board size and system cost.
Designers looking to create Bluetooth Smart products currently must use software tools from multiple vendors and develop complex firmware to meet wireless specifications. Cypress has simplified the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol stack and profile configuration into a new royalty-free, GUI-based BLE Component—a free embedded IC within PSoC represented by an icon—that can be dragged and dropped into designs using Cypress’s PSoC Creator integrated design environment (IDE). PSoC Creator enables complete system design in a single tool, slashing time-to-market. Alternatively, users of Eclipse® and other ARM-based tools can customize their own Bluetooth Low Energy solutions on PSoC Creator and export the design to their preferred IDE.
Application details for Cypress’s BLE Component are embedded in PSoC Creator with examples of all supported Bluetooth Low Energy profiles and hundreds of example projects for mixed-signal system designs. Cypress provides additional design support with multiple development kits and with FCC-certified BLE Modules. The $49 CY8CKIT-042-BLE Development Kit gives users easy access to the Cypress Bluetooth Low Energy devices, while maintaining the design footprint from the PSoC 4 Pioneer kit. The development kit includes a USB Bluetooth Low Energy dongle that pairs with the CySmart master emulation tool, converting a designer’s Windows PC into a Bluetooth Low Energy debug environment.
For more information visit www.cypress.com.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)