High-integration Bluetooth Low Energy IC from Cypress
Cypress has introduced two highly integrated, single-chip Bluetooth Low Energy products that it says will simplify design of low-power, connected, sensor-based systems. The PSoC 4 BLE Programmable System-on-Chip delivers is a customisable solution for IoT applications, home automation, healthcare equipment, sports and fitness monitors, and other wearable smart devices; the PRoC BLE Programmable Radio-on-Chip provides a turnkey solution for wireless Human Interface Devices (HIDs), remote controls and applications requiring pure play wireless connectivity.
These Bluetooth Low Energy products enable complete systems by integrating a Bluetooth Smart radio, a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 core with ultra-low-power modes, programmable analogue blocks, and Cypress’s CapSense capacitive touch-sensing. This combination of technology claims prolonged battery life, customisable sensing capabilities, and intuitive user interfaces.
Designers looking to create Bluetooth Smart products currently must, Cypress asserts, 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 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. Alternatively, users of Eclipse and other ARM-based tools can customise their own Bluetooth Low Energy solutions on PSoC Creator and export the design to their preferred IDE.
PSoC 4 BLE adds a Bluetooth Smart radio to the flexible PSoC 4 architecture and its integrated programmable analogue front-end for sensor interfaces and programmable digital peripherals for glue logic and control. This combination delivers a one-chip solution for Internet of Things applications. Both PSoC 4 BLE and PRoC BLE have an on-chip balun that simplifies antenna design while reducing board size and system cost.
The Cypress Bluetooth Low Energy solutions also contain programmable CapSense touch-sensing interfaces with built-in two-finger gestures using Cypress’s SmartSense Auto-tuning algorithm, which completely eliminates the requirement for manual system tuning; www.cypress.com/go/capsense
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 access to the Cypress BLE devices, while maintaining the design footprint from the PSoC 4 Pioneer kit. The development kit includes a USB BLE dongle that pairs with the CySmart master emulation tool, converting a designer’s Windows PC into a Bluetooth LE debug environment.
PRoC BLE is supported by the CY5672 PRoC BLE Remote Control Reference Design Kit and the CY5682 PRoC BLE Touch Mouse Reference Design Kit, which provide implementations of a Bluetooth Low Energy or Bluetooth Smart touch remote control and mouse, respectively. The remote control has a trackpad to detect two- and one-finger gestures and includes a built-in microphone to capture and stream voice data to the host device, while the touch mouse reference design includes buttons which map to common user interface shortcuts for Windows 8. Each reference design kit will be available for $49.
The new PSoC 4 BLE and PRoC BLE solutions are currently sampling in 68-ball CSP and 56-pin QFN packages, with production expected in December 2014.
Cypress; www.cypress.com
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
