Silicon Labs offers Bluetooth Mesh support from protocol introduction
Silicon Labs has introduced a suite of software and hardware that supports the Bluetooth mesh specification that includes development tools, a software stack, and mobile apps for smartphones supporting Silicon Labs’ wireless system-on-chip (SoC) devices and certified modules. The combination of Silicon Labs’ network analysis tools and Bluetooth mesh stack for smartphones enables IoT developers to cut time to market by up to six months when compared to existing wireless development tools and techniques.
The software update runs on top of Bluetooth 4.0, and so is compatible with all existing BLE hardware; similarly the smartphone app “doesn’t touch” native Android or IoS functionality.
Silabs expects to see Bluetooth mesh devices first in lighting, both commercial and domestic; and in smart home applications, and in beaconing and asset tracking. A mesh network enables devices, such as connected lights, to be deployed at greater distances from a hub or gateway. As each light is deployed, the communication range increases, allowing a single gateway to cover an area larger than one that is simply covered by a star network topology. In retail marketing and asset tracking applications, Bluetooth mesh technology simplifies the deployment and management of beacons. By combining Bluetooth LE with mesh networking, new capabilities and value can be introduced into devices such as connected lights which can also serve as beacons or beacon scanners.
The company anticipates emergence of new modes of operation that might combine other features; a light might also be a beacon: or that light might search for a beacon.
Silicon Labs adds that using its solution, designers can: accelerate time to market using existing certified wireless modules and SoCs, including the smallest Bluetooth system-in-package (SiP) module (BGM11S) and the EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko SoCs. Modules with integrated antennas provide a fast, cost-effective means to design Bluetooth mesh-enabled products. Blue Gecko SoCs offer large memory options to support over-the-air (OTA) updates, as well as advanced features such as hardware security acceleration, capacitive sensing, low-power sensor interfaces and enhanced RF performance.
Silicon Labs’ mobile application for smartphones allows designers to verify the operation of Bluetooth mesh-based implementations with a commercially supported Bluetooth mesh library and source code to streamline design.
The company’s Simplicity Studio software tools will now incorporate network analysis and packet trace technology, energy profiling and visual application configuration.
In other open and proprietary protocols, Silicon Labs claims to be the leading supplier of silicon and software for mesh networking applications. The company has shipped more than 100 million mesh networking SoCs and modules; “We expect to see a wave of new devices hit the market quickly by leveraging ubiquitous Bluetooth connectivity to create hub-less mesh networks that extend the range and reliability of Bluetooth systems,” a company spokesman concluded.
Silicon Labs’ Bluetooth mesh software development tools and software stack are available now free of charge to customers with registered Bluetooth mesh development kits from Silicon Labs.
Silicon Labs; www.silabs.com/bluetooth-mesh
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