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Highly Integrated, Single-Chip Bluetooth Low Energy Solutions from Cypress for IoT

Reviewed

Nov 12 2014

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. today introduced two highly integrated, single-chip Bluetooth^® Low Energy solutions that simplify design of low-power, sensor-based systems for the Internet of Things. The new PSoC^® 4 BLE Programmable System-on-Chip 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.

The PRoC™ BLE Programmable Radio-on-Chip provides a cost-effective turnkey solution for wireless Human Interface Devices (HIDs), remote controls and applications requiring pure play wireless connectivity.

The PSoC 4 BLE Programmable System-on-Chip 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.

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. Cypress is demonstrating the solutions in Hall A5, Stand 520 at Electronica.

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.

"Cypress built our new Bluetooth Low Energy solutions on a strong foundation: our established track-record in programmable ARM-based controller functionality with more than 100 million ARM products shipped, our expertise in low-power wireless connectivity, and our market-leading capacitive touch-sensing technology," said T.J. Rodgers, President and CEO at Cypress. "Cypress Bluetooth Low Energy solutions deliver unprecedented integration and ease of design for the Internet of Things, wearable electronics, and other Bluetooth Smart applications, making our portfolio instantly available for new products in these fast-growing markets."

"We expect that the number of connected devices in the Internet of Things will grow from almost 10 billion units in 2013 to over 36 billion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 20%," said Tony Massimini, Chief of Technology at Semico Research. "By 2020 almost half of these devices will be in home automation. Bluetooth is an essential link in IoT, and Cypress's Bluetooth Low Energy solutions enable designers to simplify their development and reduce the time it takes to bring IoT products to market."

PSoC 4 BLE adds a Bluetooth Smart radio to the flexible PSoC 4 architecture and its integrated programmable analog front-end for sensor interfaces and programmable digital peripherals for glue logic and control. This combination delivers a compelling, customized one-chip solution to streamline design of Internet of Things applications. Further accelerating time-to-market, 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. Cypress has shipped more than one billion CapSense touch-sensing controllers, which have replaced more than five billion mechanical buttons in mobile handsets, laptops, consumer electronics, white goods, automotive applications, and other systems, making Cypress the industry touch-sensing leader. Learn more about CapSense online at www.cypress.com/go/capsense.

Cypress Bluetooth Low Energy Development Kits and Reference Designs
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.

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 production-ready 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.

Availability and Photos
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. High-resolution images of the solutions and kits are available at www.cypress.com/go/BLEimages.

MCUs Can't. PSoC Can.
PSoC solutions bring the flash-based equivalent of a field-programmable ASIC to embedded designs without lead-time or NRE penalties. PSoC integrates configurable analog and digital circuits with an on-chip microcontroller, reducing component count and simplifying revisions. A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions, accelerating cycle time and improving quality while reducing board space, power consumption, and system cost.

PSoC "future-proofs" designs, protecting them against last-minute specifications changes. It enables firmware-based changes at any point in the design cycle -- even out in the field. All PSoC devices are dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to transform resources on-the-fly and to execute tasks with fewer ICs. The PSoC portfolio includes a highly-integrated, single-chip Bluetooth^® Low Energy solution, PSoC 4 BLE, that simplifies design of low-power, sensor-based systems for the Internet of Things. For more information on PSoC, please visit www.cypress.com/psoc. Free online training is available at www.cypress.com/psoctraining.

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