French system-in-package (SiP) specialists Insight SiP has released what it claims is the world's first drop-in single mode Bluetooth low energy module.
The 8x12x1.4mm ISP091201 is aimed at space-constrained applications such monitors for heart-rate, blood pressure or glucose, as well as watches, pedometers, remote controls and key fob-style proximity detectors.
Inside, the circuit is based on a reference design from Nordic Semiconductor.
It includes Nordic's nRF8001 chip, which integrates radio, baseband and software stack (PHY, link layer and host); an integrated antenna; a 16MHz crystal; and 15 passives.
"The ISP091201 is designed to be fully compliant with FCC and CE EMC requirements and requires no other external supporting components beyond an external 8bit microcontroller to run the profile and application layers of the stack, and a 3V power source," said Nordic.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group adopted Bluetooth low energy as part of the Bluetooth Version 4.0 Core Specification.
The low energy part of v4.0 specifies two types of implementation: single mode and dual mode. Single mode can only talk to other single-mode and dual-mode devices, and not classic Bluetooth devices.
"Single mode chips consume only a fraction of the power of classic Bluetooth, allowing the short-range wireless standard to extend to coin cell battery applications for the first time," said Nordic.
Single mode devices have a lightweight Link Layer to cut power when idling, simple device discovery, and point-to-multipoint data transfer with encrypted connections.
"Because the technology is optimised for devices requiring maximum battery life instead of a high data transfer rate, it consumes between 1 and 50% of the power of classic Bluetooth technology," said Nordic. "Single mode devices will be expected to run for many months or even years on, for example, CR2032 lithium cells."
Chips will typically operate with low duty cycles, entering idle and sleep modes to wake up periodically for a communication burst.