Nordic Semiconductor is to make chips for 'Bluetooth low energy' that will run from a coin cell "for months to years", claimed the firm. "µBlue will have low peak currents and micro ampere range average current in connected mode.
The first µBlue product, the RF8001, will be a single mode slave chip for watches, sensors and remote controls."
Release is scheduled for the second half of this year, shortly after the official release of the Bluetooth low energy specification 1.0 - which will cover the 1Mbit/s adaptive frequency hopping protocol developed by Nokia and formerly known as Wibree.
The range will all be single mode and all include: radio, baseband, microcontroller and embedded software stack.
"Bluetooth low energy is the next step in Bluetooth wireless technology, designed from scratch to consume only a fraction of the power of classic Bluetooth," said Nordic.
Two different chip implementations are expected: 'single mode' and 'dual mode'.
Single mode chips implement only Bluetooth low energy, can run from small primary cells, and are aimed applications like remote controls, wireless keyboards and toys. They cannot communicate with classic Bluetooth transceivers.
Dual mode chips are compatible with both Bluetooth low energy and classic Bluetooth, but will consume more power and be more suited to rechargeable portable products.
According to Nordic, as much of the circuitry is common and there is very little cost overhead, phone makers are likely switch from building-in classic Bluetooth transceivers to incorporating dual-mode chips.
See also: Electronics Weekly's Focus on Wibree, a roundup of content related to the Ultra Low Power (ULP) Bluetooth technology.