The cat is out of the bag. At TechCon, ARM launched its latest Cordio radio IP architecture that provides support for both Bluetooth® 5 and 802.15.4 (ARM Cordio radio IP: Flexible Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 connectivity architecture for IoT edge devices)
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Bluetooth is one of the most popular wireless standards around, for power savvy edge devices, such as wearables. Its presence is ubiquitous from smartphones to tablets to nearly every health and fitness tracker on the market, we are now never more than a few feet away from a spider Bluetooth enabled device. Bluetooth low power credentials do not need to be reminded, and with the upcoming Bluetooth 5 release at the end of the year, it will not change.
One of the big changes in Bluetooth 5 is the data rate increase to 2Mbps, a 2x rate increase from previous Bluetooth low energy 4.2 standard. Some might say that it is not a big deal as other standards can go faster, but are a lot more power hungry (looking at you Mr WiFi). But it is indeed a big deal, for IoT ultra low-power edge nodes.
Industry experts have predicted that there will be up to 1.8 billion of Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 devices connected by 2020, however what they haven’t mentioned is how the devices will be powered. Will this mean billions of batteries for all these edge devices? This could be a terrible scenario in terms of maintenance and material needs for all these devices’s batteries?
I believe there are two solutions to the problem; ensure the battery life is a long as possible to reduce the replacement rates, or remove the need to replace batteries completely.
For both solutions, ARM Cordio radio IP is well placed to answer the call.
As an example, a smart, wireless hearable device (Read blog from pnwilliamson Could removing the headphone jack mark the start of the Bluetooth low energy audio accessories market?)
A major selling point for such product is the length of battery life.
The Cordio radio IP works natively at sub-1 volt. A sub-1 volt radio functionality brings you so much farther, than conventional power supplies. With hearing aid, typical batteries used are zinc-air batteries.
This means a Cordio Radio IP, working at sub-1 volt, gives you 60% more battery life, as it continues working up to the discharge endpoint of the zinc air battery.
Add to this the increased rate from Bluetooth 5, this means that communication events are that much shorter, enabling the device to go back to sleep mode faster, thus improving the battery life.
Not all devices have to run on batteries, as energy harvesting, for edge nodes is now a viable solution. The other advantage of working natively at sub-1 volt, means that removing the battery altogether is possible, thanks to energy harvesting. Two 0.5V solar cells are enough to power a Bluetooth 5 and/or 802.15.4 Cordio radio-based device, along with a Cortex®-M processor, and ARM Artisan® physical IP and will power your devices for free with sunlight. Sensors can be embedded in windows, giving temperature, barometric, humidity, luminosity information of your home and send it via a Bluetooth connection to another device.
Designers can take advantage of the Cordio radio native sub-1 volt technology together with Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 low power credentials. ARM Cordio radio IP brings a one-source solution, from RF to stack, rather than a partial solution as explained prithi in her blog Bits and pieces will not do – IoT needs complete solutions! In order to capture the opportunity of longer battery life or no battery at all, designers need to think at the system level, and that the wireless IP needs to be low power, but other IPs as well.
The low power Cortex-M processor family with Artisan physical IP, working at sub-1 volt, complete the low-power system view, enabling new applications.
With the sub-1 volt ARM Cordio IP, designers can think of multiple connectivity options, that go farther and faster, enabling them to think of slim, disposable, unattended applications.