Why Integrate Bluetooth LE IP in a Single Wearable SoC?

By SemiWiki

October 24, 2016

Did you know that, in over 800 teardowns of mobile and wearable products from 2012 to 2015, wireless chips outnumbered the actual number of products, indicating multiple wireless ICs in some designs (¹)? It could be interesting to look at the advantages of integrating wireless technology such as Bluetooth low energy in a single SoC. Especially for systems where bill of material (BOM) cost and power consumption can be real issues, like Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable applications.

Bluetooth has been initially defined for short range usage, typically headset and smartphone, with paired device broadcasting approach. According with Bluetooth SIG, the future launch of Bluetooth 5 at the end of 2016, beginning of 2017, will suppress these limitations in term of range and broadcasting capability, and also double the speed and by consequence half the power consumption. Let’s have a look at the various wireless architectures integrating Bluetooth low energy, and the preferred process technology associated with each option.

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