Enhanced Low-Power (ELP) Wireless MCUs Provide Multi-protocol Support and Quadruple Battery Life in Sensors
Broadcom Corporation, a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, introduced a new family of enhanced low-power (ELP) multi-protocol Bluetooth/802.15.4 combo systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) into its Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED®) portfolio. Broadcom’s WICED CORE ELP devices provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with the ideal platform for low-power Internet of Things (IoT) products and applications.
The WICED CORE ELP Bluetooth family delivers advanced technology for a wide range of IoT applications, including simultaneous multi-protocol support, the industry’s first 40nm flash memory in a communications SoC, low-power consumption and a common development platform. By integrating a host of features including increased processor speed, FPU and DSP libraries, more applications RAM and significant flash memory on a chip the size of a fingernail, Broadcom enables OEMs to create more complex applications and employ a wireless MCU that scales across a much wider product set than solutions available today.
“Broadcom further separates itself from the competition with our new WICED CORE ELP family,” said Brian Bedrosian, Broadcom Senior Director, Product Marketing, Wireless Connectivity. “In addition to enabling multi-protocol support, we support more complex IoT applications for OEMs and developers, all while consolidating our low-power solution in a small package.”
Broadcom’s WICED CORE ELP includes:
- BCM20719 which supports both Bluetooth and Bluetooth Smart protocols
- BCM20729 which supports Zigbee and 6LoWPAN protocols
- BCM20739 which supports Bluetooth, Bluetooth Smart and IEEE 802.15.4 protocols
Key Features of the WICED CORE ELP Family:
- ARM Cortex CM4 MCU with FPU and DSP extensions and a clock speed up to 100Mz
- Common platform for simplified application development and seamless connection to mobile devices and mesh networks
- 512 KB RAM for complex applications
- 1MB flash memory for program and data storage including support for over-the-air updates
- Integrated Bluetooth and Bluetooth Smart and Zigbee 3.0 software stacks
- Advanced sleep and latency management circuitry
- High performance radio frequency (RF)
- Compliant with Bluetooth 4.2 specification
- Expansive set of IO including precision A/D convertors
o Support for UART, SPI, Quad-SPI and Serial Control interfaces for interfacing to external nonvolatile memories, peripheral ICs, and sensors
- On-chip, multi-channel ADC for measuring sensor inputs, battery level, and more
- On-chip AES 256 encryption engines with support for RSA, MD5, ECC and secure element
- Native wireless charging support for A4WP and Airfuel
