Low-Power 2.4GHz Radio Chip Complies with BLE, Zigbee

摘要

Imec, Holst Centre and Renesas presented an ultralow power 2.4GHz short range radio compliant with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and 1EEE802.15.4 (ZigBee). Implemented in 40nm CMOS, the radio achieves a reduced supply voltage (20 percent), power consumption (25 percent), and chip area (35 percent), as compared to the previous 90nm radio frequency (RF) front-end design. "From healthcare to smart buildings, ubiquitous wireless sensors connected through cellular devices are becoming widely used in everyday life," said Harmke De Groot, Department Director at imec. "The radio consumes majority of the power of the total system and is one of the most critical components to enable these emerging applications. Moreover, a low-cost area-efficient radio design is an important catalyst for developing small sensor applications, seamlessly integrated into the environment. Implementing an ultralow power radio will increase the autonomy of the sensor device, increase its quality, functionality and performance and enable the reduction of the battery size, resulting in a smaller device, which in case of wearable systems, adds to user's comfort."