Bluetooth Low Energy and the Nordic uBlue
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Earlier this month the Bluetooth SIG formally ratified the Bluetooth Core Specification 4.0, which focuses heavily on lower power Bluetooth connections.
The new spec will allow Bluetooth to penetrate many different markets where low power is required, such as healthcare, home entertainment, and security. The new spec calls for Bluetooth connections with lower power, lower cost, and improved range.
Micahel Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, stated that, "With today’s announcement the race is on for product designers to be the first to market".
Nordic Semiconductor has somewhat of a head start on this race with their announcement of uBlue back in April of this year. While the ratification of the spec will allow Nordic to complete their chipset design, their track record with Ultra Low Power 2.4GHz RF radios positions them well to capture a large portion of this new emerging market.
Nordic now shipping samples of uBlue: http://www.semiconductorstore.com/pages/asp/Press.asp?id=205