ON's Bluetooth LE devices have been making waves in the industry for several years. In 2017, Anson released the RSL10, its first product in Bluetooth LE. This was followed by the release of the RSL15 in 2021, after which Anson continued to develop new devices in Bluetooth LE specifications. Each device has multiple family products
Identifying the application requirements will guide you to choosing the right solution. Consider the following questions
● Do I need a very low-power plan with as much battery life as possible?
● Does the application require audio transmission or audio processing?
● Is the space for the application limited?
● Integrated antenna and external passive components of the module can shorten the development time?
● Is car certification required?
● Does the application need to be implanted in the human body or used for life-related medical treatment?
● Does the application require secure data transfer?
● Does the BLE reference design help kick-start the development of the product?
● Is it an Internet of Things app?
Therefore, use requirements can be determined by the answers to the above questions, so as to select appropriate products ON Bluetooth LE. A summary of product options is at the bottom.
Low power consumption
Low power consumption is the characteristic of RSL series products. The RSL10 was designed with input from implantable medical customers, who require devices to run for years on small batteries without being recharged. Each module of the RSL family of devices is designed with low power consumption in mind. In sleep mode, all products of the RSL family can operate at very low duty ratio and power consumption is in the nA range. RSL15 provides a Smart Sense Mode that allows continuous ADC monitoring of external values and wakes up when the ADC threshold is at 186 nA@ 3.0V!
Audio
If your app involves audio and you need an audio codec, RSL10 is the best choice. RSL10 integrates with LPDSP32 and can run audio codecs such as G.722 or CELT. Anson's future Bluetooth LE solution will also support new LE audio protocols with LC3 codecs. (Note: Codecs encode and decode compressed digital data as it is transmitted. The codec can be either a fixed hardware block or an algorithm running on a processor, the LPDSP32 processor being a dedicated hardware block for the most efficient and lowest power compression/decompression of audio data). Our EZAIRO 7160 wireless pre-configured DSP with RSL10 is ideal for small profile, low power audio applications such as hearing AIDS.
Dimension
Select WLCSP (Wafer level chip packaging) -- silicon wafers with solder balls for attachment -- for applications requiring minimal external dimensions, such as consumer electronics or medical disposables, wearables or ID tags. The RSL10 WLCSP has a tiny size of 2.32 mm x 2.36 mm and is only 0.35 mm thick, the RSL10 QFN is 6 mm x 6 mm and the RSL15 QFN is 5 mm x 5 mm, which is still very small. If you choose WLCSP, you need to make sure that the manufacturing process you choose can accommodate 0.25mm ball spacing.
Module
The development of any RF system, such as 2.4GHz Bluetooth LE, has the added complication of choosing surrounding components and antennas to match the hardware environment. Reviewing systems to meet FCC, CE, or other regulatory standards can be time-consuming and costly. To bypass this work, you can choose a pre-certified module that integrates all the required passive components (such as crystals, power decoupling, and antenna matching circuits) and an integrated antenna. In this case, RSL10 SIP is an ideal solution. All passive components and antennas are integrated into this 6mm x 8mm x 1.46mm certification module. RSL15 SIP is under development and ON will release it soon.
Automobile certification
The development of automotive applications requires a component that meets stringent automotive temperature ranges and standards. Certified by AEC-Q100 Grade 2, the NCV-RSL10 is as energy efficient as the RSL10 and enables a variety of new automotive applications, including keyless entry, safety diagnostic alerts, and enhanced infotainment controls.
Life-threatening medical treatment
Anson has a long history as a supplier of medical components, and this experience is applied to MD-RSL10, enabling it to be used in implant or vital applications such as cardiac monitoring and management and nerve stimulation.
Reference design
ON has a number of proven reference designs that can be used as a starting point for your project to speed up development. The reference design usually includes application hardware, firmware, bill of Materials (BOM), schematics, and PCB manufacturing documents. Anson Beauty offers a variety of low power reference designs to quickly launch your iot application, including:
● RSL10 Sensor development kit
● RSL10 Asset tag
● Bluetooth low power switch for energy acquisition
● RSL10 intelligent shooting camera platform
Secure transmission
Developers must incorporate one or more security mechanisms when protecting sensitive data, such as personal health information and payment transaction information. RSL15 contains the latest embedded security features, with true hardware-based trust roots and Arm encryption units for hardware-accelerated encryption algorithms. The data showed that security algorithms such as ECDSA or SHA ran 62 times faster on this hardware accelerator than software security solutions.
Internet of things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a broad category, but some typical requirements will give you a guide to the selection of components. A common iot application is a remote monitoring device that spends most of its time in sleep mode, occasionally waking up, sending a few data packets, and then returning to sleep mode.
The RSL15 is well suited for this application because it offers a variety of low-power modes to suit almost any application requirement. In addition, the RSL15 comes in two flash size options (284 kB and 512 kB), as well as Internet-of-Things core features such as intellisthesia mode, which continuously reads ADC even when in sleep mode. The RSL10 is also ideal for Internet of Things applications that require a small form factor.
ON's RSL series has a growing number of variants, all with ultra-low power consumption. Check power and battery estimators and you'll see that the RSL10 and RSL15 have industry-leading low power consumption.
