Renesas Electronics and Texas Instruments compete on Bluetooth LE

Renesas Electronics and Texas Instruments compete on Bluetooth LE

Renesas Electronics and Texas Instruments (TI) have both launched Bluetooth wireless microcontrollers for the Internet of Things (IoT), wearables and medical designs, and the two companies are officially competing over Bluetooth LE.

According to eeNews, TI introduced the CC2340 series of fourth-generation Bluetooth low energy (BLE) wireless microcontrollers, while Renesas introduced the SmartBondDA1470x series of dual-core devices with a 2D graphics processor.

The CC2340 series uses the ARM CortexM0+ core and measures 4x4 mm2 in the smallest QFN package, and TI is also planning a chip-scale package version. Pricing starts as low as $0.79 (1,000 pieces), and customers can also purchase samples and development kits for $39. Mass production is expected in the first half of 2023.

Renesas Electronics and Texas Instruments officially compete over Bluetooth LE

TI's product marketing manager said the chip is manufactured using a 60nm CMOS process and is produced at TI and external foundries in the United States. "Our goal is to make Bluetooth ubiquitous."

Renesas' SmartBondDA1470x series is also trying to take advantage of this surge in demand. Unlike TI's purpose of shrinking size and lowering cost, this family of Bluetooth low energy (LE) chips builds on the design of the Dialog acquisition and aims to improve integration rather than reduce cost.

The DA1470x integrates a power management unit, hardware Voice Activity Detector (VAD) and GPU for smart IoT devices with sensor and graphics capabilities and is always-on in the same applications as wearables such as smart watches and fitness trackers Audio processing, glucose monitoring readers and other consumer healthcare devices, home appliances with displays, industrial automation and security systems.

The main processor is an ARMCortexM33 processor, and the chip is packaged in a 6.2x6mmBGA. The high level of integration further saves bill of materials (BoM) costs and reduces the number of components on the PCB, enabling smaller form factors and making room for additional components or larger batteries.

"The DA1470x series is a further extension of our successful strategy of integrating more features, including more powerful processing power, expanded memory, and improved power modules," said Sean McGrath, vice president of the Connectivity and Audio Business Unit, IoT Industrial and Infrastructure Business Unit, Renesas. and VAD for any-time on-line wake-up and command word detection.