Bluetooth 5.2 SoC With Extended Range, Throughput and Reliability

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The SoC is equipped with latest Bluetooth features that strengthen it cover larger areas, save power and provide enhanced security

For increasing communication range, raising throughput, strengthening security and saving power, the BlueNRG-LP Bluetooth LE System-on-Chip (SoC) by STMicroelectronics is an ideal solution.

Leveraging the latest Bluetooth features, the ultra-low-power radio is optimised to consume as little as 3.4mA in receive mode, just 4.3mA when transmitting and less than 500nA quiet wake-up events, cutting battery size requirements in most applications by up to half, thus prolonging runtime.

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As claimed by the company, the BlueNRG-LP, the 3rd-generation Bluetooth SoC, is the world’s first Bluetooth LE 5.2-certified SoC to support concurrent connections up to 128 nodes, enabling seamless low-latency control and monitoring large numbers of connected devices, for instance from a stylish and intuitive smartphone app.

High Range

Combined with high RF-output power, which is programmable up to +8dBm and excellent RF sensitivity up to -104dBm, the BlueNRG-LP radio SoC can natively cover a much larger area in beacons, smart lighting, gaming, building automation, industrial and tracking applications. Furthermore, the communication range can be extended limitlessly by addition of Bluetooth LE Mesh, that is available as part of the comprehensive BlueNRG software and hardware ecosystem.

Also, BlueNRG-LP supports Bluetooth Long Range mode, which uses coded physical layers (Coded PHY) with Forward Error Connection (FEC) to extend the radio-communication range by up to hundreds of metres and increase reliability, as well as GATT (generic attribute) caching to connect quickly and efficiently.

Ultra-Low-Power

BlueNRG-LP incorporates third-generation Bluetooth Low Energy protocol stack certified to Core Specification 5.2 and designed to match its ultra-low-power architecture. The stack is provided as a free-of-charge and compiler-independent linkable library supported by multiple Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) and is optimised for small footprint, modularity, low latency, interoperability and lifetime over-the-air upgradability. It supports:

• Extended advertising and scanning
• High-duty-cycle non-connectable advertising
• Extended packet length
• 2Mbit/s throughput

The BlueNRG-LP also supports L2CAP Connection-Oriented Channel (CoC), which eases large bidirectional data transfers, multi-role simultaneous connectivity and Channel Selection Algorithm #2 (CSA #2), which permits robust connections in noisy environments such as home, building, or industrial networks.

Secure and Reliable

Enhanced security mechanisms included in the integrated Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller (MCU) comprise:

• A secure bootloader
• Readout protection for the entire 256KB embedded flash
• A 48-bit unique ID, as well as customer key storage
• True Random-Number Generator (RNG)
• Hardware public-key accelerator (PKA)
• A 128-bit AES cryptographic co-processor. 

The highly efficient processing unit executes code at up to 64MHz, consuming just 18µA/MHz and features:

• Industry-standard digital interfaces
• Multi-channel 12-bit ADC
• An analogue microphone interface with a programmable gain amplifier
• User and system timers and watchdog
• Up to 31 5V-tolerant user-programmable I/O pins.

The BlueNRG-LP SoC also integrates an embedded RF balun, DC-DC converter, and capacitors for the HSE (High-Speed External) oscillator and internal low-speed ring oscillator, minimising bill-of-materials (BOM) costs and simplifying circuit design.

BlueNRG-LP SoCs are in production now in QFN48. It is available in a choice of 5mm x 5mm QFN32, 6mm x 6mm QFN48 and a miniature 3.14mm x 3.14mm WLCSP49 wafer-level package. With 32KB or 64KB RAM and a choice of temperature range up to 85 degrees Celsius or 105 degrees Celsius, designers get extra flexibility to choose a configuration to suit their needs.