INTERNET OF THINGS HANDBOOK
Selecting the right Bluetooth Low Energy SoC Tricks of the trade for optimizing the energy consumption of BLE chips affect memory size, clock speed, operating modes, and other factors determined during the initial design. Emmanuel Sambuis Silicon Lab
It can be challenging to optimize Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) applications for minimal energy consumption. An understanding of BLE and the underlying system-on-chip (SoC) architecture is critical for realizing extended battery life. Particularly important are insights into the BLE modes of operation (such as Advertising and Sleep). There are different ways to minimize the power consumption of the entire system by providing the right inputs to the stack and taking advantage of hardware features of BLE SoCs.
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DESIGN WORLD — EE NETWORK
4 • 2020
Within Bluetooth, BLE has secured a significant number of sockets. One of the most critical reasons for selecting BLE in a wireless design is its ubiquity thanks to its large deployment in smartphones and its ability to extend the battery life-time. Long battery life is extremely valuable as most IoT end nodes are battery operated. Though it may sound obvious, the selection of a BLE device starts with the evaluation of its documentation. While the initial data-mining process seems trivial, the comparison of semiconductor device datasheets can quickly turn into a complicated task. Consider, for example, the active current in the wireless SoC’s receive or transmit modes. Many BLE SoCs report a current consumption of a few milliamps. For instance, eeworldonline.com | designworldonline.com
