Cambridge Silicon Radio has recently launched its first single-mode, single-chip Bluetooth low energy platform, CSR µEnergyT, a highly optimized extremely low-power version of Bluetooth that can run for years on a single button battery. In a candid conversation with SmartTechie, Ashu Pande, VP & GM, ISBU, CSR talks about the product and the technology behind it.

1. What are the features of CSR µEnergy?

CSR µEnergy unlocks the potential of the new Bluetooth low energy standard enabling the creation of a new market for tiny, cost-effective and power-efficient wireless consumer products. As CSR's first single-mode Bluetooth low energy solution, CSR µEnergy enables ultra low power connectivity and basic data transfer for applications previously limited by the power consumption, size constraints and complexity of other wireless standards. CSR's µEnergy platform provides everything required to create a Bluetooth low energy product with RF, baseband, microcontroller, qualified Bluetooth v4.0 stack, and customer application running on a single chip.

2. What is the advantage of CSR µEnergy over traditional Bluetooth technology?

By optimising the µEnergy platform for purely Bluetooth low energy, device manufacturers can produce products to be tiny, cost-effective and power-efficient. Bluetooth low energy is a highly optimized extremely low-power version of Bluetooth that can run for years on a single button battery. It was started as a clean sheet of paper design a few years ago that combines the strengths of Bluetooth with a highly focused design optimized around button cell batteries. It reuses the radio parts of a classic Bluetooth chip, allowing the integration between Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy in a so called dual-mode chip. This allows for the Bluetooth low energy only chips, so called single-mode chips, to use very little current.