Nordic Semiconductor has announced it has become a member of the open Wibree industry initiative that is designed to extend local wireless connectivity to small, battery-powered peripheral devices by consuming only a fraction of the power of existing technologies while supporting very low cost implementations.
Nordic Semiconductor is aiming to sample Wibree chips during second half of 2007, having licensed Wibree technology for commercial chip implementations from Nokia.
Wibree is the first open wireless technology to specifically target connectivity between mobile devices such as smartphones or PCs and small, battery-powered devices such as watches, wireless keyboards, toys and sports sensors. "Indeed the list of potential applications and battery-powered peripherals that could now enjoy the benefit of the wireless revolution will only be limited by the imagination of designers," comments Nordic Semiconductor's CEO, Svenn-Tore Larsen.
"As such, we believe the growth potential for Wibree will be truly enormous because the market continually reminds wireless companies like ourselves that consumers do not like wires and always respond positively when a product or application is made wireless without a significant cost or inconvenience penalty -such as the need for frequent battery re-charging cycles.
"Wibree, therefore, is what consumers of compact, portable electronics devices - of which the mobile phone is the perfect example - have been crying out for. It will dramatically extend the wireless functionality and allow PCs and portable devices to interface wirelessly to a huge range of peripherals such as sports and health sensors."
Adds product manager, Thomas Embla Bonnerud: "The technical challenge is to ensure minimal power consumption under heavy, daily usage. Wibree is the first technology that combines interoperability and a lightweight protocol stack specifically designed for ultra-low power implementation."
What is Wibree?
Wibree is a short range RF communication technology featuring ultra-low power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and simple integration with Bluetooth. Wibree ushers in the next generation of RF communications by opening up many new opportunities for wireless data links between suitably equipped mobile phones or personal computers (PCs) and coin cell battery-powered devices such as sports and health sensors.
Wibree will also dramatically extend the battery lifetime of existing wireless devices such as keyboards, mice and remote controls. And Wibree's attributes will ensure widespread adoption in many new applications where Bluetooth cannot be used due to its power consumption and expense.
Wibree's lightweight protocol stack and simple integration with Bluetooth will enable chip providers to offer cost and power-efficient Wibree-enabled Bluetooth 'dual-mode' chips. Wibree-enabled Bluetooth chips offer a minimum additional cost compared to standard Bluetooth devices, encouraging widescale adoption in mobile phones and PCs. Dual-mode chips will be able to communicate with both Wibree- and Bluetooth-equipped devices without requiring dongles.
Wibree specification group
The Wibree specification group is an association of companies working together on the Wibree interoperability specification. This specification describes the protocol stack from the physical layer up to a set of profiles that supports specific usage models along with compliance and interoperability test procedures. Initiated and headed by Nokia, the group currently includes Nordic Semiconductor, CSR, Broadcom, Epson, Suunto and Taiyo Yuden. All of these companies are contributing to the specification in their respective areas of expertise.
The technology will be made available to the industry through an open and preferably existing forum, to be defined by the time the specification is finalised. According to the current estimates the first commercial version of the specification will be made available during second quarter of 2007.
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