New Wireless SoC Portfolio Provides Scalable Solutions Supporting
ZigBee®, Thread, Bluetooth® Smart and Proprietary Protocols
NUREMBERG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Silicon
Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) has introduced its Wireless
Gecko portfolio of multiprotocol system-on-chip (SoC) devices,
providing flexible connectivity and price/performance options for
Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Silicon Labs' new Wireless Gecko SoCs
integrate a powerful ARM® Cortex®-M4 core, energy-friendly Gecko
technology, a 2.4 GHz radio with up to 19.5 dBm output power, and
advanced hardware cryptography. Wireless Gecko SoCs speed wireless
design with best-of-breed Thread
and ZigBee®
stacks for mesh networks, intuitive radio interface software for proprietary
protocols, Bluetooth®
Smart for point-to-point connectivity, and Simplicity
Studio™ tools to simplify wireless development, configuration,
debugging and low-energy design.
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Wireless Gecko Multiprotocol SoC Portfolio: Simplifying IoT Connectivity (Graphic: Business Wire)
Get all the details about Silicon Labs' Wireless Gecko portfolio
including pricing and availability, development tools and data sheets at www.silabs.com/WirelessGecko.
The Wireless Gecko portfolio features three families of multiprotocol
SoCs optimized for real-world IoT use cases and the most popular
wireless protocols:
-
Blue Gecko family - Bluetooth Smart connectivity with unmatched output
power and range
-
Mighty Gecko family - Best-in-class ZigBee and Thread connectivity for
mesh networks
-
Flex Gecko family - Flexible proprietary wireless protocol options for
diverse applications
"The Wireless Gecko portfolio provides customers with a much-needed
one-stop-shop approach to multiprotocol IoT connectivity with flexible
cost/performance options supported by best-in-class software stacks and
a common development environment that greatly simplifies wireless
design," said Daniel Cooley, vice president of marketing for IoT
products at Silicon Labs. "From Bluetooth Smart to Thread and ZigBee to
proprietary stacks, our Wireless Gecko SoCs offer the industry's most
balanced set of protocol combinations to address diverse customer use
cases."
Silicon Labs' pin- and software-compatible Wireless Gecko families
enable customers to leverage their development tool and software
investments. Developers can select the wireless protocol to meet their
application needs today and can easily migrate to other protocols within
the portfolio with the assurance of hardware/software reuse.
Wireless Gecko SoCs combine Silicon Labs' energy-friendly Gecko
MCU technology with a multiprotocol 2.4 GHz RF transceiver in a
single-die solution with scalable memory options (up to 256 kB flash and
up to 32 kB RAM). Hallmarks of Gecko technology include well-architected
energy modes, ultra-fast wake-up/sleep transitions, and the Peripheral
Reflex System (PRS), enabling autonomous operation of low-power
peripherals while the MCU core sleeps. Based on an ARM Cortex-M4
processor with powerful floating point and DSP capabilities, the Gecko
MCU consumes only 63 µA/MHz in active mode. The Wireless Gecko SoCs also
integrate a software-programmable power amplifier (PA) and balun to
reduce bill of materials (BOM) cost and design complexity while
providing scalable output power ranging from -30 dBm up to +19.5 dBm for
applications requiring long-range connectivity.
"Low-power connectivity is a key factor in the deployment of IoT nodes
at scale, and Silicon Labs' new Wireless Gecko SoC portfolio offers a
broad choice of connectivity standards," said John Ronco, vice
president, product management, ARM. "Silicon Labs already has an
impressive range of highly efficient ARM-based MCUs, and we see the
addition of wireless interoperability as a key step in enabling
developers to realize the potential of the IoT market."
Further enhancing energy efficiency and application code footprint,
Wireless Gecko SoCs feature a built-in hardware cryptographic
accelerator providing fast, energy-efficient autonomous encryption and
decryption of Internet security protocols such as TLS/SSL with minimal
CPU intervention. The on-chip accelerator supports advanced algorithms
such as AES with 128- or 256-bit keys, elliptical curve cryptography
(ECC), SHA-1 and SHA-224/256. Hardware cryptography enables developers
to meet evolving IoT security requirements more efficiently than with
software-only techniques required by competing solutions.
Wireless Gecko Portfolio Highlights
EFR32BG Blue Gecko Family
-
Supports Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth Low Energy or "BLE") including the
BLE 4.2 specification as well as proprietary wireless protocols
-
Offers the highest output power for BLE designs (up to +19.5 dBm),
enabling BLE products to deliver excellent range and long battery life
regardless of the chosen output power
-
Supported by Silicon Labs' market-proven Bluetooth Smart software
stack and easy-to-use BGScript scripting language, enabling customers
to get to market quickly
-
Enables customers to migrate from Silicon Labs' pre-certified Blue
Gecko BLE module to SoC-based designs while preserving their software
and engineering investments
EFR32MG Mighty Gecko Family
-
Provides a best-in-class multiprotocol SoC solution for low-power
802.15.4 mesh networking
-
Supports Silicon Labs' industry-leading ZigBee PRO software stack for
ZigBee applications and Silicon Labs' pre-certified Thread protocol
stack for IP-based mesh networks
-
Offers a seamless migration path for customers needing to support
connected devices using ZigBee or Thread
-
Gives developers the flexibility to select the optimal protocol
(ZigBee, Thread, Bluetooth Smart or proprietary) for their IoT
applications
EFR32FG Flex Gecko Family
-
Supports popular proprietary protocol options for diverse applications
including M2M links, building automation, security and electronic
shelf labels, giving developers the freedom to optimize their designs
without constraints from industry alliances and standards
-
Provides a flexible SoC architecture with built-in support for a
variety of differentiated physical layer and packet formats and
modulation schemes
-
Features Silicon Labs' new, intuitive radio abstraction interface
layer (RAIL) software, easing the complexity of proprietary wireless
development by simplifying radio configuration and enabling developers
to migrate their application code across Silicon Labs' Wireless Gecko
products and future wireless ICs
Simplifying Wireless Gecko Development
The Wireless Gecko SoC portfolio is supported by Silicon Labs' Simplicity
Studio development platform, a unified environment for concurrent
MCU and RF design. Simplicity Studio tools include AppBuilder, allowing
developers to easily configure wireless applications while ensuring
software reuse across Wireless Gecko SoC-based designs; Desktop Network
Analyzer, providing full visibility and debugging of wireless networking
activity by using the SoC's packet trace port; and Energy Profiler,
enabling developers to minimize the energy consumption of their code and
extend battery life.
Pricing and Availability
Engineering samples for Wireless Gecko SoCs are available now in 5 mm x
5 mm QFN32 and 7 mm x 7 mm QFN48 packages; production parts are planned
for Q2 2016. USD pricing in 100,000-unit quantities begins at $2.11 for
Mighty Gecko SoCs; $2.06 for Flex Gecko SoCs; and $0.99 for Blue Gecko
SoCs. The full-featured SLWSTK6000A Mighty Gecko Mesh Development Kit,
supporting ZigBee, Thread, Bluetooth Smart and proprietary protocols, is
priced at $499. The SLWSTK6066A Flex Gecko Proprietary Starter Kit is
priced at $229. The SLWSTK6020A Blue Gecko Starter Kit is priced at $99.
(All kits USD MSRP.) To order Wireless Gecko SoC product samples and
development kits, visit www.silabs.com/WirelessGecko.
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Silicon Labs
Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) is a leading provider of silicon, software
and solutions for the Internet of Things, Internet infrastructure,
industrial automation, consumer and automotive markets. We solve the
electronics industry's toughest problems, providing customers with
significant advantages in performance, energy savings, connectivity and
design simplicity. Backed by our world-class engineering teams with
unsurpassed software and mixed-signal design expertise, Silicon Labs
empowers developers with the tools and technologies they need to advance
quickly and easily from initial idea to final product. www.silabs.com
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View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160223005030/en/
Silicon Labs
Dale Weisman, +1-512-532-5871
dale.weisman@silabs.com
Source: Silicon Labs
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