Following on from the release of their PSoC 4 BLE chip at the Electronica Exhibition last year, Cypress Semiconductor Corp are extending their play in the Bluetooth market with the introduction of their new EZ-BLE module. The module contains the PSoC 4 BLE chip together with two crystals, an on-board chip antenna, RF shielding and passive components, all in a compact 10 mm x 10 mm x 1.8 mm form factor so that designers using the module can apply to add the Bluetooth logo on their products by referring to Cypress’s Qualification Design Identification (QDID) 67366, a unique serial number assigned by the Bluetooth SIG. The module is compliant with wireless regulatory standards in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea and Europe and offers a significant saving for designers in development, testing and certification costs.

The key features of the PSoC 4 BLE chip include:

  • 48-MHz ARM® Cortex™-M0 CPU
  • Up to 128 KB Flash and 16 KB SRAM
  • Bluetooth LE (Smart) connectivity with Bluetooth 4.1:
    • 2.4 GHz Bluetooth LE radio with integrated Balun
    • -92 dBm Rx sensitivity, up to +3 dBm Tx power
  • Programmable analog
    • 4 x Opamps
    • 1 x 12-bit, 1 Msps SAR ADC
    • 2 x Low-Power Comparators
    • 1 x Cypress CapSense™ touch controller with SmartSense™ Auto-Tuning
  • Programmable digital
    • 4 x universal digital blocks
    • 4 x 16-bit configurable Timer/Counter/PWM blocks
    • 2 x configurable serial communication blocks
  • 56-QFN (7 x 7 x 0.6 mm), 68-ball WLCSP (3.9 x 3.5 x 0.55 mm)
  • Flexible Low Power Modes
    • 1.3 μA Deep-Sleep Current
    • 150 nA Hibernate Current
    • 60 nA Stop Current
  • Wide Operating Range 1.7 - 5.5 V (Radio operational 1.9 V onwards)

Designers of Bluetooth Smart products often need software tools from multiple vendors and develop complex firmware to meet wireless specifications but Cypress has abstracted the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol stack and profile configuration into a royalty-free, GUI-based BLE component that can be dragged and dropped into designs using Cypress’s PSoC Creator integrated design environment (IDE). PSoC Creator allows complete system design with a single tool.

Application details for Cypress’s BLE Component are embedded in PSoC Creator with examples of all supported Bluetooth Low Energy profiles and hundreds of example projects for mixed-signal system designs. The $49 BLE Pioneer Development Kit gives users easy access to the Cypress Bluetooth Low Energy devices, while maintaining the design footprint from the popular PSoC 4 Pioneer kit. The development kit includes a USB Bluetooth Low Energy dongle that pairs with the CySmart master emulation tool, converting a designer’s Windows PC into a Bluetooth Low Energy debug environment.

Cypress will be demonstrating the EZ-BLE module at the Bluetooth World trade event at the Santa Clara Convention Center in booth number 01 from April 14-16.