Nordic Expands nRF24AP2 Family With Single Chip Solution For ANT USB Dongles

Available today, the nRF24AP2-USB is a single chip 8-channel ANT solution with Full-Speed USB 2.0 compliant interface. It integrates a Nordic 2.4GHz nRF24L01+ transceiver core and 8-channel ANT protocol stack in a compact 5x5mm QFN package. On-chip 4 to 5.25V voltage regulators mean the chip can be powered directly from a USB bus port, thus supporting compact USB dongle designs. A comprehensive set of development tools including ANT libraries and drivers for Windows and Mac OS X, plus a production-ready ANT USB dongle reference design, are also available.

Nordic Semiconductor ASA recently releases the third product in its nRF24AP2 ANT family – the nRF24AP2-USB – a single chip ANT solution with USB interface enabling compact, low cost ANT USB dongles for use in product applications such as wireless sport, fitness and health monitoring.

The nRF24AP2-USB provides the same advanced feature set as Nordic's existing 8-channel nRF24AP2-8CH ultra low power (ULP) wireless solution, but exchanges the latter's UART interface for a Full-Speed USB 2.0 compliant host interface. This makes the nRF24AP2-USB ideal for both compact ANT USB dongles and embedded systems where a USB host interface is preferred.

The nRF24AP2-USB comes in a compact 5x5mm QFN package and integrates a Nordic 2.4GHz nRF24L01+ transceiver core, 8-channel ANT protocol stack, Full-Speed USB 2.0 device controller, and 4 to 5.25V linear voltage regulator that allows the chip to be powered directly from a USB bus port.

Supporting development tools for the nRF24AP2-USB – also available today – include the production-ready nRF6910 nRFready ANT USB Dongle Reference Design and development platform, plus ANT libraries and drivers for both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. These are designed to enable developers to start developing computer side applications to support new and existing ANT-enabled products without delay.

"We are very pleased to announce the availability nRF24AP2-USB," says Thomas Embla Bonnerud, Product Manager for Ultra Low Power Wireless at Nordic Semiconductor. "Connectivity to both PC- and Mac-based products, and thereby also the Internet, is fast becoming a key feature in many of the latest ANT-enabled wireless products. The nRF24AP2-USB's compact single-chip form factor and low cost presents an ideal and convenient solution for developers of applications that employ such products."

"This next generation USB part was designed specifically to reduce costs and enable independent builds," adds Rod Morris, Director, ANT Wireless. "With the latest in ANT functionality, this product further enhances the ease of use, feature set and ultra low power of ANT in wireless sports, fitness and health networks."

Other members of the nRF24AP2 family
The single channel nRF24AP2-1CH is a cost optimized and flexible product specifically designed to be used in a wide range of ULP wireless sensors. Combined with different host microcontrollers it provides a low cost solution for everything from simple sensors such as bike cadence, to more complex sensors such as heart rate or blood glucose monitors.

The 8-channel nRF24AP2-8CH is an advanced and flexible product specifically designed for ANT hubs. Supporting up to 8-channels and without compromising power consumption, it enables devices such as sports watches, or bicycle and gym machine computers, for example, to wirelessly connect with up to eight individual sensors simultaneously.

Key features of the entire nRF24AP2 family (nRF24AP2-1CH, nRF24AP2-8CH, and nRF24AP2-USB) include:

Significantly lower power consumption
The nRF24AP2 family reduces peak current by more than 20% compared to the previous generation nRF24AP1, yielding a valuable extra power margin when working with small coin cell batteries. Average operating currents are expected to be reduced by up to 75% enabling a similar extension in typical battery operating lifetimes. These performance figures position the nRF24AP2 ANT family as the industry benchmark for ULP single chip wireless sensor applications.

Improved RF performance
The nRF24AP2 takes advantage of Nordic's latest 2.4GHz nRF24L01+ transceiver core, which provides a range of benefits including substantial enhancements in wideband blocking and intermodulation as well as 5dB of extra sensitivity compared to the previous nRF24AP1 range. This makes the nRF24AP2 family highly immune to disturbance from other 2.4GHz radios like Bluetooth wireless technology and Wi-Fi operating in the vicinity. The net result will be fewer retransmits and lost packets (and hence even more power savings) in noisy RF operating environments.

Optimized ANT protocol stack implementation with new ANT features
At the core of all nRF24AP2 chips is an improved ANT protocol stack implementation that includes several enhancements designed to increase performance and further reduce unnecessary power consumption compared to the previous nRF24AP1 range. It also features several new ANT features, including:

• Support for up to 8 channels (nRF24AP2-8CH and nRF24AP2-USB) – allowing more sensors to be connected to one hub at the same time;
• Proximity Search – allows master nodes to be acquired according to their proximity to the search device. This feature enables the implementation of pairing by proximity schemes, further enhancing and simplifying the end-user experience with ANT;
• Frequency Agility Channel – instead of operating on a single RF channel, with this feature an ANT channel uses several RF channels and will hop between them if significant degradation is detected. This will provide additional robustness for environments with heavy inference from, for example, Wi-Fi;
• Continuous Scanning Mode – a new mode enabling star networked topologies with very low latency.

Fully interoperable with nRF24AP1 ANT-based systems All nRF24AP2 solutions are fully interoperable (i.e. 100% backward compatible) with existing Nordic Semiconductor nRF24AP1 ANT chipset implementations that are either currently in production or already installed in the field. This will enable existing nRF24AP1 customers to both expand existing product ranges with new nRF24AP2 chips, as well as phase out the use of the nRF24AP1, without having to worry about interoperability issues.

Fully ANT+ compatible
All nRF24AP2 chips will support the ANT+ managed network alliance platform that makes ANT+ products from the ever growing list of subscribing vendors fully interoperable. ANT+ has gained significant industry momentum through the ANT+ Alliance, including a large base of deployed ANT+ equipment in the sports and fitness segment

About ANT / ANT+
ANT+ facilitates interoperability between manufacturer's devices and the collection, automatic transfer and tracking of sensor data for monitoring information anywhere, anytime. The key advantage of this unique managed network is device specific interoperability that enables wireless communication with other ANT+ products. Applicable in sport, wellness management and home health monitoring, ANT+ (built on the base ANT protocol) defines device profiles that specify data formats, channel parameters and network keys. The ANT+ Alliance is an open special interest group of companies who have adopted the ANT+ promise of interoperability. The Alliance ensures standardized communications through optimized brand value and partnerships with other top tier products. Currently, there are over 260 member companies in the ANT+ Alliance. For more information, visit www.thisisant.com

ANT is a proven protocol and silicon solution for ultra low power (ULP) practical wireless networking applications. Designed for 2.4GHz operation, ANT is perfectly suited to any kind of low data-rate sensor network topologies in personal area networks (PANs) and practical wireless sensor networks (WSNs). ANT has been intentionally engineered to simplify wireless network development and maximize network efficiency.

Nordic Semiconductor is a member of the ANT+ Alliance.

About Nordic Semiconductor ASA
Nordic Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in ultra low power (ULP) short-range wireless communication. Nordic is a public company listed on the Norwegian stock exchange.

Nordic provides RF silicon solutions including:

• Highly integrated RF silicon
• Sophisticated and flexible development tools
• Application specific communication software
• Complete reference designs

The company's innovative range of wireless solutions includes:

• The nRF24LE1 single-chip, ultra-low cost and power, fully integrated 2.4GHz transceiver with radio,microprocessor, flash memory and MultiCeiver technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices (also available in a lower cost, one time programmable (OTP) variant, the nRF24LE1 OTP);
• The nRF24L01+ ultra-low cost and power 2.4GHz transceiver with MultiCeiver technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices;
• The nRF24LU1+ single chip 2.4GHz transceiver with full-speed USB, microcontroller and flash memory enabling ultra-compact USB dongles for wireless peripherals (also available in a lower cost, one time programmable (OTP) variant, the nRF24LU1+ OTP);
• The nRF24AP2 ultra low power 2.4GHz transceiver for wireless communication with ANT Wireless' production-proven interoperable low-power network protocol, ANT, and ANT+ managed network platform;
• The nRF24E1 and nRF24E2 low cost transceivers paired with an industry standard 8051 MCU core, and leading peripherals to create complete low cost SoCs for 2.4GHz operation;
• The nRF24Z1 single-chip solution for CD quality wireless audio streaming at up to 16-bit, 48-kHz resolution; The nRF905 single-chip multiband radio transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM bands;
• The nRF9E5 low-cost, single-chip solution with fully integrated RF transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM bands.

Nordic Semiconductor's nRF24xxx range of 2.4GHz transceiver and transmitter devices are aimed at applications including PC peripherals (wireless keyboards/mice/multimedia controllers), game controllers, intelligent sports equipment and wireless audio (for example, MP3 and portable CD player wireless headphones and wireless PC speakers). The latest nRF24LE1 is targeted at ultra-low cost and power applications such as wireless desktops and intelligent (for example, wristwatch-based) sports equipment.

Nordic is a member of the ANT+ Alliance and has successfully collaborated with ANT Wireless of Cochrane, Canada, since 2005. ANT devices such as the nRF24AP2 – using Nordic 2.4GHz transceivers and the proven ANT protocol – have been used in millions of wireless sensor nodes across the world. ANT is perfectly suited for any kind of low data rate sensor network topologies in personal area networks (PANs) and practical wireless sensor networks (WSNs). ANT+ (built on the ANT protocol) facilitates interoperability between ANT+ Alliance member devices and the collection, automatic transfer and tracking of sensor data. Applicable in sports, wellness, and medical health sensors, ANT+ defines device profiles that specify data formats, channel parameters and network key. The ANT+ Alliance is an open, special interest group of companies.

Nordic is an associate member of the Bluetooth SIG, and has contributed core expertise in ultra low power (ULP) RF design to Bluetooth® low energy wireless technology (formerly ultra low power Bluetooth). Bluetooth low energy is a short range RF communication technology featuring ultra low power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and simple integration with Bluetooth chips. It is a hallmark feature of the latest Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0. The technology will support the next generation of RF communications by opening up many new opportunities for ULP wireless data links between suitably equipped mobile handsets or computers and small (typically coin cell) battery-powered devices such as sports, wellness, and medical health sensors.

Nordic's products are all manufactured in state of the art semiconductor process technologies through strong, long-term relationships with world-best manufacturing facilities. Sales are primarily made through a carefully selected worldwide distribution network. The company has offices in Trondheim and Oslo, Norway, the U.S. (West Coast), Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. All operations are managed according to the ISO 9001:2000-approved quality assurance system.

SOURCE: Nordic Semiconductor ASA