Cypress offering BLE chipset, Here’s what you need to know

If you’ve been following the news recently you may have heard the Cypress Semiconductor has launched Bluetooth Low Energy capable devices supporting the Bluetooth v4.1 specification.With these devices, based on PSoC and PRoC architectures, Cypress joins a host of other companies already present in the space in hopes of capitalizing on the coming IoT bonanza.

Cypress realizes that the BLE space is getting congested and that "Cypress is not the first to marry a micro and Bluetooth. "We’re behind Nordic Semiconductor that’s been out there for eight quarters, and Texas Instruments has been out there a while... but the BLE market is not there yet anyway," Cypress CEO T.J Rodgers told EE Times.

If you know most of the BLE solutions out there, they’re usually based on the Cortex-M0 processor along with a BLE radio. Cypress isn’t different in that respect. Both their devices offer 48-MHz ARM® CortexTM-M0 CPU, which is faster than the 16MHz typical of other solutions. But, PSoC BLE and PRoC BLE offer a few differentiating features that set them apart from others:

PRoCTM BLE

• 48-MHz ARM^® CortexTM-M0 CPU
• 128-KB flash and 16-KB SRAM
• Bluetooth Smart connectivity with Bluetooth 4.1:
  • 2.4-GHz Bluetooth LE radio with integrated Balun
  • -92-dBm Rx sensitivity, upto +3-dBm Tx output power
• Modes: 1.3-μA Deep-Sleep, 150-nA Hibernate, 60-nA Stop
• Analog and digital peripherals:
  • One 12-bit, 1-Msps SAR ADC
  • Four 16-bit TCPWM blocks
  • Two SCBs, configurable as I²C, SPI or UART
  • I²S for audio input
  • Flexible mapping onto GPIOs
• Integrated library support for one- and two-finger gestures
• 56-QFN (7 x 7 x 0.6 mm), 68-ball WLCSP (3.9 x 3.5 x 0.55 mm)

PSoC® 4 BLE

• 48-MHz ARM® CortexTM-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, upto +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 CapSenseTM touch controller with SmartSenseTM 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)