Ultra-low power consumption with cellular IoT SoC
It has been announced by CEVA, that Nordic Semiconductor has licensed and deployed CEVA DSP technology in its nRF91 System-on-Chip (SoC) for low power cellular IoT connectivity. The CEVA DSP is at the heart of the multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT SoC, ensuring ultra-low power consumption and highly-efficient performance required for a wide range of cellular IoT use cases, including wearables, asset trackers, smart cities, smart metering and industrial IoT.
The nRF91 SoC forms the basis of Nordic’s nRF91 low power cellular IoT System-in-Package (SiP) Series, including the nRF9160 SiP, which was recently named a 2019 CES Innovation Awards Honoree.
Svein-Egil Nielsen, CTO for Nordic Semiconductor, stated: “Cellular IoT connectivity is poised to take the world by storm, and through our nRF91 Series we’re providing a simple and powerful solution to enable product designers to integrate LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity with minimal complexity. In designing the nRF91 SoC, we were able to leverage CEVA’s expertize in low power DSPs and parallel processing architecture to achieve outstanding power consumption, while retaining the flexibility to support multiple cellular IoT standards.”
The nRF9160 SiP is a highly-integrated, low power, global multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT solution. The SiP integrates a complete low power cellular IoT system into a tiny 10x16x1mm package that integrates the nRF91 SoC with a dedicated application processor and flash memory together with RF front end, power management, and crystal and passive components.
With this level of integration, the nRF9160 SiP combines all the benefits of traditional cellular modules, including teleregulatory and cellular certifications, with ease-of-use, unprecedented integration, and the smallest form factor ever seen in the cellular industry.
Michael Boukaya, Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless Business Unit at CEVA, said: “We are pleased to see Nordic Semiconductor address the burgeoning cellular IoT market with a compelling product offering powered by our DSP technology. We have a long and successful history in cellular, with our DSPs powering billions of cellular devices spanning terminals and infrastructure. Cellular IoT design wins for products like the nRF91 Series help to further expand our market reach into new and exciting areas.”