Bluetooth beacons boast longer range
Designed for the deployment of smart logistics and location services, Bluetooth beacons from EM Microelectronic have longer battery life, longer range, over-the-air customisations and modular certification, claims the company.
There are two beacons initially released. The first beacon is the EMBC22. This is an upgrade and replacement of EM’s EMBC02 Bluetooth low energy beacon. It features low-power components and is described as easier to install or deploy thanks to the over-the-air configuration capability. A modular certification enables its use with different housing options, battery sizes and sensors.
The second beacon, the EMBP01, also includes an accelerometer and a ruggedised encapsulation including a CR2032 battery, matching the demands of the harshest use cases, such as outdoors, on construction sites, or on shipping containers.
The Bluetooth beacon family are claimed to dramatically lower the deployment barrier for asset tracking, indoor navigation and other location-based services. It brings industry 4.0 implementations within the reach of any company, regardless of its size, says the company.
The two beacons use EM’s Simple Beacon technology, allowing for full over-the-air configurability for common beacon standards, such as iBeacon and Eddystone, as well as compatibility with Quuppa’s Intelligent Location System and other proprietary beacon technologies. Additional configuration options include unique ID, transmit power, advertising interval and accelerometer sample rate, enabling accurate customization of performance vs. battery lifetime.
EM will be showcasing this technology at Bluetooth World in Santa Clara, CA USA (18 – 19 September, stand 110) and Electronica in München, Germany 13 – 16 November, Hall C4, stand 336).
EM Microelectronic is a Swiss semiconductor manufacturer, which designs and produces low-power, low-voltage, digital, analogue and mixed-signal integrated circuits for battery-operated and field-powered devices in wearable, consumer, automotive and industrial applications. The company specialises in customer-specific IC and displays, including Bluetooth Smart controller ICs and beacons, sensor fusion co-processors, display drivers and capacitive touch controllers, NFC and RFID tag and reader ICs, 2.4GHz CoolRF digital wireless transceivers, long range 2.4GHz transceivers, embedded flash microcontrollers, power management ICs, smartcard ICs, timing circuits, sensor interface and optoelectronic ICs, as well as plastic LCDs and display modules.
