Press Release

Improved EM9301 offers even lower power and Bluetooth® 4.1 support

Compatible with any microcontroller

Marin, Switzerland, 8 June 2015 - EM Microelectronic, the semiconductor company of the Swatch Group, announced the release of the latest version of the EM9301 ultra-low power Bluetooth Smart Controller. The EM9301 now supports Bluetooth 4.1, and is the ideal solution for implementing Bluetooth Smart with any microcontroller, ASIC or electronic system. Optimized for different ultra-low power modes, the new chip consumes only 9µA in BLE idle state, and < 0.5 µA in OFF mode.

Ideally suited for ultra-low power wireless sensing, remote control and monitoring applications, the EM9301 operates on as little as 0.8V. It can be powered by a wide range of common single-cell batteries or energy harvesters such as solar cells, piezo-electric or electro-magnetic elements. EM9301 supports both BLE MASTER and SLAVE roles as defined in Bluetooth specification V4.1, and combines the Physical Layer, Link Layer and Host Controller Interface (HCI) layer in one low cost chip. When paired with a low-power host controller, it enables cost/performance/size-optimized solutions for most Bluetooth Smart applications.

Bluetooth Smart is the wireless connectivity technology of choice for the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. Due to the wide range of requirements for these applications, an optimized solution requires flexibility in microcontroller selection to allow for different processors, memory types and sizes, specialized peripheral blocks such as floating point processors, data converters, timers, analog and digital interfaces and power management functions. The EM9301 offers users a flexible, modular and low-cost way to add Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity to their products, allowing them to preserve their legacy microcontroller choice and leverage their software investment while adding wireless connectivity.

“EM9301’s ‘companion chip’ approach allows it to address simple Bluetooth applications such as our EMBC0x beacons, which are powered by an ultra-low power embedded 8-bit MCU to achieve a very low bill-of-materials” said Michel Willemin, CEO of EM Microelectronic Marin. “The EM9301 is also a perfect Bluetooth Smart solution for smart watches based on legacy or custom watch MCU’s and in wearable devices, where they complement the sophisticated MCUs or dedicated ASIC processors that are utilized for healthcare signal processing”.

EM Microelectronic will be demonstrating the EM9301, its Bluetooth Smart Beacons, SENTRAL sensor fusion, energy harvesting solutions and other ultra-low power EM products at SENSORS EXPO, booth #644, in Long Beach, California from June 9-11. EM will also be presenting information on Energy Harvesting, Bluetooth and the Internet of Things at the SENSORS EXPO Conference. For more information, please visit our exhibitor page http://bit.ly/1KcSuts.

Samples & Tool Availability
The EM9301 is in production and is available in both die format and in a ROHS-compliant MLF-24 package. EM9301 device purchase includes a license-free Bluetooth Smart stack for 8051 or ARM® Cortex™ M0/M3 cores. Development kits for numerous microcontrollers are available.

Technical information, applications support and white papers are available at www.emdeveloper.com. The EM9301, EMBC01 proximity beacons, EMBC02 accelerometer beacons, the EMBC10DVK Development Kit and beacon accessories are available through your local EM salesperson or distributor. More information on EMBC0x beacon solutions can be found at www.emmicroelectronic.com/products/wireless-rf/beacons.

About EM Microelectronic
EM Microelectronic, a Swiss semiconductor manufacturer, designs and produces ultra-low-power, low-voltage, digital, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for battery-operated and field-powered devices in wearable, consumer, automotive and industrial applications. The company is specialized in customer specific integrated circuit and display solutions; its product portfolio includes Bluetooth Smart controller ICs and beacons, the SENtral sensor fusion co-processor, display drivers and capacitive touch controllers, NFC & RFID tag and reader ICs, 2.4GHz CoolRF digital wireless transceivers, long range 2.4GHz transceivers, embedded flash microcontrollers, energy harvesting and power management ICs, smartcard ICs, timing circuits, sensor interface and optoelectronic ICs, as well as plastic LCDs and display modules.

EM Microelectronic is one of the electronic systems companies within the Swatch Group, producing and assembling ultra-low power, miniaturized and accurate microelectronic components and systems.

For further information please contact:

Media inquiries
MarComedia GmbH
Monika Ailinger, tel +41 41 850 44 24, fax +41 41 850 45 29, m.ailinger@marcomedia.ch

Company contact
EM Microelectronic - Marin SA
Thomas Gyger, tel +41 32 755 51 00, info@emmicroelectronic.com

For North America
EM Microelectronic – US, Inc.
Mark Jakusovszky, tel +1 719-337-3179, mj@emmicro-us.com