Wireless Connectivity
November/December 2012
Texas Instruments
Dear %%FIRST_NAME%% %%LAST_NAME%%,

Welcome to the Wireless Connectivity eNewsletter from TI - a monthly newsletter that keeps you up to date on new software and hardware releases, developer's news, and other news and events associated with TI's wireless connectivity solutions.


In this issue:
Hardware and Software

Technical Documents

Other News

Customer Corner
Training & Events
Featured Video:
Featured Video
NEW! Bluetooth low energy SensorTag tool
Spice up your app creativity by watching our SensorTag demo video!
 
Featured Video
Bluetooth low energy iPhone rocket flight with TI’s SensorTag
Watch how the SensorTag is used in a rocket to collect flight information.


E2E online community - what are engineers discussing right now?
A peek into upcoming ENERGY STAR Connected Appliance Requirements
Smart (grid) actions India could have taken to avoid blackout
Smart Energy Profile 2.0 demonstration from TI featuring ZigBee, Ethernet and Wi-Fi

E2E TI E2E™ Community
engineer.to.engineer,
solving problems

Hardware & Software
NEW – Bluetooth® low energy SensorTag – connect your Bluetooth low energy product to a smartphone
NEW Bluetooth® low energy SensorTag The Bluetooth low energy SensorTag is designed to shorten the design time for Bluetooth app development from months to hours by allowing app developers to write apps that enable and use advanced sensors directly from a smartphone without any firmware or embedded software development.
  • NO embedded SW design knowledge required, the setup of the sensor board is done with commands directly from the smart phone
  • iOS sample apps are included to demonstrate use of the sensors
  • NO embedded compiler is required
This is the first Bluetooth low energy development kit focusing on wireless sensor applications and it is the only development kit targeting smartphone app developers. The SensorTag can be used as a reference design and development platform for a variety of smartphone accessories.

Due to unexpected high demands the SensorTag is currently available for backorder on the TI eStore until January 2013.
For more information and to order go to www.ti.com/sensortag
New SimpleLink™ Wi-Fi CC3000 Module from TI with new software enhancements to expand the Internet of Things

New SimpleLink™ Wi-Fi CC3000 Module Available from TI and its distribution partners, the new SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 module simplifies design and creates better user experiences for applications such as home automation, appliances, smart energy, security, and health & fitness. Notably, the new SimpleLink module comes with TI’s unique SmartConfig technology, a one-step Wi-Fi setup process that allows multiple in-home devices to connect to Wi-Fi networks quickly and efficiently. Other new module features include service discovery, cloud connectivity, and flexible host memory size to complement low-cost, small-size microcontrollers (MCUs) including TI’s MSP430™ MCUs.

For free samples, visit here.
NEW PurePath Wireless Audio firmware released – FW1.4.1
Short-list of the features in this release:
  • Extended volume control feature set
  • Dual functionality on remote control buttons ('click' and 'hold')
  • Support for custom defined HID reports, based on user-written XML-based HID report definition files
  • More non-volatile storage control and functionality
  • Master can now reduce audio device state if there has not been any connected slaves for a configurable timeout
For a detailed list of all new features and changes, please refer to the configurator change log.
As always, the User Guide is updated to reflected these new features and changes and remember that more and useful information also can be found in the configurator help system.
You can download the new configurator here: www.ti.com/tool/purepath-wl-cfg.
And the updated User Guide here:www.ti.com/lit/ug/swru250l/swru250l.pdf.
UPDATED Bluetooth low energy software stack v 1.3
The new version of TI’s BLE software stack is now available and includes the following:
  • Over-the-Air Firmware download (OAD) support, which provides the ability to update the CC254x firmware from a central device like a phone, tablet or PC, using the included OAD Manager app directly onto the CC254x SoC hardware. This enables customers to save time and simplify the software upgrade process, leaving more time to design and create end applications to satisfy consumers’ needs for wireless communication between devices within the Internet of Things (IoT).
  • Bug fixes, sample applications with extensive profile support and an upgraded BTool used to test Bluetooth low energy peripheral applications.
  • Unique Boot Image Manager (BIM) allows multiple firmware stacks to reside on a single CC2540/1 SoC. BIM enables an end-product to support two different Bluetooth low energy stacks or a single Bluetooth low energy stack and a single 2.4GHz proprietary stack.
  • SensorTag application support, which uses the SensorTag DK hardware platform and includes 6 different MEMS sensors including TI’s temperature sensor TMP006. All sensors can individually be controlled from Bluetooth Smart Devices such as a smartphone.
  • Bluetooth low energy network processor support (CC2541S)
To download the newest version please go to www.ti.com/tool/ble-stack.
NEW RemoTI software release v 1.3.1
RemoTI™ is the industry leading RF4CE-compliant and golden unit software stack. It offers a simple, easy-to-use, intuitive software architectural framework and include all of the sample application, tools and documentation needed to build an RF4CE compliant product. RemoTI™ allows you to reduce development time and cost to get your product to market quickly.

The RemoTI™ 1.3.1 release includes support for the final ZID (ZigBee Input Device) standard in addition to bug fixes and general enhancements. With this addition, RemoTI™ 1.3.1 includes support for all the latest ZigBee RF4CE specifications:
  • ZigBee RF4CE Specification v1.01
  • ZigBee RF4CE, ZigBee Remote Control (ZRC) Standard v1.1.0
  • ZigBee RF4CE, ZigBee Input Device (ZID) Standard v1.0
  • ZigBee RF4CE Generic Device (GDP) Profile v1.0

See the RemoTI 1.3.1 resource guide for a detailed list of all new features and changes.

RemoTI™ 1.3.1 supports the CC2533DK-RF4CE-BA hardware reference platform for ZRC remote controllers and ZID remote controllers.
To download the new version click here
Technical Documents
DN403 – CC112X/CC1200 On-Chip Temperature Sensor

The design note provides the necessary information in order to use the temperature sensor of the CC112X and CC1200 family. The temperature sensor is based on a Proportional to Absolute Temperature (PTAT) current from a bandgap cell fed to a resistor to generate a PTAT voltage. Approximately ±2C accuracy is possible across the −40C to +85C temperature range with single-point calibration. Approximately ±1C accuracy is possible across the temperature range defined by TCALIBRATION ± 25C with single-point calibration.

Read more
DN038 – Miniature Helical PCB Antenna for 868 MHz or 915/920 MHz

This design note describes a compact PCB helical antenna that has been specifically designed for 868 MHz or 915/920 MHz ISM bands. The antenna size is 19 mm x 11 mm. Antenna efficiency is 66%.

For more information please click here
Other News
ZigBee® Home Automation Lighting wall demo with 216 lights – video

This video demo uses TI’s wireless connectivity solutions for creating an optimized model for ZigBee connected lights by using 216 lights as part of a large display. The lights are controlled from a tablet via an IP-to-ZigBee gateway using a TI Sitara ARM processor.

Click here to view the video
Check out the new revised wireless section on TI’s Smart Grid portal

Choosing TI’s wireless technologies for Smart Grid communication help create a greener and more sustainable world. As the demand for energy efficiency increases, consumers and energy companies need the ability to monitor, record and transfer usage and data to reduce total energy consumption. With that, smart grid developers can use TI’s Wireless Connectivity technologies including Sub 1-Ghz, ZigBee®, 6LowPAN, wM-Bus, Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth® and more to create infrastructure, smart meters, and home and building automation devices. Consumers are then able to connect more devices and receive real time information from their electricity provider, which allow them to make smarter decisions while reducing costs and cumbersome wires.

Click here to learn more
Customer Corner
Artaflex launches world’s best-in-class ZigBee module

Artaflex Inc., a leading provider of low power RF modules, has expanded its product line portfolio with a family of new transceiver modules AW24TH-X compliant to the 802.15.4 ZigBee standard providing a market leading 138 dB link budget giving 60+ KM line of sight (LOS).
The family of modules is compatible with ZigBee Pro, RF4CE, 6LowPAN, ATFNet™, TIMAC, SimpliciTI in addition to future compatible with the yet to be released ZigBee IP.

For more information go to www.artaflex.com
Controlling the TI SensorTag with techBASIC – Blog

Byte Works is the creator of techBASIC, one of the iOS app developers that supports TI’s new SensorTag, and they have posted a series of seven blogs that explore how to use all of the sensors on TI’s SensorTag (and how to build your own SensorTag rocket). Each blog describes all the steps required to get started with your own code for interfacing to Bluetooth low energy using the techBASIC programming interface.

To read the complete blog post click here
Anaren introduces new AIR-equipped CC2530 BoosterPack for development of ZigBee® apps using MSP430™ and Stellaris® LaunchPads
NEW AIR-equipped CC2530 BoosterPack
The Anaren Integrated Radio (AIR) team has just introduced a new BoosterPack featuring its new CC2530 SOC-based AIR modules for ZigBee Standard applications. Equipped with the company’s pre-certified, low-cost A2530E24AZ1 modules (11x19x2.5mm) – the new BoosterPack kit helps ease development of ZigBee-compliant products using both TI’s MSP430 and Stellaris LaunchPads, by providing the user with a simple ZigBee network for application development right out of the box. Also, the company’s AIR-ZNP firmware approach is based on Z-Stack and offers a time-saving API and over 30 free code examples to knock weeks off of the average ZigBee development process. The new kits will ship to authorized distributors in November.
To register to be notified when product is on sale click here
To view the demo video click here
Training & Events
CES 2013 – Learn how TI is Engineering the Future at CES

Texas Instruments is looking forward to another great year at CES and we’d like to see you there. Join us at the TI Village where we will be showcasing the following Wireless Connectivity demos:
  • Bluetooth low energy & ZigBee RF4CE remote control
  • SensorTag
  • Sports and Fitness
  • Medical
  • Remote Control
  • ZigBee Light Link applications
  • Connected home automation
  • ZigBee-based smart energy solutions
  • Smart metering
  • Miracast wireless display
  • Connected thermostats, smoke detectors and more
  • Lighting
  • NFC payment solutions
  • Hand-held data terminals
  • Health and fitness monitors
Featured technologies from connectivity are ZigBee, ZigBee RF4CE, Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi solutions, Single-chip, multi-radio solutions, and NFC.

The TI Village will be conveniently located just off the show floor in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall (see map below) in rooms N115-N119.

For more than 80 years, TI has been at the forefront of technical innovation, enabling customers to differentiate products with higher integration, faster speeds and lower power. Today, we are engineering the future with advances in energy harvesting, power management, cloud computing, safety and security, health technology, and more.
Learn more about TI @ CES 2013 at www.ti.com/ces2013 and follow the #CESinnovate Twitter hashtag.
TI Technology Days coming to a city near you!
Texas Instruments Technology Days 2012 TI Tech Days provide a learning forum for design engineers where practical high-performance solutions, tools and workshops are presented for analog and digital technologies. The exhibits demonstrate the latest TI technology. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet with a number of Texas Instruments’ experts and gain valuable ideas for solving your technical challenges!

Visit www.ti.com/techdays for an overview of our 2013 Technology Days worldwide

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