Silicon Labs xG24 platform achieves sub-meter-level secure and accurate distance measurement and supports the latest Bluetooth channel detection technology
Silicon Labs xG24 platform achieves sub-meter-level secure and accurate distance measurement and supports the latest Bluetooth channel detection technology
Blog Article
SILICON LABS (also known as "Silicon Labs") announced support for Bluetooth® Channel Sounding technology on the xG24 platform. Bluetooth Channel Sounding is a new protocol stack designed to enable secure and accurate distance measurement between two Bluetooth Low Energy connected devices. By providing true distance awareness, Bluetooth Channel Sounding improves the accuracy and security of Bluetooth devices' ranging capabilities.
"Bluetooth Channel Sounding revolutionizes proximity and location capabilities and drives Bluetooth into a new era when location awareness is critical," said Ross Sabolcik, senior vice president of Silicon Labs' Industrial and Commercial Business Unit. "Silicon Labs has always supported developers to fully realize the potential of Bluetooth technology, and our latest hardware and software also create a path for them to accelerate the development of breakthrough Bluetooth products equipped with Bluetooth Channel Sounding."
Bluetooth Channel Sounding Improves Accuracy and Security of Distance Awareness
The Bluetooth Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) opened the door to a new wave of applications by helping to estimate the distance between two devices. From solutions that help locate devices like phones or tablets to digital security enhancements like geo-fencing, Bluetooth technology has improved the convenience and ease of everyday activities. However, the challenge is that Bluetooth RSSI relies on estimates to determine location. At the same time, RSSI is susceptible to issues such as multipath and obstructions that can significantly reduce accuracy. Bluetooth channel sounding can solve these problems by improving accuracy to sub-meter levels and enhancing the security of Bluetooth device ranging capabilities.
Bluetooth channel sounding uses Phased-Based Ranging (PBR) technology to achieve precise distance measurement between two devices, while using a secondary ranging method called Round Trip Time (RTT). Independent distance measurements from RTT can be used to verify and cross-check PBR measurements. This cross-validation process helps detect anomalies and ensures the security of the application, which is critical when developing access control solutions for hospitals and industrial buildings, which must grant or deny access based on proximity.
With PBR and RTT technology, Bluetooth channel detection can be used in home and living applications such as smart locks, consumer electronic device positioning and pet trackers, as well as industrial and commercial applications such as geo-fencing, vehicle keyless entry and access control, while providing accurate, secure and reliable Bluetooth ranging services. With advanced distance estimation technology, Bluetooth channel detection can also be used to triangulate the location of commercial infrastructure such as wireless access points or lighting equipment to meet regulatory requirements or save manpower and costs.
In addition, Bluetooth channel detection also provides a more convenient and flexible ranging solution for applications that have already adopted low-power Bluetooth. In this case, it can be implemented without additional hardware and design space.
Silicon Labs' new xG24 and antenna hardware solutions support channel detection technology
Silicon Labs' new xG24 radio board and professional kit are now available for order, providing a fast and efficient way to create and prototype products that use Bluetooth channel detection for accurate distance estimation. The radio board set includes a BRD4198A EFR32xG24 2.4 GHz +10dBm radio board, a sleeve dipole antenna and reference design.
In addition, the new xG24 development kit will be generally available in December 2024. It features a dual-antenna PCB design and a channel detection visualization tool that allows customers to easily view distance measurement results in real time, thereby simplifying the implementation of Bluetooth channel detection in their products and applications.
Silicon Labs provides customers with new advanced hardware solutions for developing a variety of complex products that support Bluetooth channel detection:
● Single-antenna hardware has fewer antenna paths and limited multipath information, making it more suitable for basic Bluetooth channel detection applications, where lower power consumption and reliability in simpler environments are more important than accurate distance measurement.
● Dual-antenna hardware can be ordered and used starting in December 2024. Dual-antenna hardware provides higher accuracy, better spatial performance, and enhanced multipath resolution, which is ideal for advanced applications that require accurate distance estimation, such as car keys and tags. The small size of the board is ideal for size-constrained applications. In addition, antenna diversity can also improve signal quality and robustness.
Silicon Labs’ hardware solution is AEC-Q100 qualified, making it a suitable choice for automotive applications such as Passive Entry and Passive Start systems.
The xG24 host stack and link layer are expected to be certified for Bluetooth Core Specification Version 6.0 by the end of this year. The certified protocol stack will support intra-event antenna switching for optimal non-line-of-sight performance and channel detection when the xG24 is running in Network Co-Processor (NCP) mode with an external application microcontroller (MCU) or System-on-Chip (SoC) mode with an integrated application MCU.
Enabling Bluetooth Channel Detection with Silicon Labs
Silicon Labs’ customers can leverage comprehensive software and hardware solutions, as well as patent-pending distance estimation algorithms, to develop products using Bluetooth channel detection technology for a variety of everyday applications in the home, industry, business or connected health.
Send to Email | +1 Like 2 Favorite Comment 11 | Forward to: