November 22, 2019 by Luke James
The RSL10 is the industry’s lowest power Bluetooth radio that enables a new multi-sensor solution powered entirely by solar energy.
Introduced earlier this year, the RSL10 Multi-Sensor Platform works to drive innovations in energy efficiency, enables battery and maintenance-free IoT products, and IoT sensors. The device uses continuous solar energy harvesting to gather and communicate data via the means of bluetooth low energy and is powered with a single solar cell. The RSL10 functions as a comprehensive solution that requires zero use of non-renewable forms of energy.
The RSL10 multi-sensor platform. Image Credit: ON Semiconductor.
RSL10 harvests energy from a low current source and the platform has an ultra-low quiescent current LDO on the board to reduce leakage. Boasting the industry’s lowest power bluetooth low energy technology; enabled by the RSL10 SIP, it operates at 55nw in standby mode and 10mW in Rx.
The RSL10 Multi-Sensor Platform is built on the RSL10 bluetooth low energy radio. It also includes sensors for environmental and motion sensing—the BMA400, a smart 3-axis accelerometer with integrated wake-up and sleep functions, the BME280, a smart environmental sensor with combined digital humidity, pressure, and temperature sensing, and the NCT203, a wide-range digital temperature sensor.
The device is fully re-programmable with SEGGER J-Link thanks to an Arm Cortex debug connector and has an operating temperature range of -40 to 125°C.
For ease of development, the RSL10 comes with all design files and customizable source code as part of a CMSIS software package.
Through the combination of ultra-low-power wireless communications, small form-factor solar cell, and low duty cycle sensing applications make it possible for engineers to develop 100% battery and maintenance-free IoT sensor nodes using the RSL10, a multi-sensor platform powered by the RSL10 SIP, a System-in-Package solution that features an integrated antenna, RSL10 radio, and passive components.
Other potential applications for the RSL10 include smart homes and smart buildings, environmental sensing, ambiance and climate control, Industry 4.0, air quality monitoring, smoke detection, and integrated sensors.
