Secure Bluetooth® Low Energy Microcontroller from onsemi Sets Industry Record for Power Efficiency

By Taryn Engmark

Associate Editor

Embedded Computing Design

November 30, 2021

News

Secure Bluetooth® Low Energy Microcontroller from onsemi Sets Industry Record for Power Efficiency

Expanding the onsemi portfolio of Bluetooth LE enabled solutions, the RSL15 offers security and processing capabilities with smart sensing features.

Enabled with Bluetooth® Low Energy wireless connectivity, the RSL15 addresses the growing demand of connected industrial applications for security without sacrificing power consumption.

To validate energy efficiency, the secure RSL15 wireless microcontroller (MCU) was certified by the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC). The organization’s ULPMark™-CoreMark benchmark program measures the energy efficiency of microcontrollers used in embedded systems while active. The RSL15 leads its class, having attained a performance score of 60.5. Within the ULPMark- CoreProfile benchmark, which calculates the deep sleep efficiency of MCUs, onsemi has the top two placements with the RSL10 and RSL15, respectively.

The RSL15 is designed with Arm®TrustZone® technology to establish device root of trust as well as Arm CryptoCell™-312 technology to protect the authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality of code and data. This PSA Level 1 certified design enhances the security measures already offered as part of the Bluetooth protocol, providing assurance at both the application and software levels. 

“The ability to protect against cyber threats is an essential differentiator for manufacturers choosing a wireless microcontroller for industrial IoT applications,” said Michel De Mey, vice president of the industrial solutions division at onsemi.

The RSL15 supports a number of capabilities provided by the Bluetooth 5.2 specification including longer range, higher data transmissions, and localization through angle of arrival (AoA) and angle of departure (AoD). onsemi has also developed a smart sensing feature that allows the Arm Cortex®-M33 processor to remain in a deep sleep mode while still monitoring sensor interfaces. With these advanced new features, the RSL15 will continue the success of the RSL10 radio family, which has been integrated into a variety of industrial automation applications including connected asset tracking, smart retail, and IoT edge nodes.

The RSL15 is available now in a miniature 40-pin QFN package. For more information, visit onsemi.