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AKM Has Developed TRANSMIT-ONLY Bluetooth(R) Low Energy IC

the first proprietary BLE transmitter for beacon IC without programming

TOKYO — (BUSINESS WIRE) — February 5, 2018 — Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation ( AKM) has developed the AK1594, a transmit-only Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) IC that enables easy design of beacon solutions with longer battery life.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180205005351/en/

Simple Configuration: Transmit-only stand alone Bluetooth(R) Low Energy (BLE) Beacon Soc (Graphic: B ...

Simple Configuration: Transmit-only stand alone Bluetooth(R) Low Energy (BLE) Beacon Soc (Graphic: Business Wire)

Beacon solutions using BLE, are used in various applications such as monitoring systems, loss prevention devices, employee attendance management, and information guidance to smartphones in shops or exhibitions. Adoption is expected to spread quickly. However, in the past BLE bacon market, there were only BLE SoCs which support transmitter and receiver both, thus SoCs require tremendous software development.

A BLE beacon can be designed by writing the initial settings and transmission data to the internal EEPROM, since the AK1594 has no microcontroller and is a transmit-only device. This reduces the development period of beacon systems compared to existing BLE ICs that integrate a microcontroller. Moreover, the AK1594 achieves best in class low power consumption in the field and a maximum +6dBm (typ.) output transmission. The AK1594 offers security protection for advertising channel packet using the AES128 encoding.  The various switching actions control transmitter power, interval and powering the transmitter.

Features

1. Developing a Program is Not Necessary on a Device without a Microcontroller
A BLE beacon can be designed by just writing the initial settings and transmission data to the internal EEPROM. A Complicated development environment, programming, and debugging are not necessary.

2. Ultra-Low Power Consumption
It achieves 9.1uA (typ.) ultra-low power consumption, contributing to longer battery life of the device.
* Transmit Power: 0dBm, Advertising Interval: 1sec

3. Encoded Data Prevent Interceptions
AES128 encoding is available. This prevents tracking or cloning of the beacon.

Samples are available now. The AK1594 has been adopted to ultra-low power consumption beacons by HOUWA SYSTEM DESIGN K.K. (Japan).

About Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation
Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation ( AKM*), a group company of Asahi Kasei Corporation, is a Japan-based company which has continued to provide customers with optimum solutions all over the world for over 30 years by offering a variety of advanced sensing devices based on compound semiconductor technology and sophisticated IC products featuring analog/digital mixed-signal technology.

* AKM ™ is a trademark of Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation in Japan, the United States and Europe.
* Bluetooth® is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
* Appellations, company names and product names on this page are trademarks or registered trademarks of respective companies.

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Contact:

Media Inquiries:
Asahi Kasei Microdevices
Gaku Suzuki, +81-3-3296-3953
Silicon Solution Business Unit
Email: Email Contact
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URL: https://www.akm.com/akm/en/support/inquires/