The Wireless Gecko SoC product family supports full Bluetooth 5 connectivity

     Silicon Labs has further expanded its Wireless Gecko system-on-chip (SoC) product line with the release of a new multi-band SoC that supports full Bluetooth 5 connectivity and more storage capacity options. Silicon Labs' new EFR32xG13 SoC provides developers with significant design flexibility and additional functionality, making it ideal for multi-protocol solutions that use a single wireless protocol or require more storage capacity, as well as applications with greater capacity requirements or online (OTA) upgrades. The EFR32xG13 device also incorporates advanced on-chip oscillators that reduce bill of material (BOM) costs, as well as safe acceleration, capacitive sensing, low-power sensing, and enhanced RF performance.

     The new EFR32xG13 family supports all Bluetooth 5 features and functions, delivers four times the range, two times the speed and eight times the broadcast performance over Bluetooth 4, and enhances coexistence with other wireless IoT protocols. The EFR32xG13 SoC has a 2Mbps PHY that supports higher throughput and lower power consumption due to shorter send (TX) and receive (RX) times. The SoC also integrates new 125Kbps and 500Kbps encoded PHYs to enable longer communication distances, with a Bluetooth connection distance four times that of current devices running Bluetooth 4.

     The EFR32xG13 SoC provides enough flash (512KB) and RAM(64KB) to run zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth 5 applications in a single protocol mode. It also supports multi-protocol combinations of Bluetooth and zigbee, Thread, or proprietary protocol stacks (running on sub-GHz or 2.4GHz networks). The EFR32BG13 series is ideal for Bluetooth mesh networking applications because it is designed to run both Bluetooth mesh networking and the Bluetooth 5 protocol stack, and supports both smartphone and Bluetooth mesh networking connectivity.

     The new SoC includes an on-chip oscillator, which eliminates the off-chip 32kHz crystals typically required for Bluetooth low energy devices. The integrated high-precision low-frequency resistance-capacitance (RC) oscillator (PLFRCO) enables developers to save approximately $0.15 in BOM costs in high-volume product designs that require 32kHz crystals to meet the Bluetooth Low Energy sleep clock accuracy specification. PLFRCO differs from similar integrated oscillators offered by other Bluetooth devices in that it ensures a robust, reliable low-power Bluetooth connection over the entire operating temperature range.

     The EFR32xG13 SoC's superior Energy efficiency results in longer battery life and lower standby current for Energy Star-compatible devices. The sleep current is 6% lower than the EFR32xG12 SoC and 44% lower than the first-generation Wireless Gecko devices.

     The EFR32xG13 family is pin-compatible with all Wireless Gecko SoCs in QFN48 packages, which helps existing customers further expand their flexible memory, peripherals, and functionality options. Silicon Labs' full-featured Simplicity Studio development tool supports all Wireless Gecko family products and is freely available to developers.