Adding low-power wireless connectivity to a product has become less of a challenge as chipmakers serve up proven silicon, reference designs, and development kits. But designing an RF link from scratch is still not a trivial exercise. Quick to spot opportunities, commercial vendors now offer pre-engineered wireless solutions in the form of modules. Such devices have been optimised by the manufacturer to provide maximum range and bandwidth while meeting the regulatory requirements for operation in the Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) 2.4-GHz band. Some are even delivered with certification proving they comply with a particular wireless standard.
The market is rapidly expanding: According to analyst IHS, worldwide revenue for the low-power wireless modules market will reach $1.40 billion this year, up a robust 14 percent from $1.23 billion in 2013. The company says this is the third consecutive year of double-digit expansion for the market.
“Low-power wireless modules play an important role in the wireless ecosystem, providing a turnkey solution that includes a radio, microcontroller, nonvolatile memory, and antenna - all in a small, affordable package,” said Lee Ratliff, principal analyst for connectivity at IHS in a statement.
Modules are popular in low-volume applications because they eliminate the high non-recurring engineering costs associated with RF design, verification, and certification while cutting lengthy development times, notes Ratliff. But modules also find favor in devices that ship in millions of units because they simplify manufacturing and increase flexibility. A single module design, for example, can be reused across multiple products, easing the problem of supporting numerous unique wireless designs.
Applications that matter
IHS forecasts that the fastest-growing markets for low-power wireless modules in the immediate future will be sports and fitness monitoring, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49 percent. Other important markets will be consumer electronics with a CAGR of 36 percent, automotive with 32 percent, and residential automation with 30 percent.
The underlying growth in the application of wireless technologies in these markets will be the primary reason for the increase in module shipments. However, a secondary reason for expansion is the high rate of adoption of Bluetooth Smart, ANT+, EnOcean, RF4CE, and Z-Wave.
While these multivendor solutions are enjoying growth, low-power wireless technology is moving away from proprietary protocols, according to IHS. Proprietary protocols made up 88 percent of module shipments in 2011, but will only account for about 50 percent by 2018. A key driver for this trend is that customers are looking for interoperable communications across diverse systems, and wanting devices to communicate with mobile platforms like smartphones, tablet computers and laptops without requiring dongles.
Nordic Semiconductor-powered products are at the forefront of the wireless module revolution. For example, Nordic’s long-term design partner, ANT Wireless, has announced a dual protocol ANT SoC module, the N548, based on the nRF51422 SoC. This 2.4-GHz solution enables ANT and Bluetooth Smart protocols to run concurrently. The N548 measures 14 by 9.8 by 2.0mm and is a turnkey solution targeted at wearable, home, and industrial applications.
In a second example, Stollmann, a Nordic design partner based in Hamburg, Germany, has recently added a small form factor Bluetooth Smart module based on Nordic’s nRF51822 multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) to its Embedded Bluetooth Module family. The module measures just 17 by 10 by 2.6 mm and has a line-of-sight maximum range of 50 m.
And French multidie system-in-package (SiP) design specialist, Insight SiP, has developed a Nordic nRF51822 System-on-Chip (SoC)-based Bluetooth Smart module that requires no specialist RF engineering experience to employ. The chip measures 8 by 11 by 1.2 mm and is claimed to be a complete “drop-in” Bluetooth Smart module solution.
