At the recent Continua Health Alliance medical conference in Luxembourg, Cambridge, UK based CSR demonstrated its ultralow power (ULP) Bluetooth silicon, which consisted of two ICs successfully transferring ULP Bluetooth data packets 50-times faster than standard Bluetooth. That means the devices were consuming as little as 1/50th of the power, said CSR. In addition, in establishing the connection, the ULP devices used 1/10th the power required by standard Bluetooth, added CSR. The demonstration ICs employed both standard Bluetooth (v.2.1) and ULP Bluetooth radios.

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In fact, at the event CSR unveiled for the first time the Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP). CSR has designed HDP with the Bluetooth SIG to meet the specific needs of this market. Robin Heydon, CSR’s standards architect, stated, “Today’s demonstration is the first ever public demonstration of ULP Bluetooth.”

ULP Bluetooth is a complementary Bluetooth technology that can be used to transfer simple data sets between compact devices and is expected to be able to run for up to ten years on one button cell battery, according to the developer. Because of its low power requirements, ULP Bluetooth is set to significantly broaden the applications for Bluetooth, said the maker.

Last July, CSR said that its dual-mode (Bluetooth + ULP Bluetooth) Bluetooth silicon would be available in 2008. Today’s announcement is proof that CSR not only remains on track but continues to develop ULP, the supplier asserted.

www.csr.com