New Bluetooth® LE wireless MCUs make high-quality RF and power performance more affordable

DALLAS, June 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today expanded its connectivity portfolio with a new family of wireless microcontrollers (MCU) that enable high-quality Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) at half the price of competing devices. Featuring best-in-class standby current and radio-frequency (RF) performance, the SimpleLink™ Bluetooth LE CC2340 family is built on the foundation of TI's decades of wireless connectivity expertise. Pricing for the CC2340 family will start as low as $0.79, making it affordable for engineers to add Bluetooth LE connectivity to more products. For more information, see www.ti.com/cc2340.

"Industrywide, 5 billion Bluetooth® enabled devices are forecast to ship in 2022," said Mark Powell, CEO of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the standards organization that oversees Bluetooth technology. "The commitment and involvement of Bluetooth SIG members like Texas Instruments allow Bluetooth technology to meet the growing demands for enhanced wireless connectivity in a wider range of applications. I am grateful for the contributions of our membership in delivering innovative solutions that benefit the Bluetooth ecosystem and help broaden the adoption of Bluetooth technology." 

TI will demonstrate the CC2340 wireless MCUs in booth No. 3A-215 at embedded world in Nuremberg, Germany, June 21-23, 2022. For more information, see ti.com/embeddedworld.

"The adoption of Bluetooth LE is accelerating and our embedded world demo of the CC2340 family will show you how to quickly and easily add the technology to any application," said Marian Kost, vice president and general manager of Connectivity at Texas Instruments. "The new MCUs will provide high-quality RF and power performance at an affordable price, backed by unrivaled technical support and internal manufacturing capacity investments that will help meet our customers' demand for years to come."

The CC2340R2 and CC2340R5 wireless MCUs, offering flash memory of 256KB and 512KB respectively, provide exceptional flexibility for engineers and ample space for application code. Additionally, with the proliferation of Bluetooth LE applications, designers need additional memory capacity to easily update software remotely. The new wireless MCU family features 36KB of RAM with over-the-air download support.

The new MCUs include industry-leading standby current of less than 830 nA, which is 40 percent lower than competing devices. The reduction in standby current helps extend battery life for up to 10 years on a coin cell battery in wireless applications such as electronic shelf labels and tire pressure monitoring systems. The CC2340 family also features an operating temperature range of –40ºC to 125ºC to help ensure a stable connection across applications, from industrial sensors and medical laboratories to outdoor environments such as EV chargers or smart meters.

Engineers are also able to expand RF performance and connection range with an output power up to +8 dBm, the industry's highest among competing Bluetooth LE wireless MCUs. In addition, the CC2340 devices feature an integrated RF balun to enable a simpler design with fewer external components, leading to cost savings.

With the increased memory, longer battery life and wider temperature range at an affordable price, engineers can enable more connected everyday applications such as:

• Medical devices: In glucose meters, for example, the CC2340 MCUs' standby current of less than 830 nA leads to an end-product shelf life of 18 to 24 months and two weeks of active Bluetooth LE operation on a coin cell battery.
• Building automation: Smart-home hubs can take advantage of the CC2340 MCUs' wireless protocol support and output power range up to +8 dBm.
• Personal care: For products such as an electric toothbrush, the CC2340 wireless MCUs offer low power consumption in sleep mode, and can extend battery life.

At embedded world this week, visitors to TI's booth can use the SimpleLink CC2340 LaunchPad™ development kit to establish a Bluetooth LE connection in two minutes or less. Throughout the show, TI will demonstrate how its products can help engineers overcome edge AI, connectivity and automotive design challenges. To view virtual demos and related white papers, technical articles and on-demand training, see TI.com/embeddedworld.

To simplify implementation, engineers can connect with TI applications engineers through the TI E2E™ Bluetooth support forum. Engineers also have access to the proven, royalty-free Bluetooth LE software stack, which TI has supported and kept updated since 2010.

To get started with the CC2340 wireless MCUs, customers can request samples as well as a development kit (LP-EM-CC2340R5) priced at US$39. The new wireless MCUs are expected to be in volume production in the first half of 2023.

Pricing for the CC2340 family will start as low as US$0.79 for 1,000-unit quantities. To learn more about the new wireless MCU family, see www.ti.com/cc2340.

The CC2340R2 and CC2340R5 wireless MCUs are the latest addition to the SimpleLink portfolio that provides innovative connectivity solutions to serve the industrial, automotive and personal electronics markets.

TI is developing affordable, quality and low-power wireless MCUs, certified modules, and transceivers, along with complete software offerings to fit any RF design need. For more information, see www.ti.com/wireless.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (Nasdaq: TXN) is a global semiconductor company that designs, manufactures, tests and sells analog and embedded processing chips for markets such as industrial, automotive, personal electronics, communications equipment and enterprise systems. Our passion to create a better world by making electronics more affordable through semiconductors is alive today, as each generation of innovation builds upon the last to make our technology smaller, more efficient, more reliable and more affordable – making it possible for semiconductors to go into electronics everywhere. We think of this as Engineering Progress. It's what we do and have been doing for decades. Learn more at TI.com.

All registered trademarks and other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

SOURCE Texas Instruments