With the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless technologies remain a focus in the electronics industry. Today we have two items from suppliers that have been leading the charge in Bluetooth and Antenna related products.
Bluetooth 5 was officially announced in June of 2016. In that announcement, it was revealed that the two big features of Bluetooth 5 are an increased data rate (twice that of Bluetooth 4.2) as well as an increased range. Unfortunately, we can’t have our cake and eat it too; the two new features are mutually exclusive. What this means is that the doubled data rate cannot be achieved over the increased distance. It turns out this is fine for most IoT applications. On that note, the first product I am highlighting is a Bluetooth 5 Development Kit (1564-1050-ND) from Dialog Semiconductor. Dialog is well known for low-power solutions, and this kit is no exception. It comes with a Bluetooth low energy motherboard, the DA14585 daughter board, a mini USB-cable, and a CR2032 coin cell battery. This kit is perfect for getting familiar with Bluetooth 5 and quick prototyping of IoT applications such as: remote controls, proximity tags/trackers, beacons, connected medical devices, smart home products, VR controllers, wireless charging and connected sensing.
The other product I want to introduce to you is an antenna (712-1589-1-ND) from Johanson Technology. Since IoT designs tend to be on the small side (physically), antennas usually end up next to a battery or metal battery holder. This can interfere with the antenna and make it act unpredictably. That can lead to increased design time and wasted money. While there is a wide array of antenna solutions on the market, what makes this one from Johanson unique is its requirement for a metal plane reducing the headache of a redesign.
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