Oslo, Norway – July 21, 2014 – Nordic Semiconductor ASA (OSE: NOD, Country Manager: Soo-Cheol Choi, www.nordicsemi.com ), a specialist in Ultra Low Power (ULP) RF, announced that LG Innotek, a leader in the field of cutting-edge electronic components and materials, has developed a new Bluetooth Smart (formerly Bluetooth Low Energy) module based on Nordic’s nRF51822 SoC that does not consume much space compared to discrete solutions (implemented as individual components) and does not require specialized RF technology for application.

The LG 4403 module is only 5.3 x 4.7 x 1.0 mm in size and is supplied in a small LGA package that is sufficiently applicable to current or next-generation Bluetooth smart smartphones, tablets, and computer appcessories, including the smallest wearables and smartwatches, sports, health, and IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

This module features the award-winning Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822, a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 microprocessor and 256kB flash memory, a highly reliable 32MHz X-Tal quartz oscillator and a perfectly matched RF matching circuit, and a wide range of analog and digital peripherals (including GPIO, ADC, SPI, I2C, UART, etc.) including 19 GPIOs (General Purpose Input/Output), and can operate on a power supply from 1.8V to 3.6V.

In addition, power consumption is optimized for ultra-low power operation, typically found to be 10.5 mA for transmission (TX), 13 mA for reception (RX), and only 0.6 µA in deep sleep 'off' mode. RX sensitivity was reported to be –93 dBm at a data transfer rate of 1 Mbps, and TX power was reported to be between –20 dBm and a maximum of +4 dBm.

Park Kwang-jae, a senior development engineer at LG Innotek, stated, “LG Innotek has a long history dating back to the 1970s, starting with the development of TV tuners and extending to the recent development of various connectivity modules such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and LTE for the mobile, TV, and automotive industries.” He added, “Furthermore, as an electronic component manufacturer, LG Innotek possesses the expertise to achieve the highest level of module miniaturization and integration, which can resolve the difficulties developers face due to matching issues when designing using separate discrete components.”

Geir Langeland, Sales & Marketing Director at Nordic Semiconductor, stated, “Bluetooth Smart modules enable customers to develop products and devices without requiring expertise in RF or Bluetooth wireless technology,” and noted, “Furthermore, since Bluetooth Smart wireless technology is applied to the smallest devices and sensors that end users can carry or wear, size and miniaturization are key design elements.”