Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442793
10 By integrating Bluetooth beacons into other connected infrastructure such as lighting we can build out large scale and dense beacon coverage areas. Instead of having to deploy both connecting lights and beacons, a connected Light or Luminaire can also serve as the Bluetooth beacon. This can provide a more cost-effective means to improve beacon density than deploying separate dedicated Beacon devices with an added advantage of not requiring battery powered beacon devices that must be monitored and maintained. Multiprotocol makes additional uses cases possible as well. For example, over-the-air updates can take a long time over a mesh network, but the higher throughput of Bluetooth can provide quicker transfer of update images without consuming the bandwidth of the mesh network. Finding a Cost-Effective Means to Support Multiple Protocols One of the challenges faced to deliver these improved experiences with support of multiple protocols has been the requirement to have multiple chips or system on chips (SoCs), one for each protocol. With multiprotocol chips, devices now have the flexibility to run different protocols. Table 1 describes some common examples of multiprotocol devices. Single chip solutions that combine advances in software and hardware from companies like Silicon Labs enables devices to support both Zigbee and Bluetooth to address the use cases discussed so far. By using one SoC wireless sub-system bill of material (BoM) cost can be reduced by 40% by eliminating two radios and also simplify PCB design by eliminating the need to address the possible interference between two radios in a design. Simultaneous Execution of Multiple Protocols on a Single Radio Let's take a more detailed looked at how dynamic multiprotocol scheduling works to support multiple protocols with a single radio. A Zigbee router always has its radio in receive mode when not transmitting. This is so that other devices in the network can always send packets to it, or route through it. Because of the low duty cycle for Zigbee traffic and the retry mechanisms in the Zigbee networking stack, it is possible for the Zigbee Router to change its radio to another protocol for short periods without Improving beacon density with multifunction lights Multiprotocol Type Description Programmable Devices are programmed to run one of a number of protocols in manu- facturing or via updates in the field or over the air. Switched Devices change which wireless pro- tocol is being used by bootloading a new firmware image when the device is already deployed in the field. Dynamic Devices simultaneously run multiple wireless protocols on one chip, using a time-slicing mechanism to share the radio Multiradio Devices achieve dedicated operation of multiple protocols without any trade-offs with multiple radios • Full support for Bluetooth 5 (2M PHY and LE Long Range) and Bluetooth Mesh • Ideal for battery powered applications • Sub-GHz and Bluetooth LE can be run simultaneously on a single chip Digi ® XBee ™ Cellular LTE Cat 1 BLUE GECKO BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY SoCS LEARN MORE 4 • Precertified module with integrated crystals, RF passives, and antenna enable fast time to market • Ideal for battery powered applications • Full support for Bluetooth 5 (2M PHY and LE Long Range) and Bluetooth Mesh Digi ® XBee ™ Cellular LTE Cat 1 BLUE GECKO BLUETOOTH SMART MODULES LEARN MORE 4 Table 1: Wireless Multiprotocol Scenarios