London, United Kingdom – September 13, 2017 – Dialog Semiconductor plc (XETRA:DLG), a provider of highly integrated power management, AC/DC power conversion, charging, and connectivity technology, today announced the first shipments of its SmartBond™ DA14585 Bluetooth low energy (BLE) System-on-Chip (SoC) to two internationally-recognized suppliers to the automotive industry for use in tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensors. With over 100 million units of its SmartBond SoCs already shipped to other applications, this represents another success milestone for Dialog’s Bluetooth market leadership.
A TPMS sensor is an electronic subsystem for monitoring the air pressure and temperature within automobile tires, alerting drivers of improperly-inflated tires or other safety information in real time. Most typical TPMS sensors use proprietary or non-standard sub-GHz radios to transfer information to the automobile’s computer, but by replacing these radios with Bluetooth low energy connectivity, TPMS can now take advantage of a worldwide standard and the interoperability it brings with the added benefit of long battery lifetime and smartphone connectivity.
With a long legacy in the automotive market as a provider of motor control ICs, Dialog now addresses the TPMS market with the DA14585, the lowest cost, lowest power Bluetooth low energy SoC in high volume production today. To build a Bluetooth low energy-enabled TPMS, only sensors supporting pressure, temperature and acceleration and a battery need to be added. The DA14585 handles the entire processing required for the TPMS application, with no additional microcontroller needed. Further benefits include high security, upgradable firmware and connectivity to automobile computers via a single node for all Bluetooth low energy functions.
“TPMS is already mandated in the United States, South Korea, and the European Union,” said Sean McGrath, SVP and GM of the Connectivity, Automotive and Industrial Business Unit, Dialog Semiconductor. “With other countries such as China and Japan reviewing their own mandates, the early adoption of Bluetooth low energy for TPMS represents an excellent opportunity for Dialog to support the automotive market’s move into the next phase of connectivity and also address the rapidly-growing TPMS aftermarket with these first design wins.”
The DA14585 is available for purchase through Avnet, Digi-Key and Mouser Electronics. As with all SmartBond solutions, the DA14585 is easy to design with, and supports standalone as well as hosted applications. It is supported by a complete development environment including Dialog SmartSnippets™ software, helping designers profile and fine tune the power consumption of their applications. For more information on the DA14585 and Dialog’s Bluetooth SmartBond technology, visit: https://www.dialog-semiconductor.com/bluetooth-low-energy