Oslo, Norway – April 9, 2013 – Ultra low power (ULP) RF specialist Nordic Semiconductor ASA (OSE: NOD) today announces that Hong Kong-based National Electronics & Watch Co. Ltd (NEWCO) – a leading wireless OEM/ODM (Original Equipment/Design Manufacturer) of wireless monitors and associated products (such as watches, GPS navigators, and 2.4GHz RFID) for top global outdoor and sports & fitness consumer brands – has announced a Bluetooth® low energy temperature sensor platform that could dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of installing smart ambient temperature monitoring networks into homes and commercial buildings by using the simplicity of a smartphone.
Called the ‘BlutolTemp Thermometer’, this product will allow anyone that owns a smartphone with the latest version 4.0 of Bluetooth (that includes Bluetooth low energy/Bluetooth Smart as a hallmark feature) to set-up and use a wireless smart temperature monitoring network of up to 10 continuously monitored sensors within minutes that can continuously collect, store, and display temperature data on a smartphone app.
The nRF8001’s class-leading ULP performance and size will enable each NEWCO Bluetooth low energy temperature sensor to run for over one year from a regular CR2032 coin cell under typical usage conditions (10s updates) while featuring an extremely slim (0.8cm-thick) and compact (3.5 x 2.4cm) plastic sensor housing that is water resistant to 10m (1 atm) and weighs less than 1/3-oz (9g).
“One of the most challenging parts of developing this solution was achieving the 10m water resistance in such a small form factor,” comments Alfred Ma, Chief Engineer at NEWCO who helped develop the BlutolTemp Thermometer. “We had to draw on our company’s heritage in watch making since 1975 and focus on getting all the parts to fit together with high precision in order to maintain a hermetic seal – including a battery compartment that can be easily opened by the end user.”
“Until now consumers and commercial organizations wishing to employ a smart temperature monitoring solution to, for example, minimize energy and heating consumption, would have had to look at some kind of costly ZigBee based platform that would have required professional installation,” adds Jackson Chan, Assistant Sales General Manager at NEWCO. “In contrast, our solution is ‘Plug&Play’, likely to retail for as little as $20-30 per sensor, and can be installed quickly and easily by the end users themselves without specialist training or equipment beyond having aBluetooth v4.0 compatible smartphone.
“This is another example of the power of Bluetooth low energy and the ubiquity of Bluetoothwireless technology in smartphones to challenge previously established markets such as home and industrial smart monitoring,” says Geir Langeland, Nordic Semiconductor’s Director of Sales & Marketing. “The fact is that Bluetooth low energy allows you to develop new solutions to old problems with a level of simplicity and cost effectiveness that would have simply been impossible to achieve in the past, and this NEWCO smart temperature monitoring solution is a perfect example of that.”
NEWCO is actively looking for partners interested in developing branded product solutions based on its BlutolTemp Thermometer platform.
About National Electronics & Watch Company (NEWCO)
About Bluetooth low energy, Bluetooth Smart, and Bluetooth Smart Ready
About Nordic Semiconductor ASA
