Sports & Fitness - Where measuring and monitoring motivate success

Ultra low power (ULP) wireless sensors that can be small enough to be worn on the body are transforming the sports & fitness world by making it easy to track and log training data – such as heart-rate, speed, and distance – and share the results on-line with others. This benefits everyone from elite athletes seeking to fine-tune their training regimes to those who simply want to get fit and stay motivated by seeing the results of their hard work.

Nordic Semiconductor pioneered 2.4GHz RF solutions for sports and fitness applications in 2004 by providing the RF connectivity in Suunto's ground-breaking T6 sportswatch that was the first watch to offer built-in ANT support. Today, Nordic remains the leading supplier of ULP 2.4GHz sports & fitness solutions that offer the following benefits:

• Class-leading battery lifetimes – Up to years from coin cell batteries
• Small size – Compact packaging options, enabling miniaturized sensors to be developed, including ‘wearable’ devices
• Ease-of-integration – Proven on-chip ANT and Bluetooth low energy protocol and support for a wide range of application microcontrollers to ease design-in
• Multi-vendor interoperability – Seamless connectivity to existing ANT+ sensors and hubs, and forthcoming Bluetooth low energy devices
• Mobile phone connectivity – Seamless connectivity to existing mobile phones with built-in ANT+ support, and forthcoming Bluetooth low energy-enabled cell phones

ANT™ RF ICs

ANT is today the de-facto standard for ultra low power wireless connectivity in sports & fitness equipment. It is supported by a wide range of ANT+ profiles enabling multi-vendor interoperability, and the first cell phones with built-in ANT+ support were launched in early 2011.

The nRF24AP2 Series of ANT Connectivity ICs is the second generation ANT product line-up from Nordic Semiconductor. The nRF24AP2 Series defines the industry-leading benchmark for power consumption from a single chip ANT solution and includes the following Nordic products:

nRF24AP2-8CH – 8-channel ANT Connectivity IC with integrated 2.4GHz radio and enhanced ANT protocol stack, ideally suited for ANT/ANT+ hub devices that need to simultaneously connect to multiple sensors such as:

• Watches
• Gym machines
• Bike computers
• Handheld GPS devices
• Dongles for mobile phones and portable media players

nRF24AP2-1CH – 1-channel ANT Connectivity IC with integrated 2.4GHz radio and enhanced ANT protocol stack, ideally suited for a wide range of ANT/ANT+ sensors including:

• Heart-rate belts
• Speed-distance foot pods
• GPS pods
• Pedometers
• Activity sensors
• Bike cadence sensors
• Bike speed sensors
• Bike power sensors
• Weight scales

nRF24AP2-USB – 8-channel ANT Connectivity IC with integrated 2.4GHz radio, enhanced ANT protocol stack, and full-speed USB interface. A true single chip solution for USB dongles delivering ANT/ANT+ connectivity and supported by driver software for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Ideally suited for:

• USB dongles
• Built-in connectivity with USB host interfaces

Bluetooth^® low energy RF ICs

Bluetooth low energy is an emerging technology with a roadmap for profiles supporting a wide range of sports & fitness equipment and applications. The first profiles – including heart-rate – are expected to be ratified shortly with the first Bluetooth low energy-enabled cell phones due to arrive by the end of 2011.

The Nordic μBlue™ Series of Bluetooth low energy ICs features the industry's lowest power consumption and include:

nRF8001 – A highly integrated Bluetooth low energy connectivity IC, ideally suited to sports & fitness sensors as and when profiles become available.

2.4GHz RF ICs

The nRF24L Series of 2.4GHz RF ICs is an alternative solution for performance/cost-optimized applications where the interoperability benefits of ANT/ANT+ or Bluetooth low energy are not required.