Wireless helps make new 'must-have' toys possible and old toys fun again

The convenience of wireless is a natural fit to the toy market but has until recently been hindered by the use of older, technologically-limited wireless technologies on the basis of cost. Nordic's latest 2.4GHz solutions change all of that by bringing state-of-the-art wireless performance, reliability, and features that were previously impossible for mass-market toys.

Nordic Semiconductor's ultra low power (ULP) wireless solutions are an attractive alternative to the older and thus technologically limited traditional wireless technologies used in toys – such as IR and 27/47MHz – by providing a competitive price point combined with a unique set of advantages:

• Race against your friends – No more changing crystals to race against your friends, Nordic 2.4GHz RF enables multiple wireless toys to co-exist without interference
• Low power – mA-range average current consumption means longer battery lifetimes, and/or smaller and lighter batteries
• Small size and weight – Single chip solutions, small and efficient 2.4GHz antennas, and smaller batteries, all combine to enable miniaturized wireless toy designs
• Range – Outdoor line-of-sight range without large antennas, and no daylight interference issues as can be suffered by IR
• Bi-directional communication – Enabling new and innovative features like crash feedback on remote controlled cars and other racing toys
• Wireless PC connectivity – Enhances toys through downloadable content and new game play features delivered via wireless connectivity to PCs/Macs
• Attractive price point – Single chip solutions with low cost external Bill-of-Materials (BoM) supporting entry-level product pricing

Ultra low power RF ICs

Nordic's nRF24L Series of 2.4GHz RF System-on-Chips (SoCs) – are ideally suited for a range of toys and include the following products:

nRF24LE1 – System-on-Chip (SoC) solution with 2Mbps 2.4GHz transceiver, 8-bit CPU, and on-chip Flash memory, ideally suited for

• R/C toy controllers
• Racing cars, planes, helicopters, boats, and robots
• Interactive board games
• Interactive puzzle games
• Talking/interactive pets

nRF24LU1+ – System-on-Chip (SoC) solution with 2Mbps 2.4GHz transceiver, 8-bit CPU, on-chip Flash memory, and full-speed USB device controller providing a true single chip solution for USB dongles while also enabling PC connectivity.

nRF24LE1 OTP and nRF24LU1+ OTP are lower cost, drop-in compatible variants of the above SoCs, ideally suited to lower cost, entry-level wireless products.

Reference Designs

Nordic’s nRFready R/C racing is a complete reference design for a set of racing toys with innovative features such as crash sensors, plus support for free-form racing tracks. It is an ideal starting point for any racing toy application including cars, helicopters, planes, robots, and boats.