INDUSTRY AWARDS: 2009 EDN CHINA INNOVATION & ELECTRONICS WEEKLY (UK) ELEKTRA

EDN China readers have, for the second year running, voted a Nordic Semiconductor 2.4GHz ultra low power transceiver into the finalists' shortlist for the influential magazine's annual Innovation Awards. In addition, judges at leading UK electronics news title Electronics Weekly have voted the same device into the finalists' shortlist of their Elektra 2009 Awards

Oslo, Norway - December 16, 2009 - Ultra low power (ULP) RF specialist Nordic Semiconductor ASA (OSE: NOD) today announces that its flagship nRF24LE1 2.4GHz ULP system-on-chip (SoC) transceiver with on-board 8-bit MCU and flash memory was shortlisted in two prestigious industry press awards in China (EDN China 2009 Innovation Awards) and the UK (Electronics Weekly 2009 Elektra Awards).

In China, the nRF24LE1 was shortlisted by votes received from readers of leading Chinese language electronics design magazine, EDN China, in the "Communication and Networking ICs" category of its annual EDN China Innovation Awards. This follows Nordic's success in winning a "Leading Product" award in the same category last year for its nRF24LU1 2.4GHz transceiver (released in August 2007 and since replaced by the enhanced nRF24LU1+ version).

In the UK Electronics Weekly 2009 Elektra Awards, the nRF24LE1 ULP SoC was also shortlisted as a finalist in the "Semiconductor Product of the Year - Analogue" category by a dedicated judging panel of electronics experts.

The nRF24LE1 is an integrated 2.4GHz ULP wireless SoC solution that collapses previous size restrictions in its product category. It integrates the industry's leading 2.4GHz transceiver core (the nRF24L01+) and an enhanced, 8051 mixed signal 8-bit microcontroller with 16kBytes of on-chip flash plus 1kByte of SRAM into a single chip solution for ULP wireless applications.

This nRF24LE1 is available in a 4x4mm QFN package making it the smallest ULP single chip wireless solution available today, and is ideal for the exploding ULP wireless market because it can run the RF protocol stack and application layer from a single chip (eliminating the requirement for an external MCU) and operates with microampere average current in typical applications. This allows the nRF24LE1 to run on small (watch/coin cell) batteries for months to years (depending on duty cycle). The chip is targeted at a price/performance point that it makes it relevant to even the most fiercely competitive, high volume consumer applications. (See "About the nRF24LE1" below for further details.)

"I am very proud to see the nRF24LE1 receive professional recognition," comments Geir Langeland, Nordic Semiconductor's Director of Sales & Marketing. "It is especially gratifying because I know how hard our Norwegian research, technical and product development teams work to make such products a commercial reality. They will be very excited to learn of the nRF24LE1's achievements in these two major awards programs.

"I would also like to extend my thanks and gratitude to all the Chinese engineers who took the time and effort to vote for the nRF24LE1 in the Asian awards - for the second year running - and to the judges that selected the product for the finalists' shortlist in the UK awards."

About the nRF24LE1^TM
The nRF24LE1 is a ULP system-on-chip 2.4GHz transceiver that enables single-chip implementation of wireless applications. The nRF24LE1's radio is a fully featured nRF24L01+ 2.4GHz transceiver core including Nordic's proven Enhanced ShockBurst" hardware link layer. It delivers true ULP operation with peak currents low enough to run on coin cell batteries.

The nRF24LE1 integrates an enhanced 8051 mixed signal MCU core featuring fewer clock cycles per instruction than legacy 8051 devices. Most instructions need just one or two clock cycles leading to an average performance improvement of 8X using the MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) benchmark. This high performance combined with 16kbytes of on-chip flash and 1kbytes of SRAM ensures the processing platform is powerful enough to run both the RF protocol stack and application layer with ease.

A wide range of peripherals and power saving modes support the RF protocol stack. A ULP 32kHz crystal oscillator provides high accuracy timing for low report rate synchronous protocols and a 16MHz RC oscillator provides fast start-up times from idle. The 32kHz oscillator can provide timing accurate enough for higher report rate protocols without requiring an external crystal. A security co-processor enables AES encrypted wireless communication. The nRF24LE1 provides a range of nanoamp and microamp idle modes specifically designed for ULP RF protocol stacks. Further benefits include higher precision protocol timing, lower power consumption and improved co-existence performance.

For the application layer the nRF24LE1 offers a rich set of interfaces and peripherals including an SPI, 2-wire, UART, 12-bit ADC, PWM and an analog comparator. As such, the nRF24LE1 is the ideal single chip solution for applications including mice, keyboards, remote controls, game controllers, sports/healthcare sensors, toys and active RFID tags.

About Nordic Semiconductor ASA
Nordic Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in ultra-low power (ULP) short-range wireless communication. Nordic is a public company listed on the Norwegian stock exchange.

Nordic provides RF silicon solutions including:

• Highly integrated RF silicon
• Sophisticated and flexible development tools
• Application specific communication software
• Complete reference designs

The company's innovative range of wireless solutions includes:

• The nRF24LE1^TM single-chip, ultra-low cost and power, fully integrated 2.4GHz transceiver with radio, microprocessor, flash memory and MultiCeiver^TM technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices;
• The nRF24L01+^TM ultra-low cost and power 2.4GHz transceiver with MultiCeiver technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices;
• The nRF24LU1+^TM single chip 2.4GHz transceiver with full-speed USB, microcontroller and flash memory enabling ultra-compact USB dongles for wireless peripherals;
• The nRF24AP2^TM ultra-low power 2.4GHz transceiver for wireless communication with Dynastream Innovation's production-proven low-power network protocol, ANT";
• The nRF24E1^TM and nRF24E2^TM low cost transceivers paired with an industry standard 8051 MCU core, and leading peripherals to create the world's first complete low cost SoCs for global 2.4GHz operation;
• The nRF24Z1^TM single-chip system for CD quality audio streaming of up to 16-bit, 48-kHz audio;
• The nRF905^TM single-chip multiband radio transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM band;
• The nRF9E5^TM low-cost, single-chip system with fully integrated RF transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM band.

Nordic Semiconductor's nRF24xx range of 2.4GHz transceiver and transmitter devices are aimed at applications such as PC peripherals such as wireless keyboards/mice, game controllers, intelligent sports equipment and wireless audio (for example, mp3 and portable CD player headphones and PC speakers). The latest nRF24L01+ family, for instance, is targeted at ultra-low cost and power applications such as wireless desktops and intelligent (for example, wristwatch-based) sports equipment.

Nordic is an associate member of the Bluetooth SIG and has contributed core expertise in ultra-low power RF design to the forthcoming specification for Bluetooth low energy wireless technology (formerly ultra low power Bluetooth). Bluetooth low energy wireless technology is a short range RF communication technology featuring ultra-low power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and simple integration with Bluetooth® wireless technology chips. Bluetooth low energy wireless technology ushers in the next generation of RF communications by opening up many new opportunities for wireless data links between suitably equipped mobile phones or personal computers (PCs) and coin cell battery-powered devices such as sports and health sensors.

Nordic's products are all manufactured in ultra modern semiconductor process technologies through strong relationships with world-best manufacturing facilities. Sales are primarily made through a carefully selected worldwide distribution network. The company has offices in Trondheim and Oslo, Norway, the US (west coast), Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, and is listed on the Norwegian Stock Exchange (OSX: NOD). All operations are managed according to the ISO 9001:2000-approved quality assurance system.
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