China-based Mobike employs Nordic Semiconductor Bluetooth LE SoC in smart bike sharing solution

Mobike, bike-sharing

The ‘Mobike smart lock’ integrates Nordic’s nRF51822 SoC offering users an enhanced bike-sharing experience

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Mobike Technology Co., Ltd, the world’s first and largest smart bike-sharing company, is employing Nordic’s multiple award-winning nRF51822 System-on-Chip (SoC), to provide Bluetooth® Low Energy connectivity between the bike’s wirelessly-operated smart lock and the user’s Bluetooth 4.0 (and later) smartphone.

Available in more than 100 cities across China, Singapore, the U.K., and Japan, Mobike enables users of its smartphone app to find a bike near them, scan the QR code on the bike and instantly unlock it for use using Internet of Things (IoT) technology or by activating Bluetooth LE built in to Mobike’s proprietary smart locks.

To end the ride, users can park the bikes at an approved bike parking location close to their destination, manually lock the bike, and the completed journey is logged via the Mobike app, whereupon the bicycle becomes available to the next user. The Mobike app then also provides the user with their journey data including distance traveled, journey duration, expended calories, and the charged fare for the trip.
Quote
We are proud to partner with Nordic Semiconductor, a specialist in wireless connectivity technology, and by combining its high performance, proven Bluetooth Low Energy solution, the use of IoT technology throughout the whole process, and Mobike’s smart bike-sharing platform we are all well positioned to provide Mobike riders around the world convenient rides when completing their ‘last mile’ journeys.
TP Wang, Smart Lock Director of Mobike

Nordic’s nRF51822 is a powerful and flexible multiprotocol SoC ideally suited for Bluetooth LE and 2.4GHz ultra low-power wireless applications. The nRF51822 is built around a 32-bit ARM® Cortex™ M0 microprocessor with 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio, 256kB/128kB flash and 32kB/16kB RAM. The nRF51822 SoC is supplied with Nordic’s S110 (Peripheral/Broadcaster), S120 (Central), or S130 (Central/Peripheral/Broadcaster/Observer) SoftDevice. The SoftDevices are Nordic’s Bluetooth 4.2-compliant Bluetooth LE RF protocol “stacks”.

“We are proud to partner with Nordic Semiconductor, a specialist in wireless connectivity technology, and by combining its high performance, proven Bluetooth LE solution, the use of IoT technology throughout the whole process, and Mobike’s smart bike-sharing platform we are all well positioned to provide Mobike riders around the world convenient rides when completing their ‘last mile’ journeys,” says TP Wang, Smart Lock Director of Mobike.

“Mobike’s application is an innovative bike-sharing implementation that brings users a reliable, affordable, and flexible way of getting around cities. The application is made possible by Bluetooth technology’s widespread adoption in smartphones and Nordic’s high-performance yet cost-effective wireless solutions for mass-market products,” says Geir Langeland, Director of Sales & Marketing with Nordic Semiconductor.