ON Semiconductor's Secure Bluetooth Low Energy Microcontroller Sets Industry Record for Energy Efficiency

     Leading the way in intelligent power and intelligent sensing technology, ON Semiconductor has released a new secure RSL15 wireless microcontroller (MCU) that provides the industry's lowest power consumption. Featuring Bluetooth Low Energy wireless connectivity, the RSL15 addresses the growing need for security in connected industrial applications without sacrificing power consumption.

     To validate energy efficiency, the RSL15 is certified by the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC). The organization's ULPMark™-CoreMark benchmark project measures the energy efficiency of microcontrollers used in embedded systems at work. The RSL15 now leads the class with a "Performance" score of 60.5. In the ULPMark-CoreProfile project for calculating MCU deep sleep energy efficiency, ON Semiconductor's RSL10 and RSL15 also maintained the top two positions respectively.

     "From contact tracing beacons to traceable asset tags, millions of connected devices around the world are powered by small batteries," said Patrick Moorhead, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Founder and Principal Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy. The RSL15 has set a new Bluetooth 5.2 energy efficiency record in the EEMBC ULPMark™ CoreMark program and will help these applications, and many others, achieve longer battery life than they thought possible."

     The RSL15 is designed to maintain its state-of-the-art power consumption while using Arm® TrustZone® technology to establish the device root of trust, and Arm CryptoCell™-312 technology to protect the authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of code and data. The design of this PSA Level 1 certification enhances the security measures originally provided as part of the Bluetooth protocol, thereby also providing assurance at the application and software level.

     "The ability to protect against cyber threats is an important differentiating factor for manufacturers of wireless microcontrollers for industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications," said Michel De Mey, vice president of ON Semiconductor's Industrial Solutions Division. Class-leading security features and class-leading energy efficiency provide a comprehensive wireless solution that OEMs and consumers can trust."

     The RSL15 supports a range of new features provided by the Bluetooth 5.2 specification, including longer range, higher data throughput, and positioning via Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD). ON Semiconductor has also developed an innovative IntelliSense feature that allows the Arm Cortex®-M33 processor to remain in deep sleep mode but still monitor the sensor interface. With these advanced new features, the RSL15 will continue the success of the RSL10 radio family, which has been integrated into a variety of industrial automation applications including connected asset tracking, smart retail and IoT edge nodes.