ON Delivers Energy Harvesting Bluetooth® Low Energy Switch

ON Semiconductor is defining new levels of ultra-low power operation in the IoT with the introduction of its Bluetooth Low Energy Switch reference design that operates entirely from harvested energy. The platform demonstrates how the RSL10 System-in-Package (SIP) can enable Bluetooth 5 devices that are battery-less and entirely self-powered, requiring no additional energy source. Application examples include wall and lighting control, building automation, and asset tracking.

The Energy Harvesting Bluetooth Low Energy Switch brings together the highly integrated and exceedingly low-power RSL10 SIP with the innovative energy-harvesting technology developed by ZF Friedrichshafen AG, to provide the ideal platform for a range of IoT applications. Featuring a fully-integrated antenna, RSL10 radio, and all passive components; the RSL10 SIP simplifies system design and minimizes the Bill of Materials.

The technology developed by ZF captures the energy transferred when a user presses a button. The switch converts energy from kinetic to electromagnetic, and stores it for use by the RSL10 SIP. Each time the button is pressed the fully integrated energy harvesting solution generates 300 μJ. This is enough to meet the extremely low power requirements of the RSL10 SIP, which is just 62.5nW in deep sleep and only 10 mW when transceiving (more info).