Nordic Expands nRF24AP2 Family with Single Chip Solution for ANT USB Dongles

Nordic Semiconductor ASA released the thirdproduct in its nRF24AP2 ANT family -thenRF24AP2-USB - a single chip ANT solution with USB interface enabling compact,low cost ANT USB dongles for use in product applications such as wirelesssport, fitness and health monitoring.

The nRF24AP2-USB provides the same advanced feature set as Nordic's existing8-channel nRF24AP2-8CH ultra low power (ULP) wireless solution, but exchangesthe latter's UART interface for a Full-Speed USB 2.0 compliant host interface.This makes the nRF24AP2-USB ideal for both compact ANT USB dongles and embeddedsystems where a USB host interface is preferred.

The nRF24AP2-USB comes in a compact 5x5mm QFN package and integrates a Nordic2.4GHz nRF24L01+ transceiver core, 8-channel ANT protocol stack, Full-Speed USB2.0 device controller, and 4 to 5.25V linear voltage regulator that allows thechip to be powered directly from a USB bus port.

Supporting development tools for the nRF24AP2-USB include the production-ready nRF6910 nRFready ANT USB Dongle Reference Designand development platform, plus ANT libraries and drivers for both Windows andMac OS X operating systems. These are designed to enable developers to startdeveloping computer side applications to support new and existing ANT-enabledproducts without delay.

The single channelnRF24AP2-1CH is a cost optimized and flexible product specifically designed tobe used in a wide range of ULP wireless sensors. Combined with different hostmicrocontrollers it provides a low cost solution for everything from simplesensors such as bike cadence, to more complex sensors such as heart rate orblood glucose monitors.

The 8-channel nRF24AP2-8CH is an advanced and flexible product specificallydesigned for ANT hubs. Supporting up to 8-channels and without compromisingpower consumption, it enables devices such as sports watches, or bicycle andgym machine computers, for example, to wirelessly connect with up to eightindividual sensors simultaneously.

Nordic Expands nRF24AP2 Family with Single Chip Solution for ANT USB Dongles_A