MALAGA, SPAIN — AT4 wireless, a wireless certification and testing laboratory, has announced the qualification of the first worldwide Bluetooth low-energy (dual-mode) design. The Bluetooth low-energy specification was adopted by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG; www.bluetooth.com) on Dec. 17, 2009. The product that was qualified is the BlueLink 7.0 (BL6450-L) solution from Texas Instruments, Inc.
The BlueLink 7.0 platform promises to provide a complete hardware and software solution for Bluetooth and FM. It leverages TI's DRP technology and 65-nm process technology to allow customers to use fewer external components and interfaces (for the FM function) compared to discrete Bluetooth and FM solutions. The BL6450 BlueLink 7.0 chip also incorporates TI's Bluetooth/wireless-local-area-networking (WLAN) coexistence hardware and software solution.
To prepare for the Bluetooth low-energy qualification, AT4 wireless has been working since 2008 on the development of BITE test systems. That integrated test tool automatically performs all of the conformance test cases for Bluetooth RF and protocol requirements according to the Bluetooth Qualification Test Cases Reference List (TCRL). With this service, AT4 wireless has been able to expand its coverage by adding Bluetooth low energy to the laboratory's already wide- and full-scope testing and qualification services for Bluetooth 1.2/2.0/2.0+EDR/2.1/2.1+EDR/3.0 technologies.