Texas Instruments will leverage its expertise in ZigBee technology, low-power RF and mobile connectivity to develop products and solutions for Ultra Low Power (ULP) Bluetooth wireless technology (previously known as Wibree).

The recent merger between the Wibree Forum and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) created ULP Bluetooth, the first open technology extending wireless connectivity between mobile devices or PCs and small, button cell battery human interface devices (HIDs), such as watches, wireless keyboards, toys and sports sensors.

TI will utilize the company’s radio technology in the 2.4 GHz frequency band to meet ULP Bluetooth wireless technology specifications and drive affordable wireless connectivity into the mass market. TI will be one of the few companies to support this technology for both mobile handsets and portable, low-power devices – providing seamless interoperability between devices.

Leveraging expertise with low-power devices, including microcontrollers, and Bluetooth solutions, TI is developing solutions for both types of ULP Bluetooth wireless technology implementations: a single-mode implementation for watches, sensors and other tiny devices; and a dual-mode implementation for communication with both single-mode and traditional Bluetooth wireless technology enabled-devices such as handsets.

ULP Bluetooth and ZigBee wireless technology represent complementary technologies, as ZigBee technology is a low-power infrastructure-oriented mesh networking technology supporting thousands of nodes, while ULP Bluetooth wireless technology is a low-power ad hoc networking technology that links a small number of nodes to devices such as computers and mobile phones.