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ON Semiconductor to Debut First to
Market, Truly Scalable Design Platform for
Next Generation Wearable Technology at CES
2017
ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON), driving energy
efficient innovations, has utilized its strength and
depth in a broad range of semiconductor disciplines
– including analog, power management, sensor
interface and signal conditioning – to introduce a
comprehensive development resource for the wearable
electronics sector. The newWearable Development Kit
(WDK1.0) combines a wide array of highly optimized
components, with the objective of assisting OEMs in
bringing differentiated products to market. Using it can
significantly accelerate design cycles for wearable
electronics while mitigating heavy engineering costs.
“Despite the growing interest in wearable electronics,
to date there is simply not a solution on the market
that provides the scope needed by OEMs to help them
develop feature rich designs that will attract strong
consumer uptake,” states AJ ElJallad, senior manager,
corporate strategy and business development at ON
Semiconductor. “The WDK1.0 is a multi-faceted design
asset that will allow wearable technology projects to be
expedited – shortening time to market and curbing the
associated investment in engineering by leveraging the
extent of ON Semiconductor’s product portfolio.”
For this new offering, a high efficiency programmable
NCP6915 Power Management IC provides 5 LDOs
and 1 DC-DC to support power requirement for
the smartwatch and for additional development
requirements. An NCP1855 battery charger IC, plus
an LC709203F fuel gauge and a 10 watt (W) rated
SCY1751 wireless charging front-end controller
(supporting AirFuel compatible magnetic resonance
charging) have also been incorporated. The kit’s sensor
capabilities stem from the MEMS-based FIS1100 inertial
measurement unit (IMU), with 3axis gyroscope and 3
axis accelerometer operation enabling accurate multi-
dimensional motion tracking. There is also an embedded
temperature sensor included and an LC898301 driver
IC for initiating haptic feedback.
Critical to the WDK1.0 is its wireless connectivity,
which is addressed via an ultra-lower power nRF52832
multi-protocol system-on-chip (SoC) from Nordic
Semiconductor. This features a 32-bit ARM® Cortex™
processor core and a 2.4GHz transceiver – offering
support for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and other
relevant wireless technologies. The kit is complemented
by a SmartApp which can be downloaded directly from
Android PlayStore and Apple AppStore. Using this,
various pieces of information can be transposed, such
as the steps taken, calories burnt, distance covered
and activity period, as well as human machine interface
aspects like screen brightness adjustment, clock face
control, alarm settings and establishing fitness goals. An
Eclipse-based IDE accompanies the kit. This presents
engineering teams with all the resources they need to
rapidly create and subsequently debug code necessary
for designs. A highly intuitive Project Wizard further
facilitates the development process, by giving engineers
access to numerous useful wearable-related project
examples.
The WDK1.0 solution also has a 1.44-inch format,
128 x 128 pixel TFT display into which a capacitive
touch screen is integrated. A 26pin expansion port
complements all the other elements in the kit. Through
this there is ample provision for further additions to the
system design, such as supplementary microcontroller,
signal processing or GPS functionality, the inclusion
of more sensors or the specifying of different display.
Hardware schematics and Cadence EDA design files
are also made available. Read the WDK 1.0 blog and
visit the website for more detailed information.
In addition to the WDK 1.0, ON Semiconductor will be
demonstrating its latest solutions forAutomotive, Internet
of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality, andWearable applications
including CES Innovation Award Honorees at CES 2017
in Las Vegas from January 5 – 8. To schedule a private
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