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Bluetooth tracking device helps users find their items

Nordic Semiconductor announced that Beijing, China-based wearable electronics firm Beijing Zizai Technology has released a range of wireless trackers featuring Nordic’s nRF52810 Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) System-on-Chip (SoC), that helps users prevent the loss of personal items.

The ‘Nut3’ key finder comes in a compact 38 by 38 by 7 mm form factor and can be attached to the user’s key fob or other personal items. Once paired with the user’s Bluetooth 4.0 (and later) smartphone using wireless connectivity enabled by the Nordic SoC, from the iOS- and Android-compatible ‘Nut’ app the user can find and ring the Nut3 device easily, set alerts if the device and the smartphone become separated by a certain distance, as well as record the location where the device became disconnected. Nut users can also create a ‘lost and found’ community to help one another locate missing items.

Because the nRF52810 SoC’s S132 SoftDevice high-performance Bluetooth LE protocol ‘stack’ supports both Central and Peripheral roles, Nut3 not only emits an alarm if separated from the user’s smartphone, but can also call the paired smartphone with the press of a button if the user knows where the tracker is but cannot find the mobile. The nRF52810 is also available with the memory-optimised S112 SoftDevice if Peripheral-only operation is required.

The Nut3 is powered by a single CR2032 coin cell battery, providing up to 12 months’ battery life between replacement in standard operation, thanks, in part, to the ultra-low power characteristics of the Nordic SoC. The nRF52810 has been engineered to minimise power consumption with features such as the 2,4 GHz radio’s 4,6 mA peak Rx/Tx currents and a fully automatic power management system that reduces power consumption by up to 80 percent compared with Nordic’s nRF51 Series SoCs.

Nordic’s nRF52810 multiprotocol SoC combines a 64 MHz, 32-bit Arm Cortex M4 processor, with a 2,4 GHz multiprotocol radio (supporting Bluetooth 5, ANT, and proprietary 2,4 GHz RF protocol software) featuring reduced radio energy consumption, with 192 KB Flash memory and 24 KBv RAM. Nordic's unique software architecture provides clear separation between the RF protocol software and the developer's application code. This simplifies development, and ensures the SoftDevice doesn’t get corrupted when the customer is developing, compiling, testing, and verifying their application code

“Nordic has provided great support during our development work,” says Michael Tian, CEO of Beijing Zizai Technology. “All the development tools and technical documents are extremely helpful, and if we did have questions the Nordic DevZone community quickly answered them. At the same time, Nordic provided extensive technical support throughout R&D; and production.”

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