Infineon Technologies has developed the NAC1080, a new programmable 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 microcontroller (MCU) with an embedded near-field communication (NFC) frontend to enable the cost-effective development of smart actuators, such as passive locks.
The global smart lock market size was valued at 1.38 billion USD in 2020. The demand was recorded at 8.9 million units and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.4 percent from 2021 to 2028. With integrated H-Bridge and energy harvesting modules, a smart actuator can be implemented in a single-chip solution with minimum components required. Using the NFC interface, the NAC1080 MCU enables devices to be controlled directly by smartphones. Advanced local and cloud functions can be extended within the mobile app offered by regional marketing partners. This reduces the bill of material and supports miniaturized product design. NAC1080 supports various operation modes and can be powered either in passive mode by the NFC field with the energy harvested from the mobile phone, or through a battery supply in active mode. NAC1080 also provides an integrated AES128 accelerator and a true random number generator to enable data encryption/de-encryption in an ultra-low power environment.
Besides the passive NFC lock application, NAC1080 can also be used as an emergency backup power supply application. Active lock systems, for example, depend on battery power. If they are discharged, the NFC interface IC for electronic devices can power the door lock. Since the electric power is transmitted via NFC, this use case may take longer than in passive mode.
In the Greater China region, Infineon is working together with IH Tech and FIoT-Open Lab to offer complete smart NFC lock solutions based on NAC1080 combining IC products, application development, IoT device testing, certification and standardization. This collaboration enables the three companies to support local customers to accelerate the system development cycle and foster the ecosystem development together.
Availability
Infineon’s NAC1080 MCU is available now.
Click here to learn more about the NAC1080 MCU from Infineon.
