Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated has announced the launch of two new System-on-chips (SoCs). The QCA4020 is the first tri-mode SOC that integrates Bluetooth Low Energy 5, Dual-band Wi-Fi, and 802.15.4-based technologies, including ZigBee and Thread. The other SOC, the QCA4024 integrates Bluetooth Low Energy 5 and 802.15.4.
Both QCA4020 and QCA4024 are set to deliver advanced features from the Qualcomm® Network IoT Connectivity Platform, including seamless coexistence across technologies with pre-integrated support for HomeKit™ and the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF™) specifications, as well as support for AWS IoT software development kit (SDK) and Microsoft Azure Internet-of-Things (IoT) Devices SDK to connect with Azure IoT Hub. The solution supports hardware-based security features in a low power, cost-optimized single-chip solution and helps address IoT fragmentation, allowing flexible product development for OEMs, and the support for various devices from different manufacturers to talk to each other across different wireless standards, protocols and communication frameworks, while connecting to a system network and cloud and application services.
The QCA4020 and QCA4024 solutions have hardware-based security features and functions integrated in a single integrated circuit (IC), thus providing OEMs with the option of replacing external security chips and potential for bill of materials (BOM) savings. They are building upon the success of Qualcomm Technologies’ device-focused IoT solutions such as the QCA400x, QCA401x and QCA4531.
They can be used to integrate Bluetooth Low Energy 5, Wi-Fi and 15.4 connectivity capabilities across the Qualcomm Network range of solutions complementing portions of the product portfolio beyond IoT devices, such as the recently announced IPQ8074 and QCA6290.
Key features of QCA4020 and QCA4024 include:
- Tri-mode Intelligent Connectivity with Advanced Smart Coexistence:
- Bluetooth 5 – Low Energy and CSRMesh™ connectivity
- Low power Wi-Fi – 802.11n in 2.4 GHz/5 GHz bands
- 802.15.4 – ZigBee3.0 and OpenThread
- Dual-Core Processing:
- Advanced Hardware-Based Security: featuring secure boot, trusted execution environment, encrypted storage, key provisioning and wireless protocol security
- Multiple Protocols: Full network stack with pre-integrated software for HomeKit and OCF
- Pre-integrated Support for Cloud Services: AWS IoT and Microsoft Azure IoT Device SDK to connect devices with Azure IoT Hub
- Comprehensive Set of Peripherals and Interfaces: SPI, UART, PWM, I2S, I2C, SDIO, and ADC as well as GPIOs
- Integrated Sensor Hub: for post-processing to enable the low power sensor use cases
- Small Package: to allow for optimized form factors
Both QCA4020 and QCA4024 are currently in sampling with select OEMs and are expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2017.
