Beacons
Use Bluetooth to make environments more informative, engaging and safer
Bluetooth Low Energy asset tracking devices help users keep track of their favorite items
10
Oct
2019
2019
Oslo, Norway
The Tile range employs Nordic’s nRF52810 SoC to provide ultra low power connectivity to smartphones and tablets to guarantee long battery life
Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Tile, the manufacturer of the world’s best-selling Bluetooth® tracking device, has selected Nordic’s nRF52810 Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the processing power and wireless connectivity for its ‘Tile Sticker’, ‘Tile Slim’, ‘Tile Pro’, and ‘Tile Mate’ devices.
Tiles are designed to be attached or paired with anything a user wants to keep track of such as wallets, purses, backpacks, luggage, or car key fobs. Once activated, the Tile is attached to an item and wirelessly connected to the user’s Bluetooth 4.0 (or later) smartphone or tablet using the nRF52810 SoC. The device then uses the smartphone or tablet’s location services to communicate its location information anonymously to the app.
Other features of the Tile app include the ability for the user to ‘ring’ their lost item. If in range the device will play a loud tune to help it be found. The app also automatically records the last time and place it located the user’s item, so the user knows where to look first. In the event the user can’t find their smartphone, pressing the button on any of their connected tiles will make the smartphone ring, even if it is on silent.
Tile Sticker weighs 5g, comes in a 27 by 7.3mm form factor, and provides a tracking range of 45m in normal conditions. It provides an adhesive backing for secure attachment to assets to be tracked. Tile Slim weighs 14g, is offered in a slimline 84 by 54 by 2.5mm form factor, and provides a range of up to 60m. Tile Sticker and Tile Slim are both powered by a non-replaceable enclosed custom battery. Tile Pro weighs 12g, comes in a 42 by 42 by 6.5mm form factor, employs a replaceable CR2032 coin cell battery, and provides a tracking range of up to 120m. Tile Mate weighs only 6g, comes in a 35 by 35 by 6.2mm form factor, employs a replaceable CR1632 battery, and offers a range up to 60m. Tile Sticker and Tile Slim guarantee a minimum battery life of three years, while Tile Pro and Tile Mate provide a battery life of one year in normal operation, thanks in part to the ultra low power characteristics of the Nordic SoC. The nRF52810 has been engineered to minimize power consumption with features such as the 2.4GHz radio’s 4.6mA 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.
Tiles are designed to be attached or paired with anything a user wants to keep track of such as wallets, purses, backpacks, luggage, or car key fobs. Once activated, the Tile is attached to an item and wirelessly connected to the user’s Bluetooth 4.0 (or later) smartphone or tablet using the nRF52810 SoC. The device then uses the smartphone or tablet’s location services to communicate its location information anonymously to the app.
Other features of the Tile app include the ability for the user to ‘ring’ their lost item. If in range the device will play a loud tune to help it be found. The app also automatically records the last time and place it located the user’s item, so the user knows where to look first. In the event the user can’t find their smartphone, pressing the button on any of their connected tiles will make the smartphone ring, even if it is on silent.
Tile Sticker weighs 5g, comes in a 27 by 7.3mm form factor, and provides a tracking range of 45m in normal conditions. It provides an adhesive backing for secure attachment to assets to be tracked. Tile Slim weighs 14g, is offered in a slimline 84 by 54 by 2.5mm form factor, and provides a range of up to 60m. Tile Sticker and Tile Slim are both powered by a non-replaceable enclosed custom battery. Tile Pro weighs 12g, comes in a 42 by 42 by 6.5mm form factor, employs a replaceable CR2032 coin cell battery, and provides a tracking range of up to 120m. Tile Mate weighs only 6g, comes in a 35 by 35 by 6.2mm form factor, employs a replaceable CR1632 battery, and offers a range up to 60m. Tile Sticker and Tile Slim guarantee a minimum battery life of three years, while Tile Pro and Tile Mate provide a battery life of one year in normal operation, thanks in part to the ultra low power characteristics of the Nordic SoC. The nRF52810 has been engineered to minimize power consumption with features such as the 2.4GHz radio’s 4.6mA 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.
The Nordic team has been supporting hardware and firmware engineers to develop Bluetooth LE products since Bluetooth LE started
Sarah Davis, Tile
Nordic’s nRF52810 multiprotocol SoC combines an 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4 processor with a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio (supporting Bluetooth 5, ANT™, and proprietary 2.4GHz RF protocol software) featuring reduced radio energy consumption, with 192kB Flash memory and 24kB RAM. The nRF52810 SoC is supplied with the latest version of Nordic’s S112 SoftDevice, Bluetooth 5-compliant RF protocol software.
“Tile’s battery life guarantee is an absolutely integral component of our value proposition and commitment to our customers, so battery life and quality was at the very top of the requirements list when were deciding which SoC to use,” says Sarah Davis, Head of Communications, Tile. “In addition, Nordic’s development tools were particularly useful. We started with an example provided in the Nordic SDK [Software Development Kit] and were able to integrate our TileLib application code with minimal effort.
“The Nordic team has been supporting hardware and firmware engineers to develop Bluetooth LE products since Bluetooth LE started, and they have successfully developed the teams, tools, forums, examples, and documentation to minimize the effort of developing a quality Bluetooth LE product.”
“Nordic has worked with Tile since it launched its very first device in 2014,” says Geir Langeland, Nordic Semiconductor's Director of Sales & Marketing. “The company’s growth demonstrates the obvious demand for consumer asset tracking solutions in the increasingly portable world we live in.”
About Tile
Tile gives everything the power of smart location, locating more than six million unique items every day. Leveraging its vast community that spans 195 countries, Tile’s cloud-based finding platform helps people find the things that matter to them most. The company is based in San Mateo, CA and is backed by Francisco Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and GGV Capital. For more information, please visit Tile.com
