Renesas Announces Development of Next-Generation Wireless MCUs Supporting New Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy Specification

Renesas Electronics announced that it is developing new microcontrollers (MCUs) that will support the recently released Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy (LE) Specification. The new devices will be part of the Renesas Advanced (RA) Family of 32-bit Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers, joining the RA4W1 Bluetooth 5.0 LE device introduced in 2020. Renesas expects to have first samples of the new MCUs in the first quarter of 2022.

Wireless software licensor Packetcraft, Inc. announced its Packetcraft Controller software has achieved Bluetooth 5.3 qualification, including the world’s first qualification of new Bluetooth 5.3 link layer technical features. Packetcraft also announced the availability of Packetcraft LC3, a highly optimized and efficient LC3 codec for Bluetooth LE Audio.

CEVA announced the general release of its RivieraWaves Bluetooth 5.3 IP. Supporting a multitude of features to further enhance security, robustness and low power operation, the RivieraWaves Bluetooth 5.3 IP is now available as a complete hardware and software solution for new designs, and as a software-only upgrade for compatible existing designs. All the latest features of Bluetooth are supported, including Isochronous Channels for LE Audio.

Ellisys, a global source for test and analysis solutions for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB, Thunderbolt, and other wired and wireless communications technologies, announced the availability of qualification tests supporting the release of version 5.3 of the Bluetooth Core Specification. The company also released a new suite of validation tests, called the Quality Suite, that exceed the scope of qualification test requirements defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).