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Nordic Semiconductor Bluetooth Smart provides control and security for Ninebot Nine self-balancing electric vehicle

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Ninebot two-wheeled self balancing electric vehicle offers convenient and fun transport up to 20 km and uses Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF51822 SoC to provide wireless control from a smartphone or tablet

Oslo, Norway 

2016/02/04

Ultra low power (ULP) RF specialist Nordic Semiconductor ASA (OSE: NOD) today announces that Ninebot Inc, a Beijing-based short distance transport equipment manufacturer has selected Nordic’s nRF51822 System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the Bluetooth® Smart wireless connectivity in its Ninebot Nine self-balancing vehicle.

The Ninebot Nine electric vehicle provides a convenient and fun means of two-wheeled transportation over distances up to 20km. The vehicle’s in-built gyroscope and weight, attitude, and speed sensors manage the self-balancing operation, automatically registering the rider’s movements to adjust the vehicle’s position in order to maintain balance. Powered by a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, Ninebot Nine is able to operate for up to two hours and cover up to 20km between recharges, depending on traffic conditions and the weight of the rider. Recharge time is between three and four hours.

Manufactured from an aircraft-grade magnesium alloy, the Ninebot Nine weighs only 12.8kg and the electric motor has a maximum power output of 700W. The vehicle’s dynamic power algorithm allows it to comfortably navigate over small obstacles, as well as up hills with a gradient of up to 15 degrees. Front lights can illuminate the road ahead up to five meters, while LED taillights provide an additional safety feature notifying other traffic of braking and turn directions.

Nordic’s nRF51822 provides Bluetooth Smart wireless connectivity to both iOS and Android Bluetooth Smart Ready smartphones and tablets. The Ninebot NineDroid app for smartphones and tablets offers a comprehensive dashboard, providing a remote control function, record sharing, and online diagnosis, as well as allowing users to check speed and distance, and set up parameters for enhanced user control. The user’s smartphone also acts as the ‘key’ for the Ninebot Nine, automatically locking the vehicle and providing an alarm, and alarm notification to the user, if the vehicle is tampered with.

“We selected Bluetooth Smart because it enables convenient connection to a smartphone,” says Ninebot Inc Senior R&D Engineer, Fu Hua Chai. “Furthermore, Nordic’s technical support has been excellent.”

Nordic’s nRF51822 is a powerful and flexible multiprotocol SoC ideally suited for Bluetooth Smart and 2.4GHz ultra low-power wireless applications. The nRF51822 is built around a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 CPU with 256kB/128kB flash and 32kB/16kB RAM. The embedded 2.4GHz transceiver is fully compliant with Bluetooth v4.2, the latest Bluetooth Smart specification.

About nRF51822

The Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 is a multi-protocol Bluetooth low energy / 2.4GHz proprietary RF Flash-based SoC that is designed specifically to be used as a single-chip solution for a range ofBluetooth low energy and 2.4GHz proprietary designs in cost, power, and size constrained applications including PC peripherals, connected TV remote controls, sports/fitness/healthcare sensors, toys, and automation.

2012/06/12

Key IC features include:

• 256kB on-chip Flash and 16kB RAM;
• Wide range of digital and mixed signal peripherals including SPI, 2-wire, ADC, and a quadrature decoder;
• 16 PPI channels;
• 1.8-to-3.6V supply range with on-chip LDO,1.75-to-1.95V supply range for LDO bypass mode;
• On-chip drop down DC/DC converter for 3V batteries such as coin cells;
• +/- 250 ppm 32kHZ RC oscillator enabling the implementation of Bluetooth low energy applications without an external 32kHz crystal, saving cost and board space;
• 6x6mm 48-pin QFN package with up to 32 GPIOs;
• Complete Bluetooth protocol stack solution (Link layer to Profiles).

The S110 Bluetooth low energy stack for the nRF51822 is provided as a downloadable, royalty-free, pre-compiled binary that can be programmed and updated separately. Key features of the stack include:

• Asynchronous and event driven SVC-based API;
• Run-time protection;
• GATT, GAP and L2CAP level APIs;
• Peripheral and Broadcaster Roles;
• GATT client and server;
• Non-concurrent multi-protocol operation with 2.4GHz RF proprietary protocols;
• Requires less than 128kB code space and 6kB of RAM, leaving more that 128kB flash and 10kB RAM for application code;
• Compared to two-chip implementations using Nordic’s previous generation nRF8001 the nRF51822 running the S110 stack slashes power consumption by up to 50%.

The S110 stack and the nRF51822 are complemented by the nRF518 SDK that includes a comprehensive set of Bluetooth low energy profiles, services, and example applications.For proprietary applications the nRF51822 is complemented by a new and improved Gazell™ 2.4GHz RF protocol stack providing interoperability with nRF24L Series Gazell-based applications. The combination of the nRF51822 and the new Gazell protocol stack slashes power consumption by up to 30% compared to Nordic’s previous generation nRF24LE1.