CEVA targets IoT systems with comms reference design

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

DSP core designer CEVA has developed a reference platform to accelerate the design of low-data-rate machine-to-machine (M2M) and IoT communication applications, including smart grid, surveillance systems, asset tracking, remote monitoring systems, connected cars and smart utilities.

The Dragonfly  multifunction platform is enabled  by the recently announced CEVA-XC5 and CEVA-XC8 DSP cores and accompanied by the hardware and software components required to rapidly design machine-type communications (MTC) systems. The platform supports existing and emerging LTE MTC releases, LPWAN standards such as LoRa, SiGFox and Ingenu), as well as Wi-Fi, GPS or any other IoT-related communications standard set to be deployed for M2M communication.

Dragonfly offers system developers a flexible platform that allows for optimal hardware/software system partitioning, combining a low power vector communication DSP with a range of hardware co-processors. Such partitioning enables the software flexibility essential for upgradability and long service life of typical M2M devices, while delivering the power efficiency required to support extended battery life of up to ten years. 

As an example, for CEVA licensees developing M2M systems incorporating LTE Cat-1 or Cat-0 today, these systems can be easily upgraded to support LTE Cat-M or other future standards when available. The DSP can also be used to implement proprietary features for specific device use cases, such as seamless indoor and outdoor positioning concurrently with Wi-Fi 802.11n or LTE Cat-0, in a highly efficient manner.

CEVA's Dragonfly reference design combines the XC5 or XC8 DSP cores with the RTOS and communications software needed for IoT designs

“Our Dragonfly reference platform brings together all of the essential hardware, software and system integration components required by customers developing low-power machine-type communication solutions, in a highly cost and power efficient manner,” said Michael Boukaya, vice president and general manager, Wireless Business Unit at CEVA. “We have leveraged our deep expertise in low-power baseband processing and complemented it with a range of software offerings to deliver a platform that is highly customizable and flexible for developing a broad range of IoT and M2M products, quickly and efficiently.”

The Dragonfly reference platform includes the vector communications DSP and all the required co-processors and interfaces, together with software application layers and libraries, RTOS and drivers for MTC systems design. These hardware and software components are available for LTE MTC, Wi-Fi and GNSS standards. Also included is a 500MHz silicon-based development system that includes all of these components together with RF frontends and a host interface. 

“Low-data rate LTE is a key building block of machine-type communications and together with CEVA, we are simplifying the process of integrating LTE connectivity into IoT devices,” said Denis Bidinost, Chief Executive Officer of NextG-Com. “Our ALPSLite protocol stack is the industry’s first 3GPP Cat-0 stack specifically designed for IoT applications and our optimized implementation for the Dragonfly platform leads the industry in terms of power efficiency and reliability.”

“Accurate positioning, both indoor and outdoor, will be a fundamental component of many M2M applications and our CellNav™ technology delivers this accuracy utilizing the existing LTE network infrastructure,” said Rabih Chrabieh, CEO of Nestwave. “Using the CEVA Dragonfly platform, customers can integrate CellNav into their MTC product designs, enabling reliable location tracking in devices that can last years in the field on a single battery.”

“The CEVA Dragonfly reference platform delivers exceptional performance for implementing our software-based GNSS receivers in devices within a stringent power budget,” said Eli Ariel, CEO at Galileo Satellite Navigation. Our Software Receiver solution perfectly complements CEVA’s software-based approach to design flexibility and long service life MTC systems design, allowing customers to carry out performance improvements and new features in the field, including upgrading to future satellite systems.”