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Kensington Computer Products Group, a manufacturer of Smart Made Simple™ computing and audio accessories for the mobile consumer, has specified a pair of Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01 ultra-low power 2.4GHz transceivers into the remote control part of each of the three base versions of its line of LiquidAUX™ Auxiliary Car Kits with Remote Control: The LiquidAUX for iPod and iPhone; the LiquidAUX Deluxe for iPod and iPhone; and the LiquidAUX Bluetooth® Car Kit.

A thumbnail-sized 4-button remote control puts control of MP3 content at the user’s fingertips with play/pause, next track, previous track, and shuffle (the latter replaced by a call control button on the Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit). By using a pair of Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01 Ultra-Low Power (ULP) 2.4 GHz transceivers, located in the remote and CLA dock, Kensington was able to power its remote using a single, CR2016 3V lithium button cell.

"This enabled us to make the remote small enough to put on the actual steering wheel without sacrificing battery life," comments Kensington Product Development RF Engineer, Gary Wong. "Users can expect to get up to 12 months usage before having to replace the coin cell in the remote."

The remote functions and hardware are essentially based on Nordic’s existing nRD24H1 remote control reference design. "We took the core of the reference design that includes a very simple, robust protocol designed to co-exist with other 2.4GHz sources such as Bluetooth technology operating in the vicinity," continues Wong. "The adaptations we made included stripping out for the purposes of our application unnecessary advanced functionality overhead to reduce the microcontroller processing time to minimize power consumption. By running the transceiver in ShockBurst™ mode at a 2Mbit/s air-data rate, it allowed us to further extend battery life by keeping the remote in sleep mode for over 90% of the time, consuming less than 8µA of current."


Wireless Design & Development
Advantage Business Media
Rockaway, NJ, 07866