u-blox ANNA-B1 industrial Bluetooth 5 module

u-blox has announced the ANNA-B1 Bluetooth 5 module for industrial applications. Its ultracompact module design and industrial operating temperature range make it suitable for wide-ranging applications in size-constrained designs requiring high-speed Bluetooth connectivity.

The ANNA-B1 is a miniaturised variant of the u-blox NINA‑B1 Bluetooth low energy module, packed as a system-in-package (SiP) design into a 6.5 x 6.5 mm footprint, 1.2 mm thin. It comes certified for select markets off the shelf.

The product includes an Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller unit with a floating point unit, flash and RAM. The open CPU option provides full access to the module’s microcontroller so that custom applications can be embedded into the module. The module has a built-in antenna but also allows for external antenna designs.

Alternatively, product developers can speed up time to market by leveraging the full force of pre-flashed u-blox connectivity software. Fully tested and verified, and supporting many IoT applications, u-blox connectivity software includes a GATT client and server for connectivity attributes, Serial Port Service, simultaneous peripheral and central role, and NFC technology for easy pairing to other Bluetooth low energy devices.

Typical applications for the module are small devices such as power tools, industrial and medical sensor products, wearables and point-of-sale devices that require Bluetooth 5 connectivity, either individually or as part of a mesh network. Medical and sports wearables and telematics aftermarket products, including insurance boxes, will benefit from the product’s small footprint.