The News: Silicon Labs recently announced the availability of its EFR32xG27 or Silicon Labs xG27 SoC family of wireless system-on-chips (SoCs) and part of the Wireless Gecko SoCs that consist of the EFR32BG27 and EFR32MG27 targeted at portal medical, home end devices, fleet/asset monitoring, access control, power tools, and other devices. Read the Silicon Labs blog for more information.
Silicon Labs xG27 SoCs Powering Intelligent Devices in Key Growth Markets
Analyst Take: The market for IoT devices continues to gain traction in the home, commercial, and industrial environments that seek to connect everyday objects to the cloud. Silicon Labs recently announced the xG27 SoC, which will help vendors create products designed for ultra-low power, small footprint applications such as asset tracking and warehouse equipment.
Catalysts for Growth:
- Industrial & Construction: Another key trend in the industrial and construction market is the use of Bluetooth-enabled devices allowing users the ability to be cordless or also activate adjacent devices. As an example, many contractors today are using Bluetooth-enabled dust extractors connected to their saws, which allow for a cleaner or more dust-free experience. This is key for contractors who may be working on high-end homes installing crown molding and may want to be extra careful not to create a mess that would impact the client relationship. Another key area is geofencing, which allows the user to ensure the tool is not lost or stolen within a certain perimeter.
- Marketplaces: The massive growth of online marketplaces and multi-channel retailing has caused explosive growth in the logistics industry, which has forced many to adopt greater warehouse automation such as robotics, IoT tracking, and more to optimize operations. In fact, many are switching to dark warehousing, which is a trend that is expected to continue in the coming years.
- Fleet Tracking: The growth of fleet tracking has been on the rise due to trends such as the 9.8% growth of rental cars last year, outpacing U.S. GDP growth. In fact, we continue to see more ProAV resellers moving into IoT tracking services to help their clients beyond digital signage since many new auto dealers and rental car companies are using them for inventory tracking.
- Healthcare: The healthcare industry is also one of the key markets for tracking devices, along with being the top market for tablets for nursing and physicians keeping them in the field longer. A key part of the strategy is also tracking where devices are and have been, since hospitals tend to share devices from room to room and they also want to ensure those devices are not spreading infectious diseases to patients who have compromised immune systems. In fact, many patients with compromised immune systems have been negatively impacted due to coming in contact with infected devices or personnel.
- Smart Home: The growth of smart homes continues to rise as more consumers are adding devices in more rooms on the inside and outside of the property. As an example, many people are also adding cordless lawnmowers, pool cleaners, and more, which will continue.
The EFR32BG27 (BG27) is an excellent low-power wireless SoC designed for portable medical devices, power tools, access control, industrial automation, fleet/asset monitoring, home end devices, and sporting and well devices. The EFR32BG27 comes with a 32-bit 76.8 MHz ARM Cortex-M33 with DSP instruction and floating-point unit for efficient signal processing, 768 kB flash program memory, 64 kB of RAM data memory, and 2.4 GHz radio operation. The EFR23BG27 (BG27) supports Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth 5.x) and other proprietary protocols. From a security perspective, the SoC includes Secure Boot with Root of Trust and Secure Loader (RTSL).
The EFR32MG27 (MG27) is also part of the Wireless Gecko multi-protocol family of SoCs that is also part of the Wireless Gecko portfolio. The EFR32MG27 SoC is ideal for enabling energy-friendly multi-protocol networking for IoT devices such as power tools, access control, industrial automation, fleet/asset monitoring, mesh networking, and home end devices. The EFR32MG27 SoC comes with an ARM 76.8 MHz Cortex-M33 with DSP instruction and a floating-point unit for efficient signal processing. It also comes with 768 kB of flash program memory, 64 kB of RAM data memory, and 2.4 GHz radio operation. The chip supports Zigbee PRO / Green Power, Bluetooth Low Energy along with offering Secure Boot with RSTL.
Overall, the Silicon Labs xG27 SoCs should be well-received by vendors seeking to incorporate excellent functionality into their devices allowing for better tracking, increased productivity, and keeping people safer.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
