Understanding IoT System on Chip (SoC) and Its Types
Introduction: IoT System on Chip (SoC) integrates multiple components, such as processors, memory and communication interfaces, into a single chip. This compact design ensures efficient performance for IoT devices. This application note explores the features, types, and applications of IoT SoCs, showcasing their importance in modern IoT systems.
Let us discover SoC designed by Redpine Signals. This IoT SoC supports WLAN, bluetooth and Zigbee systems on a single chip. It also supports 2.4 and 5GHz radio frequencies.
As we know IoT is the technology which will provide communication between things, between things and people using internet and IP enabled protocols. As we have seen in IoT tutorial any IoT compliant system will have two major parts viz. front end and back end. Front end provides connectivity with physical world and consists of sensors while backend consists of processing and network connectivity interfaces.
Typical IoT system on chip support more than one RATs (Radio Access Technologies). It will have following modules.
• Transmit and receive switch.
• RF part mainly consists of Trasmitter, receiver, oscillator and amplifiers.
• Memories i.e. Program memory, data memory to store tha code and data
• Physical layer(baseband processing) either on FPGA or on processor based on complexity and latency requirement.
• MAC layer and upper protocol stacks TCP/IP etc. running on processor
• ADC and DAC to provide interface between digital baseband and analog RF portions.
• Various interfaces such as SDIO, USB, SPI etc to provide interface with the host.
• Other peripherals such as UART, I2C, GPIO, WDT etc. to use the IoT SoC for various connections.
As IoT system on chip supports multiple wireless protocols and RF hardware to support multiple frequency bands,
following factors need to be carefully analyzed and to be optimized.
• Power consumption
• Data throughput
• Device size
• Performance in terms of latency and other factors
IoT SoC : System On Chip in Internet of Things
Figure depicts one such IoT System on Chip model no. RS9113,which has been designed and developed by Redpine Signals recently. It supports WLAN (802.11n), Bluetooth version 4.0 and Zigbee (802.15.4-2006) in the same chip. Hence the IoT device can be connected with any of the said wireless technology based networks.
This IoT SoC (system on chip in IoT) can be used for numerous applications as mentioned below:
• Mobile
• M2M Communication
• Real time location finding tags
• Thermostats
• Smart meters
• Wireless sensor devices
• Serial to WiFi converter
• Voice Over WiFi compliant phones
• Home automation
• Health care devices and equipments
Refer following links to know more about IoT sensors, components, cellular concept of IoT and considerations to be taken while using IoT compliant devices.
Conclusion
IoT SoCs are transforming the way IoT devices are designed by offering compact, efficient, and scalable solutions. Understanding their types and applications is crucial for leveraging their full potential in IoT deployments.